Marcellus Drilling News

Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

Range Resources to Flare Their First Utica Well in Western PA
December 1, 2014December 1, 2014

Flaring a well–which involves burning the initial volume of natural gas (typically waste gas) or because a pipeline is not yet available to hook up to the well–is increasingly a rare event. Most companies attempt to capture even the initial amounts of gas. However, Range Resources is set to begin flaring their very first Utica Shale well, drilled about 10 miles from Washington, PA on the property of the Claysville Sportsmen’s Club in Donegal Township, east of Dutch Fork Lake. The flaring will begin on Dec. 7 and according to Range it will be really big, and really noisy…
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Accidents | Energy Services | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Ohio | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide OH

MarkWest Fined $320K by Ohio EPA for Mud Spills in Creeks/Swamps
December 1, 2014December 1, 2014

MarkWest Energy, the largest midstream company in the Marcellus/Utica, has spent the last three years building pipelines in eastern Ohio to connect wells to processing plants and to larger interstate pipelines. In the process, the company has spent some $2.2 billion building 350 miles of pipeline (and processing plants)–and MarkWest isn’t done yet. However, during the rapid buildout of infrastructure in the Buckeye State, some minor spills have happened along the way. When drilling under creeks and swamps (otherwise renamed as “wetlands”), occasionally drilling mud spilled out–some 19 different times between 2012 and 2013. The Ohio EPA has concluded their investigation and has just fined MarkWest $320,000 for the series of spills…
Read More “MarkWest Fined $320K by Ohio EPA for Mud Spills in Creeks/Swamps”
Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Soil

Shale Cuttings Used to Rehab Site of Future Business, Amphitheater
December 1, 2014December 1, 2014

A story from Hazelton, PA totally refutes the argument that drill cuttings (leftover rock and dirt from shale drilling) are radioactive and will make you glow in the dark–a claim frequently made by anti-drillers. The scars of coal mining dot the landscape in northeastern PA. In one such area, on the edge of Hazelton, sits a 270-acre site with abandoned mines and an old landfill. The location, known as Hazelton Creek Properties, is in the process of reclaiming part of the site by using (yes) drill cuttings. The site will eventually host an amphitheater for concerts and other businesses. People will one day be sitting directly over top of shale cuttings!…
Read More “Shale Cuttings Used to Rehab Site of Future Business, Amphitheater”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Anti-Pipeline Arguments in New Hampshire Debunked by MDN Reader
December 1, 2014December 1, 2014

A conservative and a liberal get into a discussion at a local landfill about a plan to run a new pipeline through their state…. Sound like the setup to a joke? It’s no laughing matter. MDN subscriber Rick G. from New Hampshire recently had such an encounter. The arguments Rick heard from those opposed to the Kinder Morgan pipeline, and his counter arguments, are instructive for us all…
Read More “Anti-Pipeline Arguments in New Hampshire Debunked by MDN Reader”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH

OH Senate Asked to Fix Language in Frack Chemical Reporting Bill
December 1, 2014December 1, 2014

Anti-drillers are fundamentally unhappy people. They want no drilling, so in an effort to try and scuttle drilling, they do stupid things–like last year when they forced a change in Ohio away from filing lists of chemicals used at drill sites electronically to having them filed by paper instead (see OH Antis Force Change in Chemical Reporting, Everyone Less Safe). Going backward is not a good plan, so the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) lobbied for new changes in the chemical reporting law to fix the mess caused by anti-drillers. The changes were made two weeks ago when an omnibus environmental and agricultural bill was passed by the Ohio House. Problem is, the changes made weren’t the ones ODNR wanted…
Read More “OH Senate Asked to Fix Language in Frack Chemical Reporting Bill”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

PA Family Sues Range Resources over Nearby Drilling, Impoundment
December 1, 2014December 1, 2014

