Marcellus Drilling News

Energy Services | Kinder Morgan

Shareholders Approve Kinder Morgan Plan to Merge 4 into 1
November 25, 2014November 25, 2014

We’re not quite sure what all of the hullabaloo is about, but last Thursday the various boards and shareholders in four different Kinder Morgan companies voted to merge the four into one. That is, Kinder Morgan’s subsidiaries will, on paper, go from four entities to one entity. Kinder Morgan is buying out itself, in essence. Kinder Morgan is the country’s largest midstream/pipeline company and it was certainly news a few months ago when Kinder CEO Richard Kinder–the man who pioneered the use of the master limited partnership (MLP)–announced he was shedding the MLP and would merge his empire into one entity. He now has the blessing of the shareholders to do just that–and when done, the $44 billion deal will apparently be the biggest thing since sliced bread…
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Broome County | Crestwood Midstream | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | NGLs | Schuyler County

Crestwood Execs on Radio to Promote Propane Storage @ Seneca Lake
November 25, 2014November 26, 2014

New York State is stuck in reverse. We can’t get shale drilling going. And shrill anti-fossil fuelers have gone so far as to illegally block the entrance to the future site of an underground storage facility for liquefied petroleum gas (propane) because they believe converting the depleted salt cavern into storing natural gas will lead to fracking in NY (see 10 Antis Arrested for Blocking Crestwood Facility at Seneca Lake). It’s so backward it’s hard to find words. However, there is hope. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has now blessed the Crestwood project, and the NY State Dept. of Environmental Conservation, which has delayed approving the project since 2009, has finally issued a draft permit and scheduled a hearing next February that will (hopefully) lead to a permanent permit to allow the facility. Which is why anti-drillers have been nuttier than usual lately. The Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY) is hosting a radio program on the Sunday after Thanksgiving to air the real story of this facility and what it will mean for all New Yorkers…
Read More “Crestwood Execs on Radio to Promote Propane Storage @ Seneca Lake”
Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Ben Franklin Shale Gas Ctr Announces $100K Contest for Innovators
November 25, 2014November 25, 2014

This is our annual “calling all researchers, entrepreneurs, or small businesses located in PA and WV who have innovative products or services for the Marcellus Shale industry.” If that fits you, you should consider entering the Fourth Annual Shale Gas Innovation Contest that will award $100,000 in prizes ($25K each) to four worthy winners. It may be just the shot you need to launch your product or service to success. The deadline to enter is Feb. 1, 2015. Here’s the announcement from the Ben Franklin Shale Gas Innovation and Commercialization Center…
Read More “Ben Franklin Shale Gas Ctr Announces $100K Contest for Innovators”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Nov 25, 2014
November 25, 2014November 25, 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: Tue, Nov 25, 2014”
Accidents | Blue Racer Midstream | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Noble County | Ohio

Was the Blue Racer Accident in Noble County, OH Preventable?
November 24, 2014November 24, 2014

Nearly two weeks ago there was a fatal accident at a Blue Racer Midstream condensate pumping skid in Noble County, OH in which an electrical contract worker was killed (see Blue Racer Midstream Explosion Kills One Worker in OH). There was precious little information about the accident–what caused it–at the time. And since then, we’ve spotted nothing. We know it takes time to investigate such things, but usually there is at least an update or two during that period. We did, however, spot a letter to the editor from a veteran oilfield petroleum engineer who claims the accident was preventable. Since this engineer doesn’t work in the northeast and has no personal knowledge of the accident, we thought it was a pretty brash statement to make. Or was it?…
Read More “Was the Blue Racer Accident in Noble County, OH Preventable?”
Energy Companies | Greene County (PA) | Lease & Royalty Payments | Marshall County | Ohio County | Pennsylvania | Tug Hill Operating | Utica Shale | West Virginia

Still Time for WV/PA Landowners to Participate in $100M Deal
November 24, 2014November 24, 2014

