Marcellus Drilling News

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Public Opinion

Majority of “Scientists” Oppose Fracking, According to Pew Research
February 4, 2015February 4, 2015

A new survey out by the Pew Research Center says a majority of “scientists” have a negative view of fracking. The survey says 66% of “scientists” surveyed (that is, members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, AAAS) are against the use of fracking for oil and gas, while 31% are in favor of fracking. The same survey says 51% of American adults are against the use of fracking and 39% are in favor of it. The clear implication, the thing Pew and anti-drillers want you to take away from this, is that “scientists” are impartial and, frankly, smarter than the average person. And by gaw, if a scientist believes fracking is evil, you should too (you dope). The only problem is, what if the scientist is against fracking not because of the science, but because of a personal political/philosophical viewpoint? Is their opinion still “better” and “more worthy” and “more informed” than the average person’s?…
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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Feb 4, 2015
February 4, 2015February 4, 2015

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Taxation

OH Gov. Kasich Increases Proposed Severance Tax Rate by 236%
February 3, 2015February 3, 2015

It now appears Ohio Gov. John Kasich (RINO), wants to completely kill Utica Shale drilling. On Monday he released his latest budget and his severance tax proposal has gone from his previously preferred rate of 2.75% to an astonishing 6.5%–a 236% increase. Yes, you read that right–it’s not a typo. Over the past several years, Kasich has squabbled with his own Republican legislature over how much of (not if) an increase there should be. The legislature proposed 2.25% as a new severance tax rate, Kasich wanted 2.75%. Eventually the legislature proposed a compromise at 2.5% (see OH Repubs Sell Out on Severance Tax, Kasich Wants Even More!). Kasich dearly wanted that extra 0.25% and held out, losing the battle. There was no increase passed. Kasich, whom we refer to as “the foreigner hunter” for his jingoistic disdain for “foreign” oil and gas workers from exotic places like Texas and Oklahoma, has just upped the ante considerably with a proposed 6.5% severance tax. Did Ohio just become Colorado and is Kasich now smoking pot?…
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Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Southwestern Energy | Statewide PA | Susquehanna County | WPX Energy

WPX Finalizes Sale of NEPA Marcellus Leases/Wells to Southwestern
February 3, 2015February 3, 2015

WPX Energy announced yesterday they have completed the sale and transfer of some 46,700 acres of leases and 63 operational Marcellus Shale wells in northeastern Pennsylvania to Southwestern Energy. MDN first told you about the $300 million deal in early December (for details and a map, see: First Shoe Drops: WPX Sells 1/2 Marcellus Assets to Southwestern). As we said at the time, that was the first shoe. We’re still waiting for the other shoe. WPX owns acreage and/or wells in Centre, Clearfield and Westmoreland counties, in southwestern PA. According to WPX spokesperson Susan Oliver-Stough, the company is actively shopping those assets too. When sold, WPX’s presence in northeast shale drilling will be done…
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Energy Companies | Energy Services | EV Energy Partners | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica East Ohio Midstream | Utica Shale

EVEP Wants to Sell Interest in Utica East Ohio/More Utica Acreage
February 3, 2015February 3, 2015

EV Energy Partners (EVEP) is a master limited partnership, or MLP, which distributes profits to “unit holders” instead of plowing profits into more projects. They like to invest in mature, already drilled wells and pipeline companies–things that act like an annuity throwing off profit with very little risk. Over the years EVEP amassed a huge amount of acreage in Ohio–before the Utica was known–mostly for conventional (vertical only) wells. However, some of that property is in prime Utica territory–so EVEP has been looking, since 2009, to sell it. They reiterated that in November (see EVEP Selling More Ohio Utica Acreage in 2015). There’s another fleeting reference to selling more Utica leases in EVEP’s fourth quarter 2014/guidance for 2015 press release issued yesterday. The “new news” (for us) in yesterday’s announcement is that EVEP plans to sell their 21% interest in Utica East Ohio–a midstream/pipeline company operating in Ohio…
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Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP Looks Ahead 1,000 Yrs, Changes Landfill Rules for Cuttings
February 3, 2015February 3, 2015

