Using Tracers in Fracking Fluid – Ready for Prime Time?
What’s this: An anti-drilling idea MDN can endorse? Say it ain’t so! But it is…
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Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Wastewater | West Virginia
“Wheeling Water Warriors” Oppose GreenHunter Wastewater Facility
You just have to marvel at the creativity of anti-drillers. Get a half dozen of them in a room and they’ll name themselves something funny and then pretend to have hundreds of followers. The media laps it up and amplifies it. Latest example: Anti-drillers who oppose a new fracking wastewater facility GreenHunter Water is proposing for Wheeling, WV. The “Wheeling Water Warriors” have formed to oppose the project. (We wonder if they have spandex uniforms with superhero capes to go along with the name?)
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How Much (in Total) is an Acre in the WV Marcellus Worth?
An editorial written by David McMahon, co-founder of the West Virginia Surface Owners Rights Organization, says by his estimates each Marcellus Shale acre is worth Read More “How Much (in Total) is an Acre in the WV Marcellus Worth?” -
Tyler WV Courthouse Overrun with Abstractors – Drilling Signal?
According to Vol. 3 of the Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook, Tyler County, WV had a fair bit of permitting (and drilling) activity for the second half of 2012: 208 permits issued for 39 wells. However, it’s a distinct possibility those numbers are about to go up–way up–very soon. How do we know? Just look at the line of abstractors waiting outside the county courthouse–many camping out overnight! Long lines to view property records are a good barometer that something (drilling!) is about to happen.
Here’s the story:
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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia
List of “Things to Consider” Before You Sign a Pipeline Lease
The rapid ramp-up in Utica Shale drilling in Ohio, and Marcellus drilling in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, has meant a shortage of “infrastructure” like pipelines to carry all of the bountiful shale gas being mined. Infrastructure development–pipelines and processing plants–are not being built at a furious pace across both the Utica and Marcellus–but particularly in the Utica. That means a pipeline company landman may come knocking on your door, if you’re a landowner. What are the things to watch out for, before you sign a lease to allow a pipeline?
The attorneys at Bricker & Eckler (with several offices in Ohio) have a handy list of “things to consider” before you sign on the dotted line to allow a pipeline across your property…
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WV Says Deal for Ethane Cracker Coming This Year
The race to secure an ethane cracker between Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia continues. Last week, WV’s Secretary of Commerce, Keith Burdette, said he is “100% certain” that WV will have a deal for an ethane cracker plant signed sometime this year. Bluster or quiet confidence? We’d bet the later if we were betting…
MDN friends from the excellent Gas Business Briefing attended a conference last week in WV and filed this report:
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WVU Spring NatGas Conference: $4-$6 Gas for Next "Decade or More"
Several interesting speakers addressed the spring natural gas conference held by West Virginia University in Morgantown on Wednesday. Among them was keynote speaker David McCurdy, president and CEO of the American Gas Association. He told attendees he believes natural gas will stay in the $4-$6 per Mcf range “for a decade or more.”
Dominion Resources was also on hand, talking about their plan to export natural gas to Japan and India from Cove Point, MD. Highlights:
Read More “WVU Spring NatGas Conference: $4-$6 Gas for Next "Decade or More"”
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide NY | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia
ShaleNavigator Expands Again: Adds New Areas to Online Mapping App
Although technically not in the purview of MDN’s coverage, we want to alert you that MDN partner ShaleNavigator—the top-notch online mapping service that brings you those marvelous maps in the Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook—is expanding. ShaleNavigator founder Ed Camp has added the Collingwood and Antrim Shale plays in Michigan to his coverage.
Here’s Ed’s press release announcing the expansion of his excellent service:
Read More “ShaleNavigator Expands Again: Adds New Areas to Online Mapping App”
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WV Drillers Say Permits Take Too Long to Get Approved
West Virginia drillers were not happy last year that it was taking three, sometimes four months to get a new Marcellus or Utica Shale drilling permit approved by the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). DEP Secretary Randy Huffman pledged to trim that number to 60 days. However, he now says 75 days is a more realistic target for drilling approvals given the complexities of horizontal drilling.