Landowner coalitions are certainly not new. They began in the Marcellus region around seven years ago when landowners in Pennsylvania banded together to get rates and conditions more favorably than they otherwise could on their own. Smart idea. What is new is that landowners in West Virginia are now banding together because, although Marcellus drilling takes place in the state and much of that land has been leased, the Utica Shale that underlies the state is just now getting started. So landowners, like those in Marshall and Ohio counties (in the panhandle of WV) and Greene County (in southwest PA) are forming new groups to negotiate new leases for the Utica Shale. The Marshall/Ohio/Greene landowner group did just that, recently signing a $100 million deal (see Panhandle WV Landowners Broker $100M Deal with Tug Hill Operating). A few more details about the group and the deal…
Read More “Still Time for WV/PA Landowners to Participate in $100M Deal”
Energy Companies | Guest Post | Lease & Royalty Payments | Olympus/Huntley & Huntley

Guest Viewpoint: Best to Lease ALL Rock Layers at One Time
November 24, 2014November 24, 2014

Last week MDN told you about possibility that a rock layer some 20,000 feet below the surface may one day be an important player in natural gas and oil for the northeast (see Trenton-Black River: New Natgas Rock Layer in Your Future?). As part of that story, we wrote the following: “Landowners listen up. When you lease, ALWAYS specify the layer(s) in the lease that you will allow an energy company to drill. That way, in future years when yet other layers are “discovered” to have natural gas or oil deposits, you can re-lease for the new layer. Energy companies will understandably want to negotiate a lease for all layers. Landowners (and their lawyers) need to watch for and construct leases that favor the landowner. A word to the wise…” An MDN subscriber wrote us to take issue with that statement, to point out potential weaknesses in our argument. We are happy (with permission) to bring you the following guest post from Paul David Burke, VP & General Counsel for Huntley & Huntley, Inc…
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Energy Services | Ergon | Lawrence County (OH) | Ohio

New (Utica?) Oil Terminal Operation Coming to Lawrence County, OH
November 24, 2014November 24, 2014

Ergon, a privately-held company headquartered in Mississippi, owns an oil refinery in Newell, West Virginia (since 1997). Earlier this month Ergon reported purchasing a petroleum storage facility/terminal located in Ironton, Ohio. The stated purpose is to increase their capacity to purchase and transport crude oil in the Ohio River Valley region. What is that news?…
Read More “New (Utica?) Oil Terminal Operation Coming to Lawrence County, OH”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Regency Energy Partners | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | Sunoco Logistics | West Virginia

Sunoco Logistics, Regency Energy Presentations from Analyst Day
November 24, 2014November 24, 2014

Last week both Regency Energy Partners, which purchased PVR Partners a little over a year ago (PVR having a major footprint in the Marcellus/Utica), along with Sunoco Logistics, another major midstream player in the northeast, participated in an analyst day last week at Ritz-Carlton in Dallas. While we don’t have a transcript, we do have the PowerPoint slide decks from both companies. And what we find on some of those slides is illuminating…
Read More “Sunoco Logistics, Regency Energy Presentations from Analyst Day”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crestwood Midstream | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Schuyler County

Steingraber, 2 Others Sent to Jail for Refusing to Pay Fine
November 24, 2014November 24, 2014

The increasingly shrill (and irrational) Sandra Steingraber, a so-called “scholar in residence” who’s paid to gallivant and protest shale drilling and related fossil fuel issues by Ithaca College, was (once again) arrested, refused to pay her fine, and carted off to jail for refusing to pay a fine because she illegally blocked the entrance to a legally running business that one day hopes to house underground storage of natural gas. The facility is a depleted salt cavern along the shore of Seneca Lake (near Watkins Glen, NY). Steingraber has pulled this stunt before (see NY Anti-Drilling Protesters Jailed After Refusing to Pay Fine). Since she gets no media attention and you wouldn’t know about it otherwise, we thought we’d share the news with you…
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About MDN | Calendar

Calendar of Events for Nov 24-Dec 7, 2014 [Free]
November 24, 2014November 24, 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 Nov 24-Dec 7, 2014 [Free]”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Nov 24, 2014
November 24, 2014November 24, 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, Nov 24, 2014”
New York | Statewide NY | Trenton-Black River