Citing concerns over radon, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection “quietly” change the rules on Marcellus drillers near the end of last year with respect to disposing of shale cuttings at landfills. Starting on Jan. 1 of this year, landfills must move to a monthly, instead of annual, limit on how much “radioactive waste” they accept from drillers in the form of cuttings (leftover rock and dirt). The new standard is calculated so that a person living 1,000 years from now in a house built on the landfill would not be exposed to levels of radiation over what is considered safe today. Nice to know the DEP is always thinking ahead, a thousand years…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Washington County

Peters Twp, PA Pretends to Debate Ordinance to Allow Drilling
February 3, 2015February 3, 2015

Peters Township, in Washington County, PA, continues to “struggle” with whether or not they will allow Marcellus Shale drilling within their borders. Peters, you may recall, is one of the seven selfish towns that sued the state over the zoning provisions in the Act 13 law, eventually winning at the PA Supreme Court level (see PA Supreme Court Rules Against State/Drillers in Act 13 Case). That “victory” has proven to be a disaster in more ways than one. The court decision does, however, require municipalities with districts zoned industrial to allow drilling, albeit those municipalities have plenty of options to continue stopping it by road use restrictions, etc. It seemed like Peters had finally come to grips and was looking for ways to allow shale drilling (see Peters Twp, PA Once Sued to Stop Act 13, Now Considers Drilling). However, recent comments by town leaders and an email from an MDN reader indicate Peters remains as hardened against drilling as ever…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Towns Don’t Like Gov. Wolf’s Severance Tax Plan
February 3, 2015February 3, 2015

As newly enthroned PA Gov. Tom Wolf considers his misguided attempt at ramming through a Marcellus Shale-killing severance tax, he better talk to PA’s townships–all of which receive at least some money from the current impact fee. If the state suddenly yanks away impact fee revenue from those towns, many of which rely on that money in their annual budgets, Moody’s Investors Service says such an event will be “a credit negative” for those local governments. In other words, you can expect a Moody’s downgrade–making any bonds issued by PA towns more expensive, requiring more taxpayer money to pay back…
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Access Midstream Partners | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Williams

It’s Official: Williams and Access Midstream Tie the Knot
February 3, 2015February 3, 2015

Several weeks ago MDN told you that yesterday, Feb. 2, would be the big wedding day for the merger (actually takeover) of Access Midstream by Williams (see Wedding Day: Williams & Access Midstream Get Hitched on Feb 2). The wedding took place as planned and the marriage is now happily consummated. The groom was Williams (grooms are always men…pushy and domineering ya know). The bride was sweet Access Midstream, previously known as Chesapeake Midstream. Bride Access took the Williams name as of yesterday, creating a midstream behemoth whose market capitalization will come close to rivaling the country’s largest midstream company, Kinder Morgan…
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Bradford County | Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Public Opinion | Research | Statewide PA | Washington County

Report: PA’s Youth Not Impressed with Marcellus Industry
February 3, 2015February 3, 2015

A little over a week ago The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a bipartisan, bicameral legislative agency that serves as a resource for rural policy within the Pennsylvania General Assembly, published the third report in a series of studies commissioned on the Marcellus Shale and its impact on the state (see New Report: Marcellus Shale Drilling’s Impact on PA Schools). The Center has just published a fourth report. Titled “Youth Perspectives on Marcellus Shale Gas Development: Community Change and Future Prospects” (full copy embedded below), the new report tackles the topic of youth attitudes toward the industry. In a quick pass, it seems PA’s youth are not all that impressed with the industry and what it has to offer them. They don’t like the traffic and noise and believe in some places shale drilling has detracted from the natural beauty of the countryside and harmed wildlife…
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Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Dominion Buys SC/GA Pipeline Network, Plans for Marcellus Gas?
February 3, 2015February 3, 2015

