Small WV Driller Looks for $30M to Drill 20 New Wells
Drilco, a small West Virginia drilling company, is looking to land 23 investors who are willing to plunk down a $1.3 million each (for a cumulative $30 million) to help the company drill more wells. According to the Drilco prospectus (below), Drilco wants to fund their 2016 1H Drilling Program with $30 million to drill 10 vertical and 10 horizontal wells throughout five crude oil and natural gas producing zones. The formations Drilco is targeting include: the Big Lime formation, the Big Injun Sandstone, Berea Sandstone, and Upper Devonian Shale and the Marcellus Shale. The ten vertical wells will be completed using multi-stage frac methods through the use of lateral jet perforating and bridge plug completion. Each of the ten vertical wells and ten horizontal wells will be drilled on various leaseholds held by Drilco in West Virginia. Please note: MDN has permission to share the prospectus below (called a private placement memorandum). MDN does not endorse the offering (nor do we not not endorse it). We simply bring it to you to highlight what one small driller is doing to raise money to keep on drilling, and to point out there may be more drilling on the way in the seven counties where Drilco currently has some 15,000 acres under lease…
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Yesterday MDN reported the story that Dominion Transmission has decided to lock out union members from working at their jobs in Dominion installations over a contract dispute (see 
In June MDN told you about an economic development group of business and government leaders from Ohio and West Virginia (the Mid-Ohio Valley) called Shale Crescent (see 
In August 2015, MDN told you that one of the biggest drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, Antero Resources, floated the idea of building a $275 million state-of-the-art frack wastewater treatment plant in Doddridge County, WV (see 
A West Virginia University engineering prof has just been awarded $110,000 to study methane aromatization. What’s that? It’s the process of turning methane, or natural gas, into “higher value products” like benzene and hydrogen. It’s not as easy as it may sound. If the good prof is successful, it may open up new markets in the northeast for our overabundant natural gas supplies. Here’s the lowdown…
Last week MDN was the first to share the news that the California-based US Methanol is building at least two, rumored up to five, methanol plants in the Mountain State (see 
All the way back in February MDN brought you exclusive news that Shell had begun approaching landowners in Beaver County to get them to sign easements for two ethane pipelines to feed the mighty cracker plant they plan to build in the county (see 
We’d never heard this before, but apparently the Marcellus/Utica has been known for some time as the “Beast of the East.” Fitting! However, our region has gone from “Beast of the East” to “Beast on a Leash.” Very true. Low prices have suppressed new drilling projects. But according to experts on a recent webinar held by S&P Global Platts, new Marcellus/Utica drilling “is imminent.” Now that’s REALLY good news! Here’s some other things said on the webinar…
Methanol plants convert natural gas into methanol, used as a chemical feedstock (or raw material) to create other things, like gasoline, antifreeze and more. More commonly you may call it a gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant. Methanol plants have the capacity to create a big demand for natural gas and sop up some of the oversupply we have in the Marcellus/Utica. In May we told you about Primus Green Energy’s plan to build a 160 metric tons per day (MT/day) methanol plant for Tauber Oil somewhere in the Marcellus (see 
In July MDN told you about exciting new publicly-financed research at West Virginia University that finds waste from Marcellus/Utica drilling (“frack waste”) is not radioactive or hazardous (see 
The legal beagles at global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright have done us all a huge favor. Researchers have just issued a quarterly legislative action update for the second quarter of 2016 looking at previously laws acted upon, and new laws introduced, affecting the oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. The “Quarterly legislative action update: Marcellus and Utica shale region” (full copy below) begins with a quick listing by state for existing or new laws introduced, with descriptions for each bill/law. This is, in one place, pretty much everything you need to know about what new laws (i.e. regulations) are coming down the pike that will affect the Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling industry…
The U.S. State Department and West Virginia University (WVU) want to give other countries interested in developing their own shale deposits a helping hand. The State Department’s Bureau of Energy Resources has reached a cooperative agreement with WVU to create the International Forum on Unconventional Gas Sustainability and the Environment, or INFUSE, a unique technical program dedicated to increasing other countries’ understanding of best practices for unconventional gas resource development. INFUSE will use a mix of classroom and in-the-field activities. Here’s the lowdown on INFUSE…
In June 2014 Dominion filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to construct and operate new compression facilities at existing compressor stations in Marshall County, WV and Monroe County, OH, and certain other facilities, collectively called the Clarington Project (see 
In May MDN brought you the news that a researcher at West Virginia University believes an natural gas liquids (NGL) storage hub is what the Marcellus/Utica region really needs (see 
A pair of companies operating in the Marcellus Shale announced late last week that they are laying off a collective 175 jobs in West Virginia between them . Energy Corporation of America (ECA), which ranked 20th for most production in the Marcellus Shale in 2015 according to NGI’s