Marcellus Drilling News

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | North Carolina | Regulation

Lawsuit Won’t Stop NC Agency from Drilling Test Holes in Shale
May 26, 2015May 26, 2015

An interesting twist in the story out of North Carolina where a judge recently halted the forward momentum on fracking in the Tar Heel State that was set to begin in July (see Judge Puts NC Fracking on Hold Pending Outcome of Lawsuit). Even though Wake County Superior Court Judge Donald W. Stephens’ decision means the Mining and Energy Commission (MEC) can’t issue permits for drilling and fracking in shale deposits, that isn’t stopping the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) from contracting with a private drilling company to sink a series of test holes in Stokes, Scotland, Hoke and Cumberland counties starting June 12 to see whether shale gas is present in those locations…
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Energy Companies | Rice Energy

Rice Energy CFO Buys Another 6K Shares of Rice Midstream Stock
May 26, 2015May 26, 2015

Grayson T. Lisenby, senior vice president and chief financial officer for Rice Energy, likes what he sees in the company he works for. Lisenby recently bought another 6,000 shares of Rice Energy Midstream stock, which makes his total stake in the midstream subsidiary 27,652 shares, worth $457,000. It’s always a good sign when management eats its own dog food. In particular, if the money guy, the CFO, likes what he sees enough to put his own money at risk, that’s a really good sign…
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Energy Services | Seventy Seven Energy

Seventy Seven Energy Sells Trucking Subsidiary for Undisclosed Sum
May 26, 2015May 26, 2015

MDN recently told you Seventy Seven Energy–an oilfield services company with major operations in the northeast, the old Chesapeake Oilfield Operating division of Chesapeake–continues to operate in the red, which it has done since it became its own company in July 2014 (see Seventy Seven Energy 1Q15: Red Ink Continues to Flow Heavy). We also told you the company recently secured a $100 million loan (see Seventy Seven Energy Secures $100M Loan to Keep on Drillin’). Seventy Seven announced yesterday they are selling their trucking company subsidiary, Hodges Trucking (rig hauling company), for an undisclosed amount of money to Aveda Transportation and Energy Services Inc…
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Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Processing Plants

OOGA: Cracker Plants Would Turn Ethane from Expense into Cash
May 26, 2015May 26, 2015

There are three potential, large scale ethane cracker plants in play in the Marcellus/Utica region: Shell with a proposed plant in Beaver County, PA; Odebrecht with a proposed plant in Wood County, WV; and PTT Global Chemical with a proposed plant in Belmont County, OH. Of the three, Shell’s project seems the most likely to get built. The Odebrect plant is on hold, and the PTT plant is the new kid with lots of fanfare–but it’s way to early to gauge whether or not it’s a serious venture. We’ve written a number of stories over the years about the enormous economic benefits of a cracker plant–the jobs in building the plant, and then the jobs at the plant and the jobs for dozens/perhaps hundreds of satellite plants that will locate near it. The economic impact from a single cracker plant is upward of a staggering $20 billion. One of the often overlooked and little-talked-about aspects of the plants is what it will do for drillers. Right now a lot of ethane, the hydrocarbon that will feed these plants, is being produced in the tri-state area of PA, WV and OH. And right now ethane is an expense. Ethane is costing drillers money! They have to dispose of it somehow. When a cracker plant opens, drillers can then sell ethane to the plant and make money on ethane. It magically turns from an expense into cash…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research | Wastewater

Carnegie Mellon Study on Challenges of Water Mgmt in Fracking
May 26, 2015May 26, 2015

MDN spotted a newly published study in the journal Environmental Chemistry titled “Current perspective on produced water management challenges during hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas recovery.” The study, authored by two researchers from Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, takes a look at the impact of shale drilling on water resources–particularly the wastewater that results from fracking. MDN does not have a copy of the study. The abstract (below) doesn’t give us much to go on as to whether or not the authors believe fracking can be done safely. We also don’t know who funded the research. We offer you the summary and abstract (below) as a heads up that you can expect to read more about the study. That is, you can expect to read more about it unless the conclusion from the study says the challenges of fracking can be adequately managed. If that’s the finding, you can rely on mainstream media to totally ignore this study…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

Pittsburgh Newspaper Calls Out Dela. Riverkeeper over Penn East
May 26, 2015May 26, 2015

