Statewide WV

Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Dominion Turns On Appalachian Gateway Project Pipeline
September 5, 2012September 5, 2012

Dominion Transmission “threw the switch” (or rather opened the valve) to the Appalachian Gateway Project yesterday. The project was 3/4 of a billion dollars spent by Dominion to upgrade and expand existing infrastructure, and to build 110 miles of new pipeline. The end result is a big increase in the amount of Marcellus Shale gas flowing from West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania to markets along the eastern seaboard.

From the Dominion press release:

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Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

PA Drilling Rig Count Sinks to Lowest in 2 1/2 Years
August 29, 2012August 29, 2012

If you kick around the oil and gas industry for any length of time, you’ll hear about something called “the rig count.” Rig counts are the number of drilling rigs in use by energy companies to drill (or “spud”) new wells. If the rig count falls, that means new leasing is likely to fall and eventually, natural gas production will fall. But in the case of the Marcellus, falling rig counts don’t mean falling production—quite the opposite. It just means there’s a whole lot of wells already drilled, waiting to be completed and hooked up to pipelines.

Still, a falling rig count does give you a feel for where new drilling will (or won’t) take place—valuable for landowners and businesses to know. The latest numbers for Pennsylvania show the rig count in that state falling to its lowest level in years:

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Dominion Exploration | Education | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Two WV Colleges Get $100K Grant from Dominion Foundation
August 17, 2012August 17, 2012

Two West Virginia colleges received $100,000 ($50K each) in grant money from the Dominion Foundation to be used for hands-on oil and natural gas training. WV Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin presented the money in a ceremony on Thursday.

The press release from Gov. Tomblin’s office:

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Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Over 36K Shale Wells in U.S. Have Produced 23 TCF of NatGas
August 15, 2012August 15, 2012

Powell Shale Digest released a research report detailing how many shale wells there are in the U.S., and how much gas and oil/condensate those wells produce (see below). The results? Across the major shale plays—minus the Utica—the U.S. now has over 36,000 wells that have produced 23 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 682 million barrels of oil/condensate.

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Economic Impact | Energy Companies | HG Energy | Industrywide Issues | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Energy Exec Says Marcellus Will Last 100+ Years
August 14, 2012August 14, 2012

David Drennon is marketing and transportation manager with H.G. Energy LLC in Parkersburg, West Virginia. He spoke yesterday at the Parkersburg Rotary Club weekly meeting about development of natural gas from Marcellus Shale deposits and oil from Utica Shale deposits. He offered these observations and predictions about shale development in WV:

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Commodity Price | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Gas Utility Lowers NatGas Rate by 11.59%
August 9, 2012August 9, 2012

Bluefield Gas, a gas utility company based in Bluefield, West Viriginia, is lowering their rates for natural gas by 11.59%, effective November 1. Why? Marcellus Shale, of course.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Business Owner: Marcellus Drilling “Saved Our Cookies”
August 6, 2012August 6, 2012

According to the owner of a Charleston, WV construction company, Marcellus Shale drilling has “saved our cookies.” He’s referring to the economic reality that Marcellus drilling has single-handedly revived the construction industry in the Mountain State.

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Industrywide Issues | New York | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide NY | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

OH River Valley Commission Names Pro-Drilling Chairman
August 3, 2012August 3, 2012

The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO), established in 1948 to control and abate pollution in the Ohio River Basin, has elected a pro-drilling attorney as their new chairman. Kenneth Komoroski from Pittsburgh, PA assumed his new position on July 1, although the press release was not issued until August 1. Komorski was appointed to the Commission in 2003 by then President George W. Bush.

ORSANCO is an interstate commission representing eight states and the federal government. Member states include: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. While ORSANCO does not have the same broad powers as the Susquehanna River Basin Commission or Delaware River Basin Commission to issue permits and control shale gas drilling, some of their regulatory power does impact the drilling industry, especially on matters of drilling wastewater disposal.

