Marcellus Drilling News

Energy Companies | Stone Energy

Stone Energy 1Q15: No New Marcellus Drilling, But More Production
May 5, 2015May 5, 2015

Stone Energy, one of the smaller drillers in the Marcellus/Utica region, released their first quarter 2015 update yesterday. Previously Stone announced they would hit the pause button on any new Marcellus drilling after 1Q15 (see Stone Energy Will Suspend Marcellus/Utica Drilling after 1Q15). Even though Stone is not drilling any new wells, they did begin bringing 8 Marcellus wells online that were previously drilled, which led to a slight bump up in Marcellus production to an average of 130 million cubic feet per day during 1Q15. Below are select portions of yesterday’s update that touch on the northeast…
Read More “Stone Energy 1Q15: No New Marcellus Drilling, But More Production”
Allegheny County | Meetings | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Still Time to Attend SGICC’s Free May 12 Event & See Cool Tech
May 5, 2015May 5, 2015

Who says there’s no free lunch?! On May 12, you can attend the Ben Franklin Shale Gas Innovation & Commercialization Center’s (SGICC) free event (with lunch!) at the Southpointe, PA Hilton Garden Inn. And what’s the event? It is the unveiling of four winners of the SGICC’s annual Shale Gas Innovation contest. Each year the SGICC runs a contest to highlight early-stage technologies that enhance responsible stewardship of the environment while properly utilizing our bountiful Marcellus Shale as an asset. Four winners (out of the final 14 selected) will receive a $25,000 cash prize each–$100,000 total. The event will celebrate the newest winners and give YOU the opportunity to mill around and review each of the 14 finalists and their truly unique and innovative technologies. Here’s more details and how to register…
Read More “Still Time to Attend SGICC’s Free May 12 Event & See Cool Tech”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Research

MDN Thinks It’s Time to Divest Your Money from HSBC Bank
May 5, 2015May 5, 2015

If you still do your banking at HSBC (otherwise known as The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation), perhaps it’s time you didn’t. We think it’s time to “divest” from doing business with, and putting your money in this anti-fossil fuel organization. The so-called Climate Change section of HSBC recently circulated a note to investors (copy below) telling them they should divest from fossil fuel companies and if they don’t, they “may one day be seen to be late movers, on ‘the wrong side of history'”. We’d like to make a little history ourselves. If you have your checking and savings account with HSBC, personal or commercial, why not move it now? Don’t be a “late mover” or you may not get your money once the stampede to divest from HSBC begins…
Read More “MDN Thinks It’s Time to Divest Your Money from HSBC Bank”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, May 5, 2015
May 5, 2015May 5, 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 5, 2015”
Energy Companies | Forest County | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | SWEPI | Tioga County (PA)

PA DCNR Publishes Lease Agreements for Deals Under Rivers/Creeks
May 4, 2015April 30, 2018

In February 2015, MDN did a deep dive into the issue of Pennsylvania leasing underneath rivers and streams to allow Marcellus/Utica Shale drilling (see PA DCNR Program Leases Under Rivers/Creeks for Marcellus Drilling). PA maintains the state owns the land underneath any river or creek that is “navigable” and therefore has the right to lease it for drilling, denying the landowners who own the land along the banks of that stream signing bonuses and royalties. It is a thorny issue. Does the state actually “own” the land under rivers and creeks? It’s an issue that (seems to us) should be litigated and decided. In that story in February MDN brought you a list of river and creek deals signed, as of early January, with an indication of who signed and how much the signing bonus was for. At the bottom of that list (we’ve included the list below for your convenience) are six deals with Shell’s SWEPI–five of the deals for tracks of river/creeks in Tioga County, PA, and one in Forest County, PA. Interestingly, the Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), the state agency doing the leasing on behalf of the state, has just published notification for those six SWEPI deals in the May 2 Pennsylvania Bulletin which include the full details for each deal…
Read More “PA DCNR Publishes Lease Agreements for Deals Under Rivers/Creeks”
Belmont County | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Processing Plants

FirstEnergy Says Talk of Selling Land for OH Cracker “Premature”
May 4, 2015May 4, 2015