It’s so unusual we have to highlight it. One of two major newspapers in Pittsburgh, the Tribune-Review, has called out THE Delaware Riverkeeper over its opposition to the Penn East Pipeline. The Penn East, if built, will run 114 miles from the Scranton, PA area to the Trenton, NJ area. An editorial in the Tribune-Review last Friday questions the true motivation of THE Delaware Riverkeeper in their opposition to Penn East and tells the group, in so many words, to put up or shut up. Tell us exactly how the pipeline will “damage” the environment–and if you can’t, go away and leave us all in peace to build a pipeline with tremendous economic benefits in both jobs and lower energy costs for consumers…
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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues

Another Reality TV Show Looks to Exploit Shale “Suddenly Rich”
May 26, 2015May 26, 2015

We don’t much care for reality TV shows–especially those that aim to exploit regular folks. The story of fracking and the “untold riches” that flow from it have been the fodder for previous so-called reality TV shows–shows that bombed (see Blood and Oil: New “Reality TV” Series about OH Oil Company and Who Wants to be a (Fracking) Millionaire?). There’s nothing so predictable as a bad idea getting recycled for television. So here we go again. The same people behind “Real Housewives of Orange County” has put out a casting call for people who have struck it rich by signing leases for shale fracking. The new series, titled “Suddenly Rich,” will cast more than just folks who got rich from fracking. They’ll cast people getting rich from the lottery, insurance payout, etc. In other words, they want to show how sudden big money was squandered by poor idiots that don’t know their head from other parts of their anatomy. In a word, it’s about exploitation…
Read More “Another Reality TV Show Looks to Exploit Shale “Suddenly Rich””
Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Regulation

Propane Gets its Own Congressional Caucus, Support from OH/PA/NY
May 26, 2015May 26, 2015

No doubt you’ve heard of Congressional caucuses, right? They are informal groups composed of members of Congress, dedicated to the promotion of a single issue or cause. One of the most prominent such groups, perhaps the most well known, is the Congressional Black Caucus. (Can you imagine a group called the Congressional White Caucus? But we digress.) There’s the Blue Dog Coalition–a group of liberal Democrats pretending to be conservatives. How about the Republican Study Committee? No, they’re not Congresspersons who need to study more. They’re a group of conservative Republicans promoting social and economic conservative values (i.e. traditional values this country was founded on). There are, according to the Congressional Research Service, some 694 (!) such groups or caucuses in the U.S. Congress. Here’s number 695: the Congressional Propane Caucus. Yes, propane, a natural gas liquid (and filthy hydrocarbon destroying Mother Earth through evil global warming) now has a group of both Republicans and Democrats (truly bipartisan) Congresspeople who have formed a caucus to promote and legislate and protect and push the use of propane–a fossil fuel. The brand new Propane Caucus has among it’s members Congressman from the Marcellus and Utica Shale region–from Ohio, Pennsylvania and (yes) even from New York…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

NYer Sets Out to Make a Fracking Documentary that Tells the Truth
May 26, 2015May 26, 2015

MDN friend Victor Furman is a man on a mission. Vic is a New York landowner and a “shale gas activist” working with the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY). Vic is also co-host of the JLCNY’s JLC United Good News Table Talk Radio Show. Vic is passionate about restoring New Yorkers’ Constitutional rights to allow shale drilling. Vic’s latest project: He’s going to make a shale gas documentary–without the help of HBO and its liberal backers. Instead, Vic needs some help from pro-shale gas supporters. He’s going to travel to states that allow shale drilling and film the people who live close to it, telling their stories and reporting what he sees. As Vic says, he’ll report it all, “good, bad or indifferent.” Here’s the low down on Vic’s effort to get the truth out about shale drilling…
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About MDN | Calendar

Calendar of Events for May 25 – Aug 24 (90 Days)
May 26, 2015May 26, 2015

Below are upcoming events for the next three months (90 days). To see the full list of future events, visit this page: //marcellusdrilling.com/calendar/.