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Aither Chemicals | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Aither: 5 Compounds Customers Want from a Cracker Plant
August 1, 2012August 1, 2012

Aither Chemicals remains committed to building an ethane cracker plant somewhere in the Marcellus/Utica Shale region, preferably in the Kanawha Valley region of West Virginia. An ethane cracker plant uses ethane (from wet gas) to “crack” it into other chemical compounds. Ethane is most commonly cracked to make ethylene, a raw material used in plastics.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Working on Another New Shale Drilling Law
August 1, 2012August 1, 2012

West Virginia passed a new oil and gas drilling law in December of last year. The “Horizontal Well Act” was overwhelmingly passed by both houses of the WV legislature and signed into law by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin. The law contained a number of new provisions—and as happens many times, nobody was especially happy with it (see this MDN story). However, the new law, according to some, has provided predictability and uniformity across the state for the drilling industry.

Don’t look now, but the legislature and state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is working on yet another new drilling law in advance of next year’s legislative session (sessions are held every two years in WV). At a meeting held last night about the proposed new law, anti-drilling environmentalist groups sounded off about proposed new rules and the changes they want, as well as a representative from the drilling industry.

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Industrywide Issues | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia

4 Companies Consider WV for Ethane Cracker Plant
July 17, 2012July 17, 2012

West Virginia’s intrepid State Commerce Secretary, Keith Burdette, is once again talking up ethane cracker plants. He says there are now four possible companies interested in building crackers in West Virginia—and that does not include Shell (which announced they would build across the border in PA).

We know about two of the four: Aither Chemicals (see this MDN story), and Brazilian company Braskem (see this MDN story). But who are the other two?

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Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Trend Toward Wet Gas Drilling Continues: Rig Count Data
July 16, 2012July 16, 2012

Yet more evidence that Marcellus and Utica Shale gas drilling is migrating from Pennsylvania to Ohio and West Virginia—away from dry gas areas toward wet gas areas. The number of drilling rigs, as tracked by Baker Hughes, tell the story:

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Industrywide Issues | NG Vehicles | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Gov. Tomblin Appoints Members to NatGas Vehicle Task Force
July 12, 2012December 19, 2012

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin yesterday announced the members of his Natural Gas Vehicle Task Force. Tomblin announced the formation of the Task Force a month ago with the mission of investigating if, and how, the state can convert all of it’s state-owned vehicles to run on natural gas (see this MDN story).

Yesterday’s announcement names the members of the new Task Force. It’s all all-star cast from some of the country’s biggest drillers and pipeline companies.

From the Governor’s press release:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Statewide WV | West Virginia

The Inverse Relationship of Coal and Natural Gas
July 3, 2012July 3, 2012

A heartrending editorial in the Charleston Gazette tells about recent massive layoffs in the West Virginia coal industry. While there’s mention of Obama’s war on coal (and make no mistake, it’s a real war on coal by the global warmists), the editorial puts most of the “blame” on the rise of cheap natural gas, brought about by hydraulic fracturing of shale.

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia | Williams

Exterran Wins Contract to Build 3 WV NatGas Processing Plants
July 2, 2012July 2, 2012

A big “get” for Exterran Holdings. They’ve won the contract to build three natural gas processing plants being built by Williams Partners in West Virginia.

From the Exterran press release:

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | New York | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide NY | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Energy Execs Rank Drilling Locations Including WV, OH, PA, NY
June 27, 2012June 27, 2012

Each year, the Canadian-based Fraser Institute surveys petroleum industry executives and managers (623 of them for 2012) asking them their opinions on the barriers to investing in exploration and production in various geographies across the globe. That is, what makes them more likely or less likely to spend money drilling in a particular location?

The Global Petroleum Survey, as it’s called, tallies the survey responses and ranks each geography from most desirable place to invest, to least desirable. The rankings for this year are interesting and illustrative that politicians’ words and legislation have a direct bearing on where, and how much, drilling companies are willing to spend.

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