Statewide WV

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    WV Forced Pooling Bill Dies in Committee, Yet Again

    As MDN alerted you, the West Virginia House of Delegates took up HB 4558, a forced pooling/unitization bill for the third or fourth year running (see WV Legislature Makes Another Run at Forced Pooling/Unitization). Yesterday we alerted you that it appeared the bill may be in trouble (see WV Forced Pooling Bill Already in Trouble, Passage Doubtful).

    Today we’re happy to report the bill is dead for another year…
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    WV Forced Pooling Bill Already in Trouble, Passage Doubtful

    Yesterday MDN told you about the new initiative in the West Virginia legislature to revive (yet again) a forced pooling bill (see WV Legislature Makes Another Run at Forced Pooling/Unitization). A few more details on that initiative have (as we suspected) appeared in WV media outlets. Not only was House Bill (or HB) 4558 introduced, but a companion bill Senate Bill (SB) 578 was also introduced. Already one of the senators sponsoring the Senate bill has asked his name to be removed and is backing away from it, saying the measure “will not pass.”

    Even Corky Demarco, executive director of the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association, says he’s “not sure” of the outcome for the legislation. All of which means it sure looks to us like it’s (once again, thankfully) DOA for this session. However, we’ll continue to keep an eye on it. Here’s the latest…
    Read More “WV Forced Pooling Bill Already in Trouble, Passage Doubtful”

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    WV Bill to Allow More Drill Cuttings in Landfills Faces Opposition

    MDN told you in stories both yesterday and today about WV House Bill (HB) 4558 that would allow forced pooling in the state–a bill that seems headed for defeat. However, there is a second House Bill actively under consideration related to the Marcellus/Utica drilling industry in the state. HB 4411 would establish in law that WV municipal landfills can legally accept over the current legal monthly maximum limit of drill cuttings for disposal (full copy of the bill is embedded below). Last year the WV DEP issued a directive that allows landfills to accept drill cuttings over the maximum 10,000 tons, something that some landfills have done since that time (in some cases landfills are accepting up to 40 tons per month). Apparently HB 4411 will codify the DEP directive into law, meaning future administrations can’t arbitrarily decide to rescind the more generous directive in place now.

    A House hearing was held yesterday on HB 4411. Of the 20 speakers who addressed the House panel, 19 of them spoke against the law. The sole supporter was Charlie Burd, executive director of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia. Here’s more of the story on disposing of drill cuttings (leftover rock and dirt) in municipal landfills…
    Read More “WV Bill to Allow More Drill Cuttings in Landfills Faces Opposition”

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    The Twisted Logic of an Anti-Driller: Blame Natgas for Everything

    If you try to enter the mind of a devoted anti-driller to understand their viewpoint and how they think, you risk going insane. We caution against it.

    Here’s an example of how “logic” works for anti-drillers. There’s a big chemical spill that affects the drinking water for 300,000 West Virginians–caused by the coal mining industry. You no doubt remember the headlines from a month or so ago. Since the coal industry caused the problem, we need new legislation that targets the shale drilling industry. Wait, what??? Yeah, that’s how logic works for an anti-driller…
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    WV Legislature Makes Another Run at Forced Pooling/Unitization

    Breaking news: The West Virginia Legislature is once again taking up the issue of forced pooling–or as they are calling it, “unitization”. The forced pooling bill was introduced once again, as it has been for several years running, just a few days ago. Each year the WV legislature meets for a 60-day session and that’s it. So work has to get done quickly. An alert MDN reader tipped us that later today the House of Delegates Energy Committee will consider H.B. 4558 (full copy of the bill embedded below) at a 3 pm session today. The committee must vote to report the bill out of committee before a vote by the entire House can be taken. Will that happen? Not sure.

    According to the West Virginia Natural Gas Blog (written by law firm Lewis Glasser Casey & Rollins), both of WV’s natural gas associations are in favor of the bill. MDN has not had time to read/review the bill and therefore won’t (at this time) render an opinion. But our long-standing view remains unchanged–we take a dim view of forced pooling period. Unitization–the right to re-sell already-leased land, or to include small bits of land where the owner cannot be tracked down after a good-faith effort–is one thing. Coming in and saying 51% of your neighbors have signed, we’ll take yours too if you don’t–that’s a completely different matter and for us, should not be done. We’re sure there will be more press on today’s hearing, which we’ll bring you when we see it…
    Read More “WV Legislature Makes Another Run at Forced Pooling/Unitization”

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    MarkWest: 7 New NE Plants Online in Past 4 Mos, 17 More Coming!

    Number 1There are a number of midstream (pipeline and processing plants) companies operating in the Marcellus and Utica region. The country’s largest midstream company, Kinder Morgan, increasingly has a presence in the region. Joint ventures of various kinds, like Blue Racer Midstream (Dominion and Caiman Energy) are important new–and big–players. Williams Partners is one of the biggest. But if we had to identify which midstream company has the most assets, the most presence in the region, we’d have to say it’s MarkWest Energy. Yesterday MarkWest issued an operational update on their Marcellus and Utica projects–and frankly, it’s really impressive. This is a “time to crow about what we’ve done and will do” update. They’ve earned the right.