NOTE: To have an item included, please email it to: calendar@marcellusdrilling.com.
Read More “Calendar of Events for May 25 – Aug 24 (90 Days)”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, May 26, 2015
May 26, 2015May 26, 2015

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, May 26, 2015”
Allegheny County | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Olympus/Huntley & Huntley | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp

Deer Lakes School Signs Lease for $3,100/Acre + 18% Royalties
May 21, 2015May 21, 2015

Attention Martian parents from the Mars School District in Middlesex Township (Butler County), PA: In Allegheny County (bordering Butler County on the south) the Deer Lakes School District has just signed a lease to allow shale drilling under school property. Why are you Martians so afraid of shale drilling? (see Martian Arrogance: Town MUST “Protect Us” from Drilling via Zoning) At Tuesday night’s school board meeting, Deer Lakes board members voted to lease 110 acres of school property for drilling under (not on) with Huntley & Huntley, Inc. The lease terms are $3,100 per acre in a signing bonus and 18% royalties–yielding a nice check for $341,000 to the school just for signing. Those terms are not quite as rosy as last year’s deal struck by Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald who negotiated what turns out to be close to $4,000 per acre (and an 18% royalty) for leasing 1,180 acres in Deer Lakes Park (see Allegheny Co Exec Bests Range on Deer Lakes Park Lease Deal). The county park is literally a stone’s throw from the school…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | North Carolina | Regulation

Judge Puts NC Fracking on Hold Pending Outcome of Lawsuit
May 21, 2015May 21, 2015

Last July MDN told you that the first permits to frack shale wells in North Carolina would start to be issued this July (see North Carolina Shames New York: Fracking Begins in 2015). The NC Mining and Energy Commission did its part and completed regulations in March (see Triassic Park: North Carolina Becomes 34th State to Frack Shale). Everything was set to go. And then the lawsuits began. A NC judge has issued a ruling that prohibits the Mining and Energy Commission from issuing any permits until another case currently before the NC Supreme Court–questioning the legality of the appointment of several boards that manage state resources and the environment–plays out. It’s a pretty safe bet that the first permits to frack in NC won’t happen in July…
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Deep Well Services | Energy Services

PA Snubber Flourishes in Industry Downturn – Lessons Learned
May 21, 2015May 21, 2015

There’s no denying that with the number of drilling rigs reduced in the Marcellus/Utica, the supply chain–those businesses that service the industry–have also seen a reduction in business. You can’t lay down 30% of your rigs and not have some kind of effect on the industry. But not every supply chain business has been negatively affected. Deep Well Services (DWS), a “snubbing” oilfield services company headquartered in Pennsylvania, continues to break new revenue records and grow the payroll with new employees. Last July they had 128 employees. As of May this year, they have 140, and by the end of the year that number will be 190. That’s really saying something in this current downturn in the industry. How did they do it?…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Williams | Wyoming County (PA)

PA Landowners Beware Antis Wanting to “Help You” w/Pipeline Deal
May 21, 2015May 21, 2015

Landowners in northeast and central Pennsylvania should be wary of (and avoid) a new effort to try and recruit them into a “landowner group” that’s really just an anti-drilling group being formed to fight Williams and their much-needed Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project. Two anti-drilling kids (or youths, if you prefer) are spearheading the effort. Alex Lotorto is one of them. Alex has been one of the community agitators against the natural gas fired electric generating plant proposed for Jessup, PA (see Serial Protestor Alex Lotorto Seeks New Venue in Jessup). Alex and another twenty-something anti-driller, Allison Petryk (from New Jersey), recently conducted a meeting for unsuspecting landowners at the Tunkhannock Public Library in Wyoming County…
Read More “PA Landowners Beware Antis Wanting to “Help You” w/Pipeline Deal”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Vermont Wackos (Including AARP) Oppose 43-Mile Natgas Pipeline
May 21, 2015May 21, 2015

The fossil fuel hating nutjobs are out in force in Vermont. Anti-drillers who hate fracking because they hate natural gas because natural gas is an evil, nasty “fossil fuel” are trying to stall progress on a 43-mile natural gas pipeline Vermont Gas Systems is laying between Chittenden and Addison counties to deliver clean burning natural gas to Vermonters. Those opposing the pipeline include the wackos from a group called Rising Tide Vermont. But unfortunately, the pipeline is also being opposed by the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association (companies that deliver fuel oil) and opposed by even the socialist Vermont AARP. Who knows why the old farts association is opposing the pipeline–probably because no one paid them off (as others have done in the past). It’s a sad state of affairs, but Vermont Gas Systems is going on the offensive with a PR campaign…
Read More “Vermont Wackos (Including AARP) Oppose 43-Mile Natgas Pipeline”