Two weeks ago MDN brought you the good news that two foreign companies–one from Thailand and the other from Japan–are teaming up with the aim of building a $5 billion ethane cracker plant in Belmont County, OH (see It’s Official: Belmont County Chosen as POSSIBLE Cracker Plant Site). A day later we shared with you Belmont County’s enthusiasm for the project, and our own “cracker fatigue” (see Belmont County Elated with Cracker Plant Announcement (Drip)). These projects take years and have more ups and downs than a roller coaster. It seems our words of advice to temper enthusiasm for this new project are already bearing out. Utility company FirstEnergy owns the land where the cracker plant would, theoretically, be built. FirstEnergy is saying wait a minute, we haven’t agreed to sell that land to anybody…
Read More “FirstEnergy Says Talk of Selling Land for OH Cracker “Premature””
Allegheny County | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crime | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

US Attorney Looks for “Environmental Crimes” in Marcellus/Utica
May 4, 2015May 4, 2015

On Friday MDN told you of an observation about anti-drillers trying to criminalize accidents and (in some cases) sloppy neglect when it comes to Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling (see Youngstown Injection Wells Previously Shut Down Resume Operation). The emphasis on so-called “environmental crimes” seems to be coming from the federal government–in the Youngstown case, from the EPA. We spotted another such effort–this one from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in southwest PA (Pittsburgh). U.S. Attorney David Hickton began meeting (colluding?) in December with the FBI, EPA, and the PA DEP and PA anti-drilling Attorney General “to discuss opportunities for improved environmental enforcement.” Another such meeting is scheduled for this week…
Read More “US Attorney Looks for “Environmental Crimes” in Marcellus/Utica”
Energy Services | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Williams

Williams Says Some Marcellus Drillers Shutting in Production
May 4, 2015May 4, 2015

Last week top management from midstream heavyweight Williams participated in an analyst call to discuss first quarter 2015 results and to talk about what to expect going forward in 2015. The one that that stands out about the call is that Williams is facing lower volumes of gas flowing through their pipelines in some areas of the Marcellus Shale because drillers are “curtailing” or shutting-in some of their wells to wait for natgas prices to go up. Sometimes drillers do that. They have a lot of expenses sunk into a well. If they believe the price will rise in the near or medium term, they sometimes throttle back and wait. How much are drillers shutting in? Williams figures it will be between 300-500 million cubic feet per day (Mmcf/d) of production…
Read More “Williams Says Some Marcellus Drillers Shutting in Production”
Energy Services | MarkWest Energy

MarkWest Energy Management Reshuffle Elevates Marcellus/Utica
May 4, 2015May 4, 2015

MarkWest Energy, one of the largest (if not the largest) midstream company in the Marcellus/Utica, has just announced a reshuffling of senior management that will affect the northeast region. Randy S. Nickerson, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer for MarkWest, will retire in early 2016. His retirement has set off a flurry of dominoes and people changing chairs. With respect to the Marcellus/Utica, effective June 1, Greg Floerke, currently the Senior Vice President of Operations for the Northeast Region will be promoted to Randy Nickerson’s position. That leaves an opening that will be filled by David Fitch, currently the Vice President of Engineering for the Northeast Region. Fitch will replace Floerke as the head of operations for the Northeast Region. Why does it matter?…
Read More “MarkWest Energy Management Reshuffle Elevates Marcellus/Utica”
CNG/LNG | Dauphin County | Industrywide Issues | NG Vehicles | Pennsylvania

UPS Adds 64 New LNG Tractor Trailers to Fleet in Harrisburg, PA
May 4, 2015May 4, 2015

Two years ago we tipped our hat to UPS, the worldwide package delivery service, for their commitment to growing their natural gas fleet with a plan to add 700 new LNG (liquefied natural gas) tractor trailers to the fleet (see UPS to Grow NG Fleet with Additional 700 LNG Tractor Trailers). Good news: UPS has done it again. The company announced last week they are adding another 64 new LNG tractor trailers to the fleet–this batch based in Harrisburg, PA. No doubt cheap, abundant Marcellus Shale gas had something to do with that decision…
Read More “UPS Adds 64 New LNG Tractor Trailers to Fleet in Harrisburg, PA”
Air Quality | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Research

UMD Junk Science Research “Links” Shale Drilling to Air Pollution
May 4, 2015May 4, 2015