    Over the past four months MarkWest has brought seven new, major projects online: 5 new cryogenic processing plants (separates wet gas into two streams, methane and NGLs), and 2 new fractionation plants (further separates the NGLs into their components, like ethane, butane and propane). Each one of these projects represents hundreds of millions of dollars of investment and hundreds of jobs. Here’s the kicker: MarkWest has another 17 major processing and fractionation projects under construction! Incredible. Below is the update issued yesterday by MarkWest which identifies many of projects and customers. It’s well worth your time to read:
    Read More “MarkWest: 7 New NE Plants Online in Past 4 Mos, 17 More Coming!”

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    WV Anti-Drillers Try to Tie Coal Chemical Spill to Fracking

    MDN alerted you yesterday that some businesses on the periphery of the shale drilling industry in West Virginia may be affected by the recent coal-related chemical spill in that state that shut off water to some 300,000 residents (see Bumpy Ride for GreenHunter Because of WV Coal Chemical Spill?). Apparently anti-drilling Democrats in the state aren’t stopping at the periphery of the industry–why not use this unrelated chemical spill tragedy to falsely paint the entire shale drilling industry too? Yeah! What a great idea! (Rahm Emanuel: “You never let a serious crisis go to waste.”)

    And so is born one of the most confusingly false and fact-challenged articles we’ve read in a long time–and that’s saying something. A Huntington News reporter was apparently so wowed by has-been WV politician Charlotte Pritt (who once ran for governor in WV and lost), that he accepted her spoon-fed pablum that the recent coal-related chemical spill “has ties” to the fracking industry. The reporter confusingly cites studies going back years from trustworthy sources like (*cough*) Politico, and sprinkles in liberal doses of liberal dogma like “Halliburton loophole,” and apparently expects you to understand what he and Queen Charlotte are trying to say: frackin’s bad for ya man…
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    Chevron’s Marcellus Drilling Picks Up Steam in WV, PA

    With 700,000 net acres in the Marcellus Shale and 600,000 net acres in the Utica Shale, Chevron is one of the largest acreage holders in the northeast. Although Chevron has been actively drilling in Pennsylvania, their drilling in Ohio and West Virginia, up to now, has been all but non-existent. Is that about to change, at least in WV? According to an article published today out of Wheeling, WV, Chevron’s drilling activity in WV is due to pick up in 2014…
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    Compare & Contrast 2 Eastern Democrat Governors on Shale Drilling

    Let’s compare and contrast “state of the state” addresses delivered yesterday by two Democrat governors in the eastern United States. Governor A has a thriving, business-friendly state that welcomes not only service businesses but specializes in ensuring heavy industry businesses are welcome and investing in his state. In fact, Governor A, who is not only business-friendly but also environment-friendly, works tirelessly to expand job opportunities for his residents, including shale jobs. He’s probably the only Democrat MDN would vote for! And that’s saying something.

    Governor B, on the other hand, generally sits on his rear-end, goes to expensive fundraisers deluding himself that he has a chance at the presidency, has the highest unemployment in the eastern U.S., is driving thousands of businesses (and business owners) out of his state each month while mouthing platitudes about being business-friendly, and frankly is a do-nothing governor. Can you guess which is which?…
    Read More “Compare & Contrast 2 Eastern Democrat Governors on Shale Drilling”

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    Eureka Hunter Boasts 360% Yearly Increase in Marcellus/Utica Flow

    Eureka Hunter, the wholly-owned midstream (pipeline) subsidiary of driller Magnum Hunter, published their month by month flow numbers yesterday for how much gas they pumped through their pipelines in West Virginia and Ohio during 2013. It was an impressive year for Eureka Hunter. The average daily flow or “throughput” in 2012 was 23,291 million Btus (or MMBtus), which equates to 23.3 million cubic feet per day (or MMcf/d). If the “average” well is producing, say, 3 MMcf/d, that’s the equivalent of having 8 wells connected to the pipeline. The average daily flow in 2013 was 83,828 MMBtus, or 83.4 MMcf/d, or 28 wells hooked up and flowing. That’s a 360% year over year increase–nearly quadruple the volume!

    What the average doesn’t tell you, however, is that by the end of the year, Eureka Hunter’s pipeline flowed nearly 160,000 MMBtus, or 160 MMcf/d, which is production from an average 53 wells. They predict in 2014 the daily flow rate will hit 206,500 MMBtus. Somewhere between 40-50% of the gas they flow is from Triad Hunter, another Magnum Hunter subsidiary (sister company to Eureka Hunter). Below is the press release with Eureka Hunter’s monthly flow numbers. With our explanation above, you now know how to view it!…
    Read More “Eureka Hunter Boasts 360% Yearly Increase in Marcellus/Utica Flow”

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    WVU Prof Stokes Radioactive Fears, Says DEP Study Missing Research

    Say What?Here’s a story that we confess, we’re having a tough time wrapping our brains around. Allegations are swirling in West Virginia that one of three officially conducted studies for the state’s Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) released last year overlooked important data collection. The study in question was completed in December 2011 and released in February 2012. Titled “Pits and Impoundments Final Report,” the report looks at frack wastewater impoundments and water pits used in horizontal Marcellus Shale drilling (see WVU Study Finds Potential Problems with Frack Wastewater Pits for a copy of the full study). From what we can determine, solid waste, like drilling mud and “cuttings” (leftover rock and soil from drilling) were not part of that study–at all.

