OOGA’s DeBrosse Report: 2014 a Breakout Year for Utica Shale
Each year the 3,200-member Ohio Oil and Gas Association (OOGA) issue the DeBrosse Memorial Report (full copy below). The report is a high level look at where (and how much) drilling there has been in the state–and what they’re finding (methane, oil, NGLs). The latest report, recounting 2014, was released at the recent OOGA Annual Winter Meeting in Columbus. Needless to say the latest report shows the exponentially increasing importance of the Utica Shale in the state. Last year a full 61% of all new wells drilled and completed in the state were shale wells. The report also shows the state produced 11 million barrels of oil from the Utica Shale. In 2013 the Utica produced 4.3 million barrels of oil. Welcome to Utica-land!…
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Sometimes the CURE is worse than the disease. Such is the case with the anti-drilling Communities United for Responsible Energy (CURE) in eastern OH. The group agitated and squawked and carried on with such histrionics that they’ve gotten the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) to order an oilfield services company to shut down a satellite location in Jefferson County, OH. The offense? Depends on who you ask. The company, Anchor Drilling Fluids, says it didn’t have a permit to store excess drilling mud–the stuff used by drillers to keep a drill bit cool and lubricated and free of bacteria. The ODNR says Anchor was recycling at that site and lacked a proper waste recycling permit. Question: If you mix drilling mud at a well site but don’t use all of it, and you then truck it back to HQ to store it for a few days or weeks before taking it somewhere else, is that “recycling”? Apparently it is for the ODNR…
This is a shout out to the marvelous people we (meaning me, Jim Willis) met in Pittsburgh on Wednesday at the 3rd Annual Oil & Gas Awards. I was truly humbled and thrilled to meet so many MDN readers! You gave me some great feedback on MDN–feedback that has me thinking about some new initiatives going forward. So stay tuned for the future and what I believe will be some good things coming. During the day I was privileged to host two panel discussions. A special thank you to the panelists on the “Minimizing Environmental Impact” panel: Melissa Hamsher, Vice President at Eclipse Resources; Lauren Parker, Principal at Civil & Environmental Consultants; and Gregg Stewart, Permitting Manager with PennEnergy Resources. And a special thank you to the panelists on the “Health and Safety” panel: Charlie Dixon, Safety and Workforce Director with Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program; Frank Harrison, President of Areion Energy; and Chad McCutcheon, Communications Professional with McCutcheon Enterprises. Stellar panelists all! They made me look good, and that’s a hard thing to do. 😉 There were about 150 attendees at the Industry Summit during the day. MDN will bring you videos (when they become available) for each of the sessions. The evening was the “main” event–a gala awards ceremony with folks decked out in tuxedos and evening gowns. We have the complete list of winners for the 2015 Northeast Oil and Gas Awards below…
Pennsylvania’s Acting Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary, John Quigley, continues to come under fire from PA Republican legislators over his (so far) less-than-transparent operation of the department–especially over firing the former Oil & Gas Technical Advisory Board members and replacing them with his own people, including so-called “non-voting” members (see 
Dominion hosted a party yesterday and anti-drillers weren’t invited. Dominion’s party sported the Japanese ambassador the U.S., Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and other dignitaries–international, state and local–to celebrate the fact that the Cove Point LNG export facility is now under construction. Japan and India have together spoken for 100% of all the natural gas that can be liquefied and pumped through the new facility once it’s built and begins operations in 2017 (see 
Two weeks ago MDN told you about two men who had been indicted by a federal grand jury on felony charges of damaging a shale well (or wells) on Chevron’s Burchianti Pad in Greene County, PA in March 2014 (see 
The Marcellus industry in Pennsylvania is none too happy with the performance thus far of Acting Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection, John Quigley. As MDN has noted, Quigley first fired the members of the DEP’s Oil & Gas Technical Advisory Board (see