Marcellus Drilling News

Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Sand/Proppant | Unimin | Webster County | West Virginia

Unimin Energy Opens 11th Marcellus/Utica Frac Sand Terminal
June 17, 2015June 17, 2015

A Texas-based company, Unimin Energy Solutions, has just opened its eleventh frac sand terminal–this one in Jerry Run, WV. The new terminal can store 20,000 tons of frac sand and load up to 25 trucks per hour. Uminim’s operations pretty much blanket the Marcellus and Utica Shale regions (see the map below), from northeast PA to southwest PA, various points in WV and even in eastern OH. There’s even a Uminim frac sand operation in Binghamton, NY, near MDN HQ! Here’s the low down on the newest Unimim facility in Jerry Run, along with a list of their other locations…
Read More “Unimin Energy Opens 11th Marcellus/Utica Frac Sand Terminal”
Housing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PHFA Looking to Build Low Income Housing in Marcellus Region
June 17, 2015June 17, 2015

The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) plans to use some of the $5 million they’re getting from the Marcellus Shale impact fee to fix up or build new low income housing projects in areas where there is Marcellus Shale drilling activity. The premise is that because of drilling, either people from outside of the area–or Pennsylvanians themselves–have snapped up apartments and houses in active drilling areas, driving up housing prices to the point that poor folks just can’t afford it anymore. The PHFA answer is to build or renovate housing projects and make them available to low income families/individuals…
Read More “PHFA Looking to Build Low Income Housing in Marcellus Region”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Public Opinion | Statewide PA

More on that RMU Poll that Shows PA Residents Love Fracking
June 17, 2015June 17, 2015

Yesterday MDN highlighted a Robert Morris University poll on fracking (see Poll: 56% of Americans & 74% of Pennsylvanians Support Fracking). We mentioned at the time that only a few media outlets were reporting the results for this poll which had been conducted in early May. RMU themselves hadn’t reported it on their own website, even though other polls taken since (in June!) were listed. Apparently our chiding worked, because after our story RMU did posted an update on the poll on their website with this headline: “Fracking Enjoys Strong Support from Pennsylvanians”…
Read More “More on that RMU Poll that Shows PA Residents Love Fracking”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Jun 17, 2015
June 17, 2015June 17, 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: Wed, Jun 17, 2015”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

EPA Begins Campaign to Discredit Their Own Fracking/Water Study
June 16, 2015June 16, 2015

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is furiously backpedaling after releasing a draft of their four-year study of fracking and water supplies with the conclusion that, “Hydraulic fracturing activities in the U.S. are carried out in a way that have not led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources” (see EPA Draft Report Says Fracking Doesn’t Pollute Groundwater Supplies). Of course those of us who have long known this is the case have celebrated and pointed out the good news to the masses. Apparently the EPA, beholden to Big Green, either ideologically or financially, wasn’t prepared for the flood of stories saying “EPA says fracking is safe for water.” What to do, what to do? It’s obvious–they have to discredit their own research. Run away from it. So the EPA has begun to work with sycophantic members of mainstream liberal media, like the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, to play up the “maybes, mights, could be’s and possibly’s” in the nearly 1,000-page report. In addition, the EPA has reactivated some of the retired dinosaurs from the agency to pitch stones at the research and paint nightmare scenarios. It’s like Jurassic World came to life at the EPA…
Read More “EPA Begins Campaign to Discredit Their Own Fracking/Water Study”
Ethane | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Marcellus/Utica Ethane to be Exported to Europe Starting This Year
June 16, 2015June 16, 2015

Exporting of Marcellus/Utica ethane from the Marcus Hook facility near Philadelphia is about to become a reality. Ineos Olefins & Polymers, one of Europe’s largest petrochemical companies, has just taken delivery of the first (of a planned eight) Large Gas Carriers (LGC)–an enormous ship specially outfitted to haul NGLs like ethane. The ship is nearly two football fields long and will hold almost 1 million cubic feet of ethane. The plan is to haul ethane to Ineos’ crackers in Scotland and Norway. Here’s the details, brought to us by our favorite government agency, the Energy Information Administration…
Read More “Marcellus/Utica Ethane to be Exported to Europe Starting This Year”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Public Opinion | Statewide PA

Poll: 56% of Americans & 74% of Pennsylvanians Support Fracking
June 16, 2015June 16, 2015

It seems to us that we’ve finally reached the tipping point in this country where most people have made up their minds about fracking–and they support it. Robert Morris University’s Polling Institute recently conducted a new national poll on fracking and released the results to select PA media outlets. RMU hasn’t yet published the results on their website. (The poll was completed in early May, but the results are only now leaking out. Why are they hiding this?) The results we have, from several Pennsylvania news sources, show that a strong majority of citizens in the U.S. support fracking (56%). In Pennsylvania, 74% of those polled support shale fracking. We’d really like to see the crosstabs–the exact questions asked and the breakout, by demographic categories, of how people responded. Until that’s available, we have a couple of news reports to share the good news…
Read More “Poll: 56% of Americans & 74% of Pennsylvanians Support Fracking”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Public Opinion | Statewide PA

