Crazy Bernie Comes to Binghamton, Launches Natl Anti-Fracking Ad
Senile old Communist Bernie Sanders came to Binghamton, NY yesterday (where MDN is written and published) to campaign in “upstate” New York. No, we didn’t bother to go and see him. (We think vapid college kids like him because he reminds them of the grandfather they never had.) Sanders took the occasion of his visit to Binghamton to call for a national campaign to ban ALL fracking. Essentially he wants to shut down the entire oil and gas industry–an industry that’s been fracking for more than 40 years in this country. He’s not only senile–he’s dangerous. Or he would be dangerous if he ever got elected, which of course isn’t going to happen. Sanders launched a new 30-second Big Green TV advertisement (see it below) narrated by Susan Sarandon (i.e. Big Hollywood) to complain about Big Oil. Isn’t that rich? What a screwball…
Read More “Crazy Bernie Comes to Binghamton, Launches Natl Anti-Fracking Ad”
Last week MDN updated you on progress (or lack thereof) for Marathon’s Cornerstone Pipeline project–a 50-mile liquids pipeline connecting several processing plants in Ohio to Marathon’s refinery in Canton (see 
On May 18, the Ben Franklin Shale Gas Innovation & Commercialization Center (SGICC) will announce four $20,000 winners of this year’s Shale Gas Innovation Contest. In addition to showcasing the 12 finalists, this year’s event will also feature a Poster Contest highlighting research underway related to the oil and gas sector–from four major regional research universities. Below we have the list of all 12 finalists with a description of their qualifying technologies. Among the list is one of our favorite companies, HalenHardy, a previous winner of another SGICC award for Shale Gas Environmental, Health, & Safety (see 
Last week the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce and ShaleDirectories.com co-hosted the Utica Upstream conference at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH. MDN previously gathered up reported comments from the person who seemed to steal the show, Maria Cortez of energy research firm/consultant Wood Mackenzie (see 
Not long ago researchers at the University of Cincinnati that found fracking in Carroll County, OH taking place near water wells did not affect those wells (see 
We don’t have to tell you it’s bad out there in the oil and gas patch. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have disappeared in the last year or so. Many workers are on unemployment. Some have transitioned to other jobs within the oil and gas industry–many to other industries completely. But there’s one guy–a former roughneck–who has transitioned to a job we never imagined. He creates Art Deco pieces by welding old machinery and leftover whatever together–into things like tables. Apparently he makes enough money from it to pay the bills, including the salary of one employee. He does admit, however, that he’s biding his time until the o&g industry turns around again. Meet a unique 50-something guy in Ohio who went from roughneck to artist…
CPA/consulting firm HBK (Hill, Barth & King) is fresh out with their 2016 Energy Assessment–an analysis of energy trends, opportunities, challenges and risks. In the assessment (full copy below) HBK Energy Advisors (a division of HBK) weighs in on issues like Obama’s odious Clean Power Plan, renewable energy, LNG and more. Of particular interest to MDN is a series of predictions made not in the official assessment, but in an accompanying blog post on the HBK website. The analysts make a series of predictions for Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey and Florida. The first prediction for Ohio is that pipeline work in the Buckeye State will increase, mostly due to the NEXUS pipeline. Which we find interesting. Just last week we told you an analyst from Wood Mackenzie predicted the NEXUS won’t get built (see 
Last Thursday MDN brought you the news that the Dept. of Justice has decided to try to block the merger/buyout of oilfield services company Baker Hughes by bigger oilfield services company Halliburton (see 
MDN spotted a fascinating story in NGI’s Shale Daily publication about what may be a new trend developing in the Utica Shale. It all concerns interlateral well spacing. What the heck is that? When you drill a shale well, like a Utica well, you can drill down from a single location (i.e. well pad) multiple times and when you turn the drill bit horizontally, you drill an entirely new well. So each well pad contains, typically, anywhere from 2-12 underground wells. Each horizontal well underground is called a lateral. When you drill a lateral, you frack it–using small explosive charges to crack the rock apart near the lateral, injecting water with sand into the cracks. The water drains out, the sand remains “propping open” the cracks to allow natural gas (or oil, or NGLs) to drain out of the cracks, into the well and up the borehole to the surface. In the past few years most drillers have found putting the laterals about 750 feet apart keeps them far enough apart that the cracks from one well don’t interfere with the cracks from another well (see image below). Ideally you want the laterals to be far enough away that they don’t drain any gas from the next lateral–but close enough that you’re not leaving undrained rock in between. That distance in the Marcellus/Utica seems to be around 750 feet. But Rice Energy and Gulfport Energy, two major players in the Utica, are moving back to 1,000 foot spacing between their laterals. Why?…