Range Resources has for years been battling allegations that their wastewater impoundments in Washington County, PA have leaked and polluted nearby water wells. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) investigated and in September levied a $4.15 million fine against Range, requiring the company to close five of seven impoundments (see PA DEP Fines Range Resources $4.15M for Wastewater Impoundments). Along the way several landowners have sued Range–over the impoundments and over nearby drilling. Add one more to the list: The Lauff family in Mt. Pleasant Township has filed a lawsuit alleging negligence by Range in the way they drilled several nearby wells and in their operation of a wastewater impoundment…
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Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Pennsylvania

Florida Condo Developer Buys 500 Acres of Marcellus/Utica Leases
December 1, 2014December 1, 2014

A deal to sell Wroblewski Oil and Gas, a small exploration and production and frac sand company headquartered in western PA, was announced last week. Wroblewski owns leases on 500 acres of Marcellus/Utica Shale leases–about enough to drill one well. The interesting thing, for MDN, is who is doing the buying: American Leisure Holdings, Inc. American Leisure, according to what we can find, develops vacation real estate properties (condos and such) in Florida. So what in the world are they doing buying a small Marcellus E&P company?…
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Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | UGI Energy Services

UGI Central Penn Natgas Rates Go Down Thanks to the Marcellus
December 1, 2014December 1, 2014

Once again, the cost of natural gas for customers in northeast and central Pennsylvania is going down. UGI, a major utility in PA, announced last week that rates for customers of their UGI Central Penn Gas subsidiary will go DOWN starting today. Why? Instead of buying expensive natural gas produced in the Gulf of Mexico and flowing it, via pipeline, to PA, UGI is now sourcing some 80% of their natural gas from the local Marcellus Shale. Thank you Marcellus! Here’s the announcement, with how much customers will save, on average, per month…
Read More “UGI Central Penn Natgas Rates Go Down Thanks to the Marcellus”
Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Research

EIA Coins New Term, Issues Report on Hydrocarbon Gas Liquids (HGLs)
December 1, 2014December 1, 2014

It’s vocabulary day at MDN. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, our favorite government agency, has just released a new report on, and has coined a new term, called: Hydrocarbon Gas Liquids (HGL). In a nutshell, EIA uses the term HGL to refer to the combination of NGLs (natural gas liquids like ethane, propane and butane) and olefins (things like ethylene, propylene, butylene, and isobutylene). If you’re new to this whole shale gas thing and to the oil and gas industry, you need to know that the hydrocarbons coming out of the ground (oil and gas) are tightly connected to–in fact the source of–things like plastic and antifreeze. That is, oil and gas is part of the petrochemical industry. The EIA recognizes the importance and connection between petrochemicals and shale, and so have authored a new report, titled “Hydrocarbon Gas Liquids (HGL): Recent Market Trends and Issues” (full copy embedded below). Since there’s a lot of “wet gas” in the Marcellus and Utica Shale, the petrochemical industry is tightly connected to shale drilling in the northeast. This report connects the dots…
Read More “EIA Coins New Term, Issues Report on Hydrocarbon Gas Liquids (HGLs)”
About MDN | Calendar

Calendar of Events for Dec 1-14, 2014 [Free]
December 1, 2014December 1, 2014

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 Dec 1-14, 2014 [Free]”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Dec 1, 2014
December 1, 2014December 1, 2014

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, Dec 1, 2014”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Regulation | Statewide MD

Fracking in Maryland (!) in 2015? Quite Possibly
November 26, 2014November 26, 2014

Looks like we owe an apology to Maryland. For years we’ve laughed and poked fun at Maryland and said it is the only state more dysfunctional than New York when it comes to allowing fracking. Yesterday, the special Maryland commission, set up 3 1/2 years ago by the outgoing, leadership-deficient Democrat Gov. Martin O’Malley, released it’s final report with recommendations for how fracking can go forward in the state (full copy below). Incoming Republican Gov. Larry Hogan has promised swift action on the fracking issue. Meanwhile, NY sits on its hands and does nothing. Mind you, the proposed Maryland regulations are so off-the-charts restrictive that even the nutty, far-left Chesapeake Climate Action Network is singing its praises (a big red flag). But hey, the ability to drill half a dozen wells in Maryland is better that what NY has! Let’s start with a summary of the new regulations put forward by the commission…
Read More “Fracking in Maryland (!) in 2015? Quite Possibly”
Energy Companies | Energy Services | EnerVest | EV Energy Partners | GASFRAC | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Tuscarawas County | Utica Shale