Poll: PA Voters Want AG Kathleen Kane to Resign
June 16, 2015June 16, 2015

We have a second poll to share with you today from Robert Morris University, conducted in early June, this one on the topic of Pennsylvania’s anti-drilling and law-breaking Attorney General, Kathleen Kane. We won’t recount the laundry list of Kane’s persecution of the drilling industry in the state. We’ll only remind you that a grand jury is rumored to have found that she lied under oath–a little offense called perjury (see PA Grand Jury Finds Anti-Drilling AG Kathleen Kane Lied Under Oath). In a desperate attempt to hold on to power, Kane hired Lanny Davis to represent her in court. Lanny was Bill Clinton’s attack dog lawyer, hired to represent him after he lied under oath about getting BJs in the Oval Office. The depressing news coming from the RMU poll is that half of the residents of Pennsylvania don’t know about the “controversies” surrounding Kane–the fact that she lied under oath, etc. But of the other half who do know about it, two-thirds of them think she should resign–now…
Read More “Poll: PA Voters Want AG Kathleen Kane to Resign”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | MarkWest Energy | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Washington County

Cecil Twp Approves MarkWest Compressor, with Poison Pill Conditions
June 16, 2015June 16, 2015

Cecil Township (Washington County), PA, one of the seven selfish towns that sued to overturn a portion of PA’s Act 13 oil and gas drilling law granting them the right to retain local zoning authority over oil and gas related activities, have found their Act 13 victory to be somewhat hollow. As MDN reported nearly a month ago, Cecil has steadfastly refused to grant a permit to MarkWest Energy to build a compressor station since 2010 (five years ago!). After a lawsuit that worked its way through various levels of courts, and after Cecil exhausted all other options, a judge ordered them to grant the permit no later than May 30. Cecil proceeded to violate that deadline (see Cecil Twp Violates Court Order re MarkWest Compressor Permit). Last night, after intense last minute negotiations with MarkWest, the town finally voted to grant the permit, but not before sneaking in two last minute changes to conditions both sides worked out in advance, changes that will likely mean yet another trip to the judge. Seems Cecil is still intent on stopping the compressor station…
Read More “Cecil Twp Approves MarkWest Compressor, with Poison Pill Conditions”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Washington County

Robinson Twp Delays MarkWest Compressor, Approval Coming Soon
June 16, 2015June 16, 2015

This is a tale of two Pennsylvania townships. Both towns were part of the original seven selfish towns that sued the State of Pennsylvania to overturn portions of the Act 13 oil and gas law (see PA Court Says 7 Towns Can Keep Marcellus Money & Ban Drilling Too). Both towns share a border and both are in Washington County, PA. The residents of one town have clung to their anti-drilling views and continue to obstruct and obfuscate and block anything to do with drilling or pipelines. That town would be Cecil (see today’s story titled Cecil Twp Approves MarkWest Compressor, with Poison Pill Conditions). The other town, Robinson, has done a complete reversal. The residents of Robinson tossed their anti-drilling supervisors out of office, elected new ones, and have embraced the Marcellus Shale revolution happening around them (see Robinson Twp, PA Offers a Preview into Future of NY Frack Debate). Whereas Cecil is still trying to block a single MarkWest compressor station in their town, Robinson is moving forward with plans for a second MarkWest compressor station…
Read More “Robinson Twp Delays MarkWest Compressor, Approval Coming Soon”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Statewide VA | Virginia

VA Gentry Class Raising $1M to Oppose Atlantic Coast Pipeline
June 16, 2015June 16, 2015

Wealthy landowners in Virginia are halfway to raising $1 million in their effort to torpedo Dominion’s planned $5 billion, 550-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Just yesterday we told you that a majority of residents in West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina support the project (see Poll: Majority of Voters in VA, WV, NC Favor Atlantic Coast Pipeline). The pipeline will flow natural gas from the Marcellus/Utica to points across the southeast. That is, unless NIMBY’s raise enough money to run advertising campaigns to convince officials and regulators that this pipeline should not get built. Never underestimate the power of a bribe, er, a, “advertising” money. The new favorite phrase of those who oppose pipelines (watch for it in sycophantic media stories) is that pipelines are a “scar” on Mother Earth. How wicked and despicable to want to scar your mother…
Read More “VA Gentry Class Raising $1M to Oppose Atlantic Coast Pipeline”
Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Supply Chain | Vallourec

Youngstown Plant Starts Operations, Selling Pipes to Shale Industry
June 16, 2015June 16, 2015

