Marcellus Drilling News

Earthquakes | Energy Services | GASFRAC | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

GASFRAC Says LPG Waterless Fracking May Prevent Earthquakes
November 18, 2014November 18, 2014

Last week MDN was the first to bring you the news that Canadian company GASFRAC has (after two years) finally begun fracking an Ohio Utica Shale well using liquefied petroleum gas, or LPG (see GASFRAC Begins Waterless Fracking Job in OH Utica). GASFRAC’s senior management held an analyst call last week to discuss the company’s performance (the company’s financials are not good). As part of that call was a Q&A in which the Utica well they’re now working on was discussed. We found the banter interesting. One of the more interesting aspects was GASFRAC’s contention that LPG fracking used in places where earthquakes are a concern (like Ohio) may reduce the likelihood of a fracking-induced earthquake from occurring…
Read More “GASFRAC Says LPG Waterless Fracking May Prevent Earthquakes”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues

NJ Utility to Provide Marcellus Gas to Virginia Power Plant
November 18, 2014November 18, 2014

Here’s one that will stretch your brain in new directions: A New Jersey utility, South Jersey Gas, has won the contract to provide Marcellus Shale gas to a new electric generation plant that will run on that gas, to be built in Loudoun County, Virginia by Panda Power. Panda, you may recall, is a Texas-based investment firm that invests in and operates electric plants, including two in northeast Pennsylvania (see Panda Power Buys Rights for 2nd Marcellus-Fueled Electric Plant). Although not located in the Marcellus region per se, the Loudon County, VA project, called the Stonewall Power Project, will be Panda’s third Marcellus gas-powered electric plant…
Read More “NJ Utility to Provide Marcellus Gas to Virginia Power Plant”
Energy Services | MarkWest Energy

MarkWest Energy Floats Notes to Raise 1/2 Billion in Cash
November 18, 2014November 18, 2014

MarkWest Energy needs some more cash–like a half a billion dollars of cash–so they’re floating pieces of paper (unsecured notes) that they promise to pay back by 2024. No word on the interest rate they’ll give you for your money. We’re assuming some (most?) of that money will be put to good use in the Marcellus/Utica…
Read More “MarkWest Energy Floats Notes to Raise 1/2 Billion in Cash”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Regulation

4 Mass. Legislators Brag About Opposing Kinder Pipeline
November 18, 2014November 18, 2014

Here’s four Massachusetts state representatives that residents of MA may want to consider voting out of office for their rigid stance against the Kinder Morgan Northeast Energy Direct pipeline, a pipeline aimed at delivering cheap, abundant clean-burning Marcellus Shale gas so desperately needed in MA and the other New England states: Rep. Stephen Kulik (D-Worthington), Sen. Eileen Donaghue (D-Lowell), Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton), and Rep. Sheila Harrington (R-Groton). They boast that they pressured current/out-going governor Deval Patrick to back away from supporting the pipeline. The Democrat candidate for governor in November’s election, Martha Coakley (Patrick decided not to run again), opposed the pipeline too. She lost. Even in the face of defeat and the prospect of rolling blackouts (see the story below), these dimwits continue their push to prevent more natural gas from reaching their region due to their own misguided prejudice against fossil fuels…
Read More “4 Mass. Legislators Brag About Opposing Kinder Pipeline”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Nov 18, 2014
November 18, 2014November 18, 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 18, 2014”
Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Utica Shale | West Virginia | Wood County

Cabot’s Wood County, WV Utica Well – Vertical or Horizontal Miss?
November 17, 2014November 17, 2014

Several years ago MDN editor Jim Willis took a tour of several Cabot Oil & Gas well sites in Susquehanna County, PA. One of the sites was a completed well pad with four producing wells, located not far from Carter Road in Dimock (yes the infamous Carter Road memorialized in Gasland). As we stood on the pad, a pad not visible a few hundred feet from the road, Jim’s tour guide (Bill desRosiers) made this statement: “Cabot has over 3,000 vertical gas wells in West Virginia. You see these four horizontal wells? These four wells produce more natural gas in one day than all 3,000 of those vertical wells in West Virginia.” Jim’s jaw hit the ground. He immediately thought (still thinks): That is the power and miracle of horizontal hydraulic fracturing! So it sparked our interest when we spotted a story from Wood County, WV about a well drilled by Cabot this past August in WV–a well that Cabot immediately plugged. It was a “miss” for Cabot. Our questions: Was it a vertical-only well? Or was it intended to be a horizontal Utica well?…
Read More “Cabot’s Wood County, WV Utica Well – Vertical or Horizontal Miss?”
Centre County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Shell | Statewide PA | Taxation

New PA Senate Leader Says Severance Tax Could Kill Cracker Plant
November 17, 2014November 17, 2014

It’s looking better and better that Pennsylvania Republicans will not cave to pressure to enact a Marcellus-killing severance tax proposed by Democrat Governor-elect Tom Wolf. Last week Republicans booted RINO Dominic Pileggi (Philly area) from his leadership post and replaced him with Sen. Jake Corman from Centre County as the new majority leader. Corman says if a severance tax is enacted, it may well kill the prospects for Shell’s ethane cracker plant and Corman wants to ensure that plant gets built…
Read More “New PA Senate Leader Says Severance Tax Could Kill Cracker Plant”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA State Law Prevents PennEast Pipeline from Paying Property Tax
November 17, 2014November 17, 2014

If you live in New Jersey and you live in a county or township where the PennEast Pipeline will be built, you’re in for a treat: You get a shot of extra revenue every year for the town/county budget in the form of real estate taxes (often referred to as property taxes). PennEast figures Hunterdon County, NJ will see something like $1 million per year in tax revenue from the pipeline. But just over the border in Pennsylvania it’s a different story. In PA natural gas pipelines are not considered “real estate” but instead equipment, and therefore pipelines are not taxed…
Read More “PA State Law Prevents PennEast Pipeline from Paying Property Tax”
Chemung County | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Madison County | Montgomery County | New York | Pipelines

Dominion’s NY Compressor Plants to Move More Marcellus Gas
November 17, 2014November 17, 2014

In June MDN told you about the Dominion New Market Project–a project that will build two new compressor plants and upgrade one other compressor station in upstate New York to help flow more abundant, cheap and clean-burning Marcellus Shale gas from Pennsylvania (and beyond) into the northeast (see Dominion Asks FERC for New Compressors in Upstate NY, WV). It is projected to cost $159 million and provide 112,000 dekatherms per day (Dth/d) of extra natural gas capacity along ~200 miles of existing Dominion pipeline across upstate New York. The pipeline runs through the Horseheads, Ithaca, Syracuse and Albany areas. We have some details about that project, including details about the proposed compressor station in Chemung County, NY…
Read More “Dominion’s NY Compressor Plants to Move More Marcellus Gas