More than two months to approve a permit is still not good enough, according to Corky DeMarco, executive director of the WV Oil & Natural Gas Association…
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WV Drillers Have 2 Weeks to Review Complex New Air Pollution Regs
The West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection’s Division of Air Quality recently issued a draft document of new and revised regulations for controlling air pollution from oil and gas drilling well sites—and it’s a doozy. At 135 pages long (full copy embedded below), good luck reading, deciphering, and preparing to make intelligent comments on it—all by April 29th! (Railroading?) It appears to MDN the draft regulations are mostly aimed at complying with new rules issued by the federal EPA.
It seemed to us in a cursory glance that the internal combustion engine (in particular) is in the cross hairs…
Read More “WV Drillers Have 2 Weeks to Review Complex New Air Pollution Regs”
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Accidents | Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Eureka Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Tyler County | West Virginia
Second Death from Flash Fire at WV Pipeline Station
A second man has now died from injuries received last Thursday in a flash fire at a “pig receiving station” along a Eureka Hunter pipeline near Wick (Tyler County), WV (see Flash Fire at Pipeline Station in WV Kills 1, Injures 3 Others for our original report and background details).
We mourn with the families of Raymond Miller and Bruce Phipps:
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Accidents | Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Eureka Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Tyler County | West Virginia
Flash Fire at Pipeline Station in WV Kills 1, Injures 3 Others
A flash fire at a "pig receiving station" along a Eureka Hunter pipeline near Wick (Tyler County), WV last Thursday evening seriously injured three people requiring they be airlifted to Pittsburgh. A fourth person was taken to a local hospital. Sadly, one of the seriously injured workers, 56-year-old Bruce Phipps of Marietta, Ohio, died late Friday night. Pipeline Inspection Gauges (or Pigs) are used for pipeline cleaning, inspection and maintenance, and fluid batching in pipelines. A pig is pushed along the inside of a pipeline by the flow of liquid or gas. A pig launching station is used to insert the pig into a pipeline using a series of valves and hatches. The pig is pushed through the pipeline by the liquid or gas stream to the pig receiving station.It was at such a receiving station where the flash fire occurred. According to news accounts, the flash fire was under control within 15 minutes…
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WV Shale Drilling Bills that Failed in 2013 Legislative Session
Whether it was from industry lobbying, landowner pushback, or just lack of interest, a number of bills introduced in the West Virginia legislature’s 60-day session for 2013 (which adjourned Saturday) failed to get enough traction for a vote and have died.
A short list of the measures that didn’t measure up:
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Accidents | Brooke County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | West Virginia
Update on Chesapeake Energy Well Fire in Brooke County, WV
An update on the Chesapeake Energy well fire in Brooke County, WV that on Monday torched five tractor-trailers and did $8 million in damage:
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Accidents | Brooke County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | West Virginia
Chesapeake Energy Well Fire in WV Does $8M in Damage
A fire at a Chesapeake Energy well site in Brooke County, WV on Monday destroyed five tractor-trailers and caused an estimated $8 million in damage. Fortunately, no one was injured. The details as we know them:
Read More “Chesapeake Energy Well Fire in WV Does $8M in Damage”
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WV “Forced Pooling with a Twist” Dies in Senate for 2013
Less than two weeks ago, MDN reported that "forced pooling" in very limited circumstances may soon be approved in West Virginia, in cases where the mineral rights owner for land adjacent to already-leased land either can’t be determined or can’t be found (see WV Legislation Would Create Forced Pooling – with a Twist). MDN thought the proposal was a common sense approach to solve an existing problem. However, the WV Senate apparently did not agree.
Senate Bill 616 never even made it to committee for consideration. It’s now a dead issue for this session of the legislature, which is nearing the end of its 60-day term for this year:
Read More “WV “Forced Pooling with a Twist” Dies in Senate for 2013”
A flash fire at a "pig receiving station" along a Eureka Hunter pipeline near Wick (Tyler County), WV last Thursday evening seriously injured three people requiring they be airlifted to Pittsburgh. A fourth person was taken to a local hospital. Sadly, one of the seriously injured workers, 56-year-old Bruce Phipps of Marietta, Ohio, died late Friday night. Pipeline Inspection Gauges (or Pigs) are used for pipeline cleaning, inspection and maintenance, and fluid batching in pipelines. A pig is pushed along the inside of a pipeline by the flow of liquid or gas. A pig launching station is used to insert the pig into a pipeline using a series of valves and hatches. The pig is pushed through the pipeline by the liquid or gas stream to the pig receiving station.