A new anti-drilling “study” (i.e. junk science) has just been released by anti-drillers at the University of Maryland–pretending to be real science when it’s not. The study claims to show that locations hundreds of miles “downwind” from active shale drilling operations end up with higher levels of ethane in the air than other locations. Of course the “researchers” didn’t bother to conduct similar tests and analysis for locations not downwind from drilling. They found a spike in ethane concentrations in the air in Baltimore and immediately jumped to the conclusion it’s from Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale drilling, and then worked hard to connect a bunch of dots that would “prove” just how nasty and vile this whole Marcellus shale drilling thing really is (and consequently why it should be banned in PA, WV and OH). Predictable, and sad that yet another institution like the University of Maryland has prostituted itself on the alter of Big Green…
Read More “UMD Junk Science Research “Links” Shale Drilling to Air Pollution”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Education | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Pennsylvania

PA Teacher Pollutes Minds of 7th Graders Against Electric Plant
May 4, 2015May 4, 2015

An anti-drilling teacher is brainwashing her seventh grade students into opposing the Invenergy natural gas-fired electric plant proposed for Jessup. Using lessons she’s teaching her students about the great Aristotle and his teachings on rhetoric, Ms. Grace Piconi-Augelli claims her students can sniff out fraud and subterfuge when they see it–and they (or rather Ms. Piconi-Augelli) see it with Invenergy and their plan to use clean burning Marcellus Shale gas to power what will be the state’s largest natural gas-fired electric plant. Ms. Piconi-Augelli is teaching her students about rhetoric, but apparently she skimmed over the section on Aristotle’s teachings on logic…
Read More “PA Teacher Pollutes Minds of 7th Graders Against Electric Plant”
About MDN | Calendar

Calendar of Events for May 4-17, 2015
May 4, 2015May 4, 2015

Below are upcoming events for this week and next. 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 4-17, 2015”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, May 4, 2015
May 4, 2015May 4, 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: Mon, May 4, 2015”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide OH | Williams

Constitution Pipeline Re-Files for NY DEC Permit, Clock Resets
May 1, 2015May 1, 2015

Something troubling for MDN. The Constitution Pipeline, a 125-mile pipeline that will stretch from the gas fields of Susquehanna County, PA into New York–to Schoharie County, has been approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), a multi-year process. The only thing keeping Williams from starting up the backhoes and beginning to lay pipeline is New York State–specifically the state’s Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The DEC must grant what’s called a 401 Water Quality Certificate that allows the Constitution to lay pipe through and under swamps, creeks and other bodies of water. The DEC ran a series of public hearings on it, one of which MDN editor Jim Willis attended in January (see Pro-Drillers Out in Force at Constitution Pipeline Hearing in Binghamton). The DEC was legally due to complete its review and either grant or not grant the certificate by May 8. But they’ve asked for more time, so Williams/Constitution have re-filed their permit request which starts the clock again, giving the DEC and extra two weeks to accept public comment. And therein lies our concern…
Read More “Constitution Pipeline Re-Files for NY DEC Permit, Clock Resets”
Energy Companies | EXCO Resources

EXCO Looks to “Restructure” (Sell?) 150K Marcellus Acres
May 1, 2015May 1, 2015

Just yesterday we brought you the news that (no surprise) EXCO Resources has suspended any more drilling in their 150,000 acres of Marcellus acreage (see EXCO Resources Continues Marcellus Drilling Moratorium in 1Q15). EXCO’s newly appointed executive chairman, who also happens to be Bluescape’s executive chairman (along with other EXCO top management), held an analyst call to discuss first quarter results and the call was peppered with references to “restructuring.” We count at least 15 “restructuring” references in the call transcript. Among the things that will potentially get “restructured” is EXCO’s Marcellus joint venture with BG Group. BG is being bought out by Shell (see LNG Love Story: Shell Makes Play to Buy BG in $69.7B Megamerger). In light of that buyout, EXCO is looking to “restructure” their deal–by which we take to mean they’re shopping their Marcellus acreage. The term “Appalachia” came up a few times on Wednesday’s analyst phone call…
Read More “EXCO Looks to “Restructure” (Sell?) 150K Marcellus Acres”