Details on GASFRAC’s Waterless Frack Test in OH Utica
November 26, 2014November 26, 2014

Two weeks ago MDN was (we believe) the first to call attention to a very short reference in the quarterly update from Canadian oilfield services company GASFRAC–a line that says GASFRAC had finally begun fracking a Utica Shale well using their waterless technology (see GASFRAC Begins Waterless Fracking Job in OH Utica). At the time we had no details about where the well is located, and who the exploration company is that GASFRAC is doing the work for. We now know those bits, thanks to some ace reporting by Tom Knox at Columbus Business First…
Read More “Details on GASFRAC’s Waterless Frack Test in OH Utica”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Statewide WV | West Virginia

So-Called ‘Pipeline Air Force’ to Track Dominion Pipeline in WV
November 26, 2014November 26, 2014

Just when you think you’ve heard it all, along comes another bizarre twist from those who oppose shale drilling. As we’ve reported in a number of stories, Dominion is planning to build a 550-mile, $5 billion natural gas pipeline from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina. It’s called the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is now evaluating it (see Dominion Asks FERC to Start Environmental Review of SE Pipeline). Apparently a group of people who oppose the pipeline plan to keep an eye on it as it’s built (they must figure it’s a foregone conclusion that it will get built). They’ve somehow gotten ahold of three airplanes that they will use to spy from the sky as the pipeline gets built through the mountains of West Virginia…
Read More “So-Called ‘Pipeline Air Force’ to Track Dominion Pipeline in WV”
Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

South Strabane Twp Approves Range Plan for 10 Wells in W PA
November 26, 2014November 26, 2014

Last night the South Strabane Township (Washington County, PA) board of supervisors voted to allow Range Resources the right to drill up to 10 wells on an 80-acre site. They did, however, impose some 46 conditions on the drilling–conditions Range said it “could live with.” The drill site is near Kopper Kettle Road and Range likely will not begin active drilling until October 2015. Three supervisors voted in favor, one against and one abstained. The interesting thing, to MDN, is that earlier this month anti-drillers were out in force to oppose drilling under (not even on top of) Mingo Creek County Park, about 12 miles from the Kopper Kettle Road site, spouting silly things like drilling will create a “ring of fire” (see Washington County Votes to Establish “Ring of Fire” at Mingo Park). However, at least night’s meeting, most of the residents who attended support Range’s request…
Read More “South Strabane Twp Approves Range Plan for 10 Wells in W PA”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pipelines

New Jersey Resources Update: NJ Loves Natgas & PennEast
November 26, 2014November 26, 2014

A casual news consumer may think that the State of New Jersey is somewhat anti-drilling and takes a dim view of natural gas. After all, the NJ legislature has twice passed a bill that would ban any frack waste from entering the state (see NJ Gov. Christie Vetoes Frack Waste Ban 2nd Time). And opposition to the PennEast Pipeline that runs from PA to NJ has been loud and shrill on the NJ end. What you may not know, however, is that two NJ utilities are partners in the PennEast Pipeline project (see NJ’s Largest Utility Becomes 5th Partner in PennEast Pipeline). New Jersey Resources, one of the two PennEast partners, yesterday issued an update on 2014 with guidance for 2015. The thing that caught our eye? NJR continues to add new natgas customers at a rapid clip–and they’re jazzed on the prospects for the PennEast Pipeline and new sources of cheap, abundant Marcellus Shale gas that will flow to NJ…
Read More “New Jersey Resources Update: NJ Loves Natgas & PennEast”