Marcellus Drilling News

Industrywide Issues | Research

EIA’s Feb Drilling Productivity Report: Marcellus/Utica Up Again
February 12, 2015February 12, 2015

Our favorite monthly report from our favorite government agency was released a few days ago. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) produces the monthly Drilling Productivity Report (DPR), which looks at production from both new (drilled in the last month) and legacy (drilled more than a month ago) wells along with overall production numbers for the seven top commercially active shale plays in the U.S. In a consistently recurring theme, all seven plays showed an increase in natural gas production from February to what they predict will be the numbers in March. The Marcellus stands head and shoulders above all other shale plays in producing what they say will be 16.7 billion cubic feet per day in March, up from 16.5 Bcf/d in February. The Utica is also forecast to increase–from 1.86 Bcf/d of natgas production in February to 1.93 Bcf/d in March. Below is the full February 2015 DPR report along with two charts not included in the full report…
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Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Growing Jobs: Marcellus/Utica PR Agency Opens Branch Office in TX
February 12, 2015February 12, 2015

Used to be that companies working in and for the oil and gas industry–located in states like Texas and Oklahoma–would set up branch operations in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia to take advantage of the Marcellus and Utica Shale. These days, however, the trend is sometimes reversed. Bravo Group is a public relations firm based in Harrisburg, PA with a long list of clients in the oil and gas industry. Yesterday Bravo announced they’re opening a branch office in Texas. We love it when northeast shale drilling starts to export jobs to “foreign” places (as OH Gov. John Kasich calls them) like Texas…
Read More “Growing Jobs: Marcellus/Utica PR Agency Opens Branch Office in TX”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Feb 12, 2015
February 12, 2015February 12, 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: Thu, Feb 12, 2015”
About MDN | Allegheny County | Education | Industrywide Issues | MDN Resources | Meetings | Pennsylvania

Exclusive for MDN Readers: Attend Pittsburgh O&G Industry Summit FREE
February 11, 2015March 2, 2015

Last March, MDN participated in the Oil & Gas Awards regional event in Pittsburgh (see Oil & Gas Awards “Northeast Conference for Excellence” Now on MDN). It was a blast meeting and talking with members of the industry. Like last year, we are once again participating in the event this March in Pittsburgh. MDN editor Jim Willis is moderating a couple of the panel discussions during the day-time conference, which is dubbed the Northeast Industry Summit. We have two pieces of big news for MDN readers: 1) The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring and participating this year, and 2) Jim wants MDN readers to attend, so he’s arranged with the O&G Awards crew to offer MDN readers a FREE pass to the Summit, which will save you $199. Here’s how to register…
Read More “Exclusive for MDN Readers: Attend Pittsburgh O&G Industry Summit FREE”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Drilling Regs in Process Since 2012 Delayed by PA Gov Wolf
February 11, 2015February 11, 2015

The 2012 Act 13 law did a great deal to update oil and gas drilling regulations, something Gov. Ed Rendell failed to do when he was in office. But it didn’t do the whole job. Part of the law left it up to the five-member Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board, part of the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection, to codify all sorts of new regulations to make drilling better and safer. Remember, this started in 2012 (which tells you how slowly government moves). The original proposal had 23 pages of changes and new rules, which later blossomed to 73 pages (see 1984 PA Oil & Gas Act Rewrite Delayed but Still Coming). In 2013, the DEP took the draft regulations on “road show” seeking public comment, which they extended into early 2014 (see PA DEP Extends Roadshow for Public Comment on New Drilling Rules). The last we heard, the new regs were supposed to be released in very early 2015 (see DEP Sec. Abruzzo Says Budget Bill Means Delay in New Drilling Regs). Scratch that now. A draft of the final final final final rules was supposed to be discussed on Jan. 22, two days after the coronation of Gov. Tom Wolf, but that was canceled to give Wolf and presumably John Quigley, Wolf’s nominee to head the DEP, time to rewrite them yet again…
Read More “PA Drilling Regs in Process Since 2012 Delayed by PA Gov Wolf”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Regulation | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Anti Groups Beat Export Drum in Opposing MA Pipeline
February 11, 2015February 11, 2015