    But now, the Charleston Gazette identifies and quotes a WVU professor who supposedly worked on that study (although his name doesn’t appear in the study) who says researchers tried to test drill cuttings for radioactivity and were either denied access or put off/delayed until they finally ran out of time and had to file the report without doing the analysis. It’s now a big deal because anti-drillers are raising the specter that everyone is about to glow in the dark from radioactive drill cuttings going to landfills across the state. The WVU prof seems to be intentionally stoking those fears…
    Read More “WVU Prof Stokes Radioactive Fears, Says DEP Study Missing Research”

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    WV Anti-Drillers Continue to Harp on Drill Cuttings in Landfills

    Anti-drillers in West Virginia continue to beat the drums about drill cuttings (leftover rock, dirt and mud from shale drilling) being disposed of in landfills. The claim they make is that the state “quietly” carved out a “loophole” earlier this year that allows untold mountains of radioactive dirt to be dumped willy-nilly in the nearest landfill and as a result we’ll all be glowing in the dark any day now. Of course it’s bupkis, but it makes for great headlines.

    Here’s the latest “keep the radioactive dirt issue alive” story from the AP, from a few weeks ago:
    Read More “WV Anti-Drillers Continue to Harp on Drill Cuttings in Landfills”

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    EPA Makes Chesapeake Pay $9.7M for Spilling Dirt in Creeks & Swamps

    The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced yesterday that they’ve slapped Chesapeake Energy with a $3.2 million fine, and a requirement that Chessy spend another $6.5 million to clean up 27 sites in West Virginia that the EPA says were “damaged by unauthorized discharges of fill material into streams and wetlands.” That is, Chessy got sloppy and dumped some dirt in a few creeks and swamps (the horror!). The EPA used the federal Clean Water Act to extract their multiple pounds of flesh out of Chesapeake. The EPA is all proud of themselves that this is “one of the largest” fines ever levied by the EPA using the CWA.

    Here’s the announcement direct from the belly of the rogue beast itself:
    Read More “EPA Makes Chesapeake Pay $9.7M for Spilling Dirt in Creeks & Swamps”

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    Magnum Hunter Production #s for Recent Wells Drilled in OH & WV

    This morning Magnum Hunter issued an operational update for wells recently drilled in both the Marcellus and Utica Shale–in Ohio and West Virginia. In addition to production stats for the new wells (see below), MH reports they continue to snap up acreage in both the Marcellus and Utica. They now own 89,000 acres in the Marcellus and 105,000 acres in the Utica. Some of that acreage overlaps and they plan to drill both Marcellus and Utica wells on the same pad in some cases.

    Here’s the update, including well results from wells drilled in Monroe and Washington counties in OH, and Tyler County in WV:
    Read More “Magnum Hunter Production #s for Recent Wells Drilled in OH & WV”

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    WV Residents Express Concerns over Drill Cuttings in Landfills

    Drill cuttings (leftover rock and dirt from drilling wells) sometimes contains low levels of naturally occurring radiation–that’s a fact. The typical way of disposing drill cuttings is via landfill. Loads are tested for radiation to be sure it doesn’t exceed safe limits, but any time you use the “r” word folks understandably get a little bit antsy. Visions of nuclear waste dumps run through their heads. Recently a rash of media-manufactured stories have appeared that West Virginia has a “loophole” that allows dumping of “radioactive shale waste” in local landfills. That’s not happening, and as stated, when/if there’s radioactivity in the cuttings, it’s usually so low it’s below that of medical waste that goes to the landfill.

    But the media has now done it’s job and people are in a dither about this issue. So it’s no surprise that in an area of WV where there is no shale drilling–the eastern panhandle–folks turned out in large numbers to express concern over drilling in general and landfilling of cuttings in particular that may (or may not) be happening in their area…
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    PDC Energy to End Marcellus Drilling in 2014, Continue in Utica

    It’s the “Get out an update on what we plan to do in 2014” time of year. Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue like “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” End of year is not only about holidays but also about telling investors what they can expect next year–how a company plans to make money and provide a good return. Even though these statements are sometimes routine and dry, often you find interesting details when you pick through them. Like yesterday’s 2014 guidance statement from PDC Energy, a driller in both the Marcellus and Utica Shale.

    In a low-key but to us surprising announcement, PDC’s statement says they will suspend drilling in the Marcellus in 2014. They plan to finish drilling four wells already under way in Taylor County, WV and then not drill any more Marcellus wells, but instead concentrate their time and effort on the Utica Shale and on Colorado’s Wattenberg Field. For those interested in Marcellus and Utica drilling, reading these updates is anything but dry! Take time to look over PDC’s plans for 2014, particularly their plans for the Utica…
    Read More “PDC Energy to End Marcellus Drilling in 2014, Continue in Utica”