Dominion Resources, a large energy producer and midstream company operating primarily in the mid-Atlantic and southeast, is behind the the Atlantic Coast Pipeline–a 550-mile, $5 billion natural gas pipeline that will run from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina to deliver 1.5 billion cubic feet per day of Marcellus and Utica Shale gas to VA and NC (see Dominion Asks FERC to Start Environmental Review of SE Pipeline). Yesterday Dominion announced they’ve picked up Carolina Gas Transmission (CGT) for a cool $492.9 million. CGT operates 1,500 miles of FERC-regulated interstate natural gas pipeline in South Carolina and southeastern Georgia. We wonder if Dominion plans to connect the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to CGT and flow Marcellus/Utica shale gas deep into the heart of Dixie…
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Industrywide Issues

New Energy Network Coming This Fall to a Computer/TV Near You
February 3, 2015February 3, 2015

The same people who helped launch television networks like MTV, E!, Nickelodeon and VH1 has been hired to help launch a new 24/7 network (cable channel) devoted entirely to…wait for it…energy! According to a press release issued yesterday, “America’s Energy Network (AEN), is the first and only television network exclusively dedicated to the Energy Industry. AEN plans to officially launch in the fall of 2015. The network’s goals will include creating, marketing and distributing original content and programming focused on important and timely issues to positively shape the industry and to build an informative, interactive and creative digital media destination to highlight the industry’s business, lifestyle, values and community.” You can be sure shale will be a big part of the programming for the new AEN. And the biggest shale play in North America is the Marcellus, so one might assume the Marcellus will be a big topic for AEN. How cool is that?!…
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Bedford County | Blair County | Cambria County | Chevron | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania

Chevron Selling 17K Marcellus Shale Acres, More Sales Coming
February 2, 2015February 2, 2015

Chevron, according to NGI’s Shale Plays Factbook, is the fourth largest acreage holder in the Marcellus Shale with some 700,000 acres. It appears Chevron is looking to sell off at least some of that acreage. MDN received an email notice (below) from EnergyNet, hired to broker a sale for two of what they say will be an eventual 12 tracks of Marcellus acreage that Chevron owns. The current two are located in Bedford, Blair and Cambria counties in Pennsylvania and represent just over 17,000 acres total. EnergyNet is accepting sealed bids on various tracks, some held by production, some not…
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Energy Companies | Gastar Exploration

Gastar Finishing 5 Wells, Then Idling Rigs in Marcellus/Utica
February 2, 2015February 2, 2015

Gastar Exploration released an update today to crow about an 87% increase in their proved reserves, and to whisper that they’ve further reduced their 2015 drilling budget–all the way down to $103 million. The news, for the Marcellus, gets worse. Of that $103, they’ll spend a measly $20 million in the Marcellus–$12 million to complete five wells and another $8 million on “acreage costs.” In other words, for all intents and purposes, Gastar has stopped drilling in the Marcellus and the Utica “until economic conditions are more favorable.” Gastar is keeping three drilling rigs active in their midcontinent drilling program–for the time being…
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Blue Racer Midstream | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Processing Plants | Utica Shale

Blue Racer Shelves Plans for Mahoning, OH Wet Gas Plant
February 2, 2015February 2, 2015

It was only last August that Blue Racer said they would build a new $70 million wet gas processing plant in Mahoning County, OH (see Blue Racer to Build New Wet Gas Plant in Mahoning County, OH). A Blue Racer Midstream executive backpedaled last Thursday at the Marcellus-Utica Midstream conference and said those plans are now shelved, indefinitiely. Why? That part of the shale play “hasn’t panned out yet” for the company…
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Accidents | Industrywide Issues

List of Accidents Related Marcellus/Utica Shale Drilling 2010-2015
February 2, 2015February 2, 2015

The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register ran a couple of articles on accidents in the Marcellus/Utica yesterday. One of the articles chronicled a list of 21 incidents that have happened in the Ohio River Valley over the past 4-5 years, since shale drilling has heated up. That got us to wondering–how big a problem are accidents in the Marcellus/Utica region? We condensed The Intelligencer’s list and trolled through the considerable MDN archives (see our Accidents category) to produce a list of accidents since early 2010. Most of the accidents did not involve injuries–but some of them did. More accidents than we’d like to admit resulted in deaths. We must never forget this is a dangerous industrial activity and we must always be on guard to make it safer. We have nothing to hide and reflecting on what’s happened in the past is a good thing…
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