Anti-fossil fuelers continue to try and make the case that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should not allow Kinder Morgan to build an extension to the Tennessee Gas Pipeline through Massachusetts, called the Northeast Energy Direct project. Their favorite tactic is to find an issue that they believe will resonate with the general population and push for all it’s worth on that issue–with the gleeful help of mainstream (or “drive-by”) media. The latest wedge issue they’re harping on is that natural gas flowing through the pipe will get exported–implying that none of the gas flowing through the pipeline will benefit New Englanders. We previously dealt with the complex issues behind exporting (see Canadian LNG Exports, New England Pipelines & the Marcellus). Will some of the gas flowing through the TGP pipeline get exported to Canada and liquefied into LNG and exported across the ocean? No doubt. Will most of it get exported? No…
Read More “Anti Groups Beat Export Drum in Opposing MA Pipeline”
Crawford County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Supply Chain | Universal Well

Universal Well Services Closes PA Facility, Lays Off Some Workers
February 11, 2015February 11, 2015

It wasn’t so long ago that MDN told you about the “feel good” story of Universal Well Services, a Meadville (Crawford County), PA company specializing in pressure-pumping wells, cementing well pads and other well services (see Marcellus Supply Chain Success Story: Universal Well Services). Universal is a subsidiary of Patterson-UGI Energy, Inc.–a large oilfield services company. The company had grown from 200 to more than 1,000 employees in 10 years. But that was before the price of oil and gas went into the basement. Now they’re laying off employees…
Read More “Universal Well Services Closes PA Facility, Lays Off Some Workers”
Columbiana County | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines

Man Bites Dog: No Protesters at NEXUS Gas Pipeline Event?!
February 11, 2015February 11, 2015

The reporting on a story about a pipeline open house is so unusual, we thought you would like to hear about it. It seems that representatives from the proposed $2 billion NEXUS Gas Pipeline, a pipeline beginning in Columbiana County, OH, then crossing through 11 Ohio counties and 3 Michigan counties in total, held an open house to discuss the project last night in Hanoverton (Columbiana County), OH. The unusual “man bites dog” news? No nutty protesters, and those who attended, the people whose land it may cross, “welcome” the project! This is not your typical news reporting folks. Somebody in anti-drilling land is falling down on the job–they should have had at least one nutjob anti-fossil fuel protester outside for the cameras…
Read More “Man Bites Dog: No Protesters at NEXUS Gas Pipeline Event?!”
Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Widespread Use of Drones in Northeast Drilling May Start This Year
February 11, 2015February 11, 2015

Question: What do you call a model airplane or model helicopter with a camera attached to it? Answer: A drone. We always find is fascinating to hear talk about “drones” in the news because it conjures an image of unmanned but nearly full-sized airplanes flying over Afghanistan looking for baddies like Osama. When if finds a baddie, the remote pilot flies that sucker with a bomb strapped to it into the ground, killing the target. Somewhere along the way “model airplane” got renamed “drone”–we suspect intentionally, to give you that mental imagery. Anywho…the Marcellus and Utica Shale industry would like to use “drones” to monitor pipelines and scout out locations for future drill pads, but the Federal Aviation Administration currently blocks most such activity. That may change this year…
Read More “Widespread Use of Drones in Northeast Drilling May Start This Year”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

NY Anti-Drillers have “Ban Fever,” Want to Spread It Beyond NY
February 11, 2015February 11, 2015

It wasn’t so long ago loonies in New York State pressured a politically weak governor, Andrew Cuomo, to ban fracking (see After 6+ Years, Andrew Cuomo Bans Fracking in New York). “Whew” (you may think), “That’s New York–you know, where all the liberal loonies live. Glad it’s not here in my state.” Well yes, in NY we do have more than our fair share of anti-drilling nutters. But don’t think you’re safe. Even though NY’s anti-drillers have had a small taste of “victory” in the Empire State, their appetite is not sated. Now NY’s anti-drillers are targeting drilling in other states. Their own members openly talk of halting/banning drilling everywhere, including PA. They say they’ve got the “ban fever” and just like the measles, they want it to spread…
Read More “NY Anti-Drillers have “Ban Fever,” Want to Spread It Beyond NY”
About MDN | MDN Resources

MDN Releases Vol. 3 for 2014 Marcellus/Utica Shale Databook
February 11, 2015March 13, 2015

MDN has just launched Volume 3 of the 2014 Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook. The Databook is a 3-volume series we issue each year, meant for companies and even serious landowners who want to know what’s happening and where in the Marcellus and Utica Shale. It contains a series of maps–one for each county throughout the northeast where permits have been issued for shale wells. On the maps we show where the permit was issued, and who (which company) it was issued to. In addition, MDN editor Jim Willis writes a number of special sections to update you on drilling and related issues, including regulatory, prices, rig and well count trends and much more. Each issue also sports special sections not repeated in the other volumes. In Vol. 3 we have a comprehensive list of Marcellus/Utica waste facilities–injection wells, landfills and more. We give you the name, location and phone number for the facility. Bang–we just saved you about 10 hours of work! Also in Vol. 3 is a special contributed section by two experts on factors influencing the production of Marcellus Shale wells–and how those factors affect a well’s decline curve…
Read More “MDN Releases Vol. 3 for 2014 Marcellus/Utica Shale Databook”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Feb 11, 2015
February 11, 2015February 11, 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, Feb 11, 2015”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Senators Have Some Tough Questions for DEP Nominee John Quigley
February 10, 2015February 10, 2015

As the time approaches for hearings on newly-elected Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s choices to head up key agencies, like John Quigley nominated to heard the Dept. of Environmental Protection, some senators will have some pointed questions for him. MDN has covered some of Mr. Quigley’s controversial positions–things he’s written on his blog and the time he has spent at the anti-drilling PennFuture (see In His Own Words: Quigley’s Positions on Fracking, NY Ban, Etc.). He’s a true believer in global warming and thinks the heavy hand of government should do more to stop it. He’s also on record as saying in PA “in large measure, we have not gotten it right in the past”–referring to Marcellus Shale drilling (see Quigley Says Opportunity to Get Marcellus Drilling “Right” in PA). It’s statements like that that are giving some senators, according to Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, “indigestion”…
Read More “PA Senators Have Some Tough Questions for DEP Nominee John Quigley”
Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Hilcorp Energy | Lawrence County | Mahoning County | Mercer County | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Trumbull County | Utica Shale

Full Speed Ahead for Hilcorp in the Northern Utica in 2015
February 10, 2015February 10, 2015

In 2014 Hilcorp spent some $400 million on drilling in the *northern* Utica Shale play–an area that virtually everyone else has abandoned for the more alluring wet gas to be found in the southeaster portion of the play. According to Hilcorp, they are enjoying success in the northern Utica and that’s where they will continue to focus their efforts…
Read More “Full Speed Ahead for Hilcorp in the Northern Utica in 2015”
Devon Energy | Energy Companies | Guernsey County | Ohio | Utica Shale | Wayne County (OH)

Devon Puts 2 Utica Wells Up for Sale, Not Happy with OH Utica
February 10, 2015February 10, 2015

Devon Energy has put Wayne County, OH’s lone Utica shale well up for sale, along with another Utica well they own in Guernsey County. To which we say we were surprised. We had forgotten Devon had drilled (or owned) any Utica wells in the first place. Perhaps the reason they’re dumping the Wayne County well, which the say has “future utility,” is because it hasn’t produced a thing–oil or natural gas. The well in Guernsey also appears to be a bust. Here’s the brief blurb we caught on Devon exiting the Utica…
Read More “Devon Puts 2 Utica Wells Up for Sale, Not Happy with OH Utica”
Energy Services | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | Marathon Petroleum | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH

Marathon Announces Open Season on New Wet Gas Pipelines
February 10, 2015February 10, 2015

Marathon Pipe Line and Ohio River Pipeline, both subsidiaries of Marathon Petroleum Corp., announced binding open seasons on two new pipeline projects in Ohio and beyond. The first is called Cornerstone Pipeline is a 16-inch pipeline for condensate, natural gasoline, diluent and butaine (NGLs) that will begin in Harrison County, OH and run for about 50 miles to Marathon’s refinery in Canton, OH. Along the way it has the potential to connect various processing facilities. The second project is something they’re calling the Utica Build-Out Projects–a pipeline or pipelines that will carry product beyond Canton to other Midwest refineries, reaching Chicago and even into Canada…
Read More “Marathon Announces Open Season on New Wet Gas Pipelines”