Although drilling activity in the Marcellus/Utica, indeed across all shale plays, has decreased in the past six months, that doesn’t mean all gas and oil related businesses have been adversely affected. Take Vallourec’s VAM USA LLC subsidiary–a pipe manufacturer with a facility in Youngstown, Ohio. In May, VAM began producing the first pipes for commercial sale at its new premium threading plant in Youngstown. More money, more jobs, rolling into eastern Ohio–thanks to the miracle of hydraulic fracturing. Here’s the details on VAM’s startup in producing pipe products for the shale industry…
Read More “Youngstown Plant Starts Operations, Selling Pipes to Shale Industry”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues

Bumper Sticker: Ban Food & Water Watch Now
June 16, 2015June 16, 2015

Ban Food & Water Watch Now. That’s the bumper sticker we think people should put on their vehicles to express displeasure with the lies peddled by this un-American organization. Big Green organizations like the Park Foundation and the William Penn Foundation fund the activities of Food & Water Watch and other virulently anti-drilling organizations (including the Sierra Clubbers). In turn, these partisan hacks peddle lies at public meetings, and use money from their Big Green benefactors to launch frivolous lawsuits that slow down and in some cases stop shale drilling and pipeline projects. We think they should be stopped. They should be banned. What? “That’s outrageous! They have a right to express themselves!” So too, do pro-drillers. We have as much right to demand that THEIR organization be banned as they have to demand that fracking and pipelines (and all of the jobs and economic benefits that come from it) be banned. We’re simply putting the shoe on the other foot to see how they like wearing it. At a minimum, the IRS needs to investigate their tax exempt status with an eye to revoking it…
Read More “Bumper Sticker: Ban Food & Water Watch Now”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Antis Hate Marcellus Shale Drilling…Because of Richard Nixon?!
June 16, 2015June 16, 2015

One of the most hated politicians (for the liberal left) in all of American history was Richard Milhous Nixon, 37th President of these United States. Which is ironic, because it was Nixon who created the blight on America we have today known as the Environmental Protection Agency–one of the libs’ favorite government agencies. Anywho, imagine our delight when we read this headline from a letter to the editor in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale fulfills President Nixon’s dream of energy independence.” The letter (full copy below) is written by MDN friend Joe Massaro from Energy in Depth. It got us to thinking, maybe the libs hate Marcellus Shale drilling not only because they consider it a crime against Mother Earth, with so-called global warming, but maybe they instinctively hate it because they hate Richard Nixon! Yeah! Libs don’t have to make sense (they rarely do)–and this explanation is as good as any, right? Read on to see how our buddy Joe found yet another liberal sore spot–associating Marcellus drilling with Richard Nixon–and jammed his foot on it…
Read More “Antis Hate Marcellus Shale Drilling…Because of Richard Nixon?!”
American Energy Partners | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Ohio | Statewide OH

Problematic: McClendon’s AEP Not Paying Some of its Bills
June 15, 2015June 15, 2015

Does Aubrey McClendon’s American Energy Partners (AEP)–the new company he founded after being unceremoniously booted from Chesapeake Energy–have cash problems? You certainly wouldn’t think so. At last check in May 2014, McClendon had raised a staggering $8.7 billion in little more than a year (see Aubrey McClendon Raises Huge $8.7B for Shale Drilling…So Far). But the evidence keeps piling up that Aubrey isn’t paying his bills. In April, McClendon created a “blank check” company to raise $200 million in cash (see Aubrey McClendon’s New “Blank Check Company” Looks to Raise $200M). In May, Paloma Resources said a 3-way deal including McClendon’s AEP to lease 130,000 acres in the Ohio Utica Shale went bust because Aubrey didn’t have enough money to close the deal (see McClendon Running Out of Money?! Paloma Utica Deal Goes Bust). Last week MDN told you about a contractor working for AEP with several hundred thousand dollars in outstanding invoices that have gone unpaid–for more than 120 days (see Big McClendon News: Sells 35K Utica Acres, Creates New Company). Now the latest: a group of Ohio landowners have sued McClendon’s AEP along with an affiliate company and a land services company working for AEP, for non-payment of lease bonuses…
Read More “Problematic: McClendon’s AEP Not Paying Some of its Bills”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Research | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

List of Who’s Still Active/Drilling in the Ohio Utica Shale
June 15, 2015June 15, 2015

Who’s still drilling/active in the Ohio Utica Shale? Depends on what criteria you use to measure it. We spotted a list of 19 “active” drillers in the Utica based on the criteria of who had producing wells in the first quarter of 2015. Fair enough. But as for who is actively drilling new holes in the ground right now? That’s a slightly different list. MDN recently published Volume 1 for the 2015 Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook (now in our fourth year of publishing this series). Our list shows 12 drillers who received at least one permit to drill in the Utica during the first four months of 2015. We have both lists below…
Read More “List of Who’s Still Active/Drilling in the Ohio Utica Shale”