Details on Trenton-Black River Horizontal Drilling in NY State
November 21, 2014November 21, 2014

It often surprises us which daily stories we write that will catch the most attention/be read the most. Yesterday, our most-read story was the fourth story down the page, about the prospects for horizontal drilling in yet another rock layer (see Trenton-Black River: New Natgas Rock Layer in Your Future?). We mentioned in passing the following: “The Trenton-Black River has been drilled in places like New York State (of all places!) for decades. However, NY’s Trenton drilling has been vertical-only, not horizontal drilling.” That statement was partially incorrect. While the Trenton and/or the Black River has been drilled in NY since 1985 (nearly 30 years) and the majority of the wells have been vertical, there are a number of horizontal wells drilled in the Trenton/BR in NY. We have more details on who’s done the drilling, and where…
Read More “Details on Trenton-Black River Horizontal Drilling in NY State”
Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | WPX Energy

Flip Flop: All of WPX’s Marcellus Wells on the Auction Block
November 21, 2014November 21, 2014

A bit of news we find troubling. MDN has told you, since February of this year, that WPX would not be drilling any new wells in the Marcellus and in fact would be selling their undrilled leases (see WPX Marcellus Assets Being Shopped in “Controlled Auction”). However, we were contacted by WPX spokesperson Susan Oliver to assure us that they were not selling their already-drilled 100+ wells (see WPX Gives MDN an Update on Their 2014 Marcellus Plans). We figured some of those wells may be sold if there was, say, one or two wells on a pad adjacent to undrilled acreage with the opportunity to drill more wells. But for those wells already drilled and fully developed? Those wells, we were told, would remain in the WPX portfolio. However, an article appearing in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on Wednesday contradicts that previous assertion…
Read More “Flip Flop: All of WPX’s Marcellus Wells on the Auction Block”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Butler County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Rex Energy

Martians & Enviro Groups Continue to Block Rex Drilling in W PA
November 21, 2014November 21, 2014

Martians have successfully delayed Rex Energy from continuing to drill a series of five Marcellus wells on a single pad in Middlesex Township (western Pennsylvania). You may recall that two so-called environmental groups (front groups for rigid anti-drillers)–THE Delaware Riverkeeper and the Clean Air Council, both based on the other side of the state in the Philadelphia area–along with four parents from the Mars school district, filed an appeal of the decision to allow the drilling to occur in Middlesex Township (see Rex Drilling Operation Near Mars School Put on Hold). The Mars school district is some 3/4 of a mile from the drilling site–never mind at least two other schools in PA, one near Mars, allows drilling ON SCHOOL PROPERTY! Nope. The Martians are insistent that Rex not be allowed to drill those wells because it will endanger the kiddies. So a zoning board hearing was held Tuesday night and “continued” until another meeting at the end of December. Town officials say they may end up holding five hearings total on the matter (one for each well?) before it’s concluded. Meanwhile, no more drilling for Rex at that site…
Read More “Martians & Enviro Groups Continue to Block Rex Drilling in W PA”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | Indiana County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania General Energy | Wastewater

Little Mahoning Watershed to Testify in Court Case (??)
November 21, 2014November 21, 2014

You have to give the silly anti-fossil fuel nutters one thing–they sure are creative. The latest nonsense to come from the extreme left is that artificial constructs like watersheds now have “rights” and can somehow speak for itself. At least that’s what’s being claimed in a “first of its kind” motion by–yes–the Little Mahoning Watershed (Indiana County, PA). We wonder, what does the Watershed’s voice sound like? And where, precisely, did the Watershed scribble down its statement that was recently delivered to the court? We’d like to see that place and behold that miracle. This would all be rolling-on-the-floor funny if extremists weren’t so hellbent on bastardizing our laws and the U.S. Constitution–to the point our legal system becomes meaningless. The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), which hangs its hat in Mercersburg, PA, says Little Mahoning Watershed spoke to it and whispered it doesn’t want to be polluted by nasty frack wastewater…
Read More “Little Mahoning Watershed to Testify in Court Case (??)”