The Obama Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) came under heavy criticism from West Virginia Democrats at the “Partnerships for Energy Development” meeting in Charleston, WV yesterday. The lead Democrat doing the criticizing was none other than WV Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, who expressed his strong support for coal and natural gas:
Good old American ingenuity…Drillers are not waiting for processing plants to be completed or pipelines to come online in order to sell their natural gas liquids (NGLs) from the Marcellus and Utica Shale region. A few weeks ago, one million gallons of NGLs were loaded on a tanker barge originating at the port in Weirton, WV. The barge floated first down the Ohio River, and then the Mississippi River on its way to Houston, TX for processing.
Read More “Drillers Ship NGLs from Weirton, WV to Houston via Barge”
Wheeling Jesuit University and West Virginia University are teaming up to study water samples from the Ohio and Allegheny rivers for the presence of bromides to see if bromides are coming from shale drilling wastewater discharges into the rivers. Bromides themselves are not toxic, but in sufficient quantities bromides can lead to the formation of cancer-causing trihalomethanes.
The study is a precaution to ensure bromides, which are found naturally, are not coming from drilling activity (i.e. drilling wastewater discharges).
Read More “WVU & Jesuit Univ Testing Ohio & Allegheny Rivers for Bromides”
The Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department and West Virginia University are together collecting data in the greater Wheeling, West Virginia area to see if drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale has a detectable impact on local air quality.
Read More “WVU & Wheeling Health Dept Conduct Marcellus Air Quality Study”
Noble Energy, Inc.’s senior management is hosting a conference today in Houston, Texas with analysts and investors to discuss the company’s current operations, future plans and operational outlook. In advance of the conference, Noble issued a preview of what they will talk about. Part of the preview includes an update (an important update) on their activities in the Marcellus Shale. One of the predictions: Noble will achieve an eye-popping 800 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) in production of natural gas in the Marcellus by 2017—within five years. Currently they’re at 140 MMcf/d.
Here’s Noble’s update for the Marcellus:
Read More “Noble Energy: 800 MMcf/d of Marcellus Production by 2017”
Not only do the number of jobs grow when shale drilling comes to a region, but the salaries for those working in those jobs grows as well. Case in point comes from a new report released by WorkForce West Virginia. The average (average!) increase in salary for someone employed in the oil and natural gas industry in West Virginia went up by $8,100 from 2008 to 2011. When was the last you you even had a raise, let alone $2K per year? The average increase for pipeline workers was even more—$2,800 per year.
More job and salary numbers from WorkForce WV:
Read More “WV Natural Gas Workers See Salaries Rise $2K/Year”
The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is on a tear. Last week the EPA announced a settlement and fine of $177,500 with PDC Mountaineer for draining a one-acre swamp in West Virginia (see this MDN story). Yesterday the EPA settled another Clean Water Act (CWA) case in the WV Marcellus—this one with Chesapeake Energy.
Chesapeake is getting fined a whopping $600,000 and put on two years probation for building a road through a Wetzel County, WV swamp. Seems like the EPA has a fixation on swamps (which are euphemistically called “wetlands”). Here’s the details for the Chesapeake settlement from the U.S Attorney’s office:
Read More “Chesapeake Fined $600K by EPA for Building Road in Swamp”
More tales of small companies in the process of making it big by plugging in to the Marcellus and Utica Shale “supply chain.” This one is about a couple of welders (and friends) who have started a specialty welding company in Wheeling, WV:
Read More “New Welding Business Plugs in to the Marcellus Supply Chain”
The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under the guise of the Clean Water Act (CWA), is poking it’s unwanted nose into Marcellus Shale gas drilling—again. Yesterday the EPA announced a settlement with PDC Mountaineer for what they say are violations of the CWA at four locations (for two gas wells). The company will pay a fine of $177,500, in addition to paying big bucks to restore problems they created while drilling two wells in Harrison County, West Virginia.
What was PDC’s environmental crime? They drained a one-acre swamp (euphemistically called a “wetland”) without getting permission. Even though PDC has agreed to pay the fine and restore the swamp (if they can), as part of the deal they did not admit to any violations of the CWA.
Read More “EPA Fines PDC Mountaineer for Clean Water Act Violations in WV”
Ergon, Inc., a crude oil processor headquartered in Jackson, MS but with operations in other states, including West Virginia, announced Wednesday there’s enough crude oil flowing from the Marcellus and Utica Shale region that they are investing $78 million to add more refining capacity to their plant in Newell, WV.
From the Ergon press announcement:
Read More “WV Refinery Expanding with Marcellus/Utica Crude Oil”
WorkForce West Virginia issued a new report to the WV legislature on Wednesday documenting that employment throughout WV in the oil and gas industry has increased 10% since 2008, and average wages for those workers have gone up 19%. Why? The Marcellus Shale, of course.
A few more interesting facts and figures from the report:
Read More “WV Jobs, Wages Go Up Because of Marcellus Shale Drilling”
Trans Energy issued the following production update yesterday about two Marcellus Shale wells they’ve drilled in Wetzel County, WV, which they call “two of our best performing wells to date”:
Read More “Trans Energy Update on WV Marcellus Wells: “Two of Our Best””
A major court case before the West Virginia Supreme Court was decided last week, and the decision is not favorable to surface rights landowners. MDN previously alerted you to the case as it went to court back in September (see this MDN story). In brief, in WV the sub-surface mineral rights in many cases were severed and sold separately from the surface landowner rights—years ago. Surface rights landowners understand that mineral rights owners (and drillers) need access, but they want the right to have a say in where a drilling pad will be located on their property—and just compensation for taking the property for that purpose.
The WV Supreme Court decided last week (a copy of the decision is embedded below) that surface rights landowners cannot challenge WV DEP permits for drill pads, and where the pads are located, on their property:
Read More “Major WV Court Case Goes Against Surface Landowners”
Crestwood Marcellus Midstream announced yesterday they have purchased four compression/dehydration stations from Enerven Compression for $95 million. The stations service Crestwood’s own gathering pipelines in Harrison and Doddridge counties in West Virginia. Antero Resources is the driller in the area using the Crestwood pipeline system. Crestwood’s CEO calls it a “bolt-on acquisition” for the company.
From the Crestwood press release, which includes an update on their Marcellus-related business with Antero:
Read More “Crestwood Midstream Buys 4 Compressor Stations in WV”
Some people call them “man camps.” Others call them “labor camps.” Whatever you call them, small groups of people (usually men) working on location and living in trailers—like what happens at drill pad sites—are now officially called labor camps in West Virginia. If a site in WV has 10 or more people living and working on location, you need a special permit according to a new state law.
Chesapeake Energy has become the first driller in WV (Ohio County) to apply for and receive a labor camp permit:
Read More “Chesapeake Energy Receives First ‘Labor Camp’ Permits in WV”
A USA Today article from yesterday takes a new swipe at the theme “Alaska and other states tax oil and gas and create a rainy day fund, so West Virginia, Pennsylvania and other states should do it too.” Should they? Pro-drillers will have differing opinions. What is interesting to MDN about the story, aside from the list of states that currently tax oil and gas (and what they do with it), is what West Virginia is considering, and the “let’s face reality, fracking is here to stay” comments attributed to a liberal group in the state.
The bits from the article relevant to the Marcellus and Utica Shale:
Read More “WV Considers ‘Future Fund’ to Stash Away Oil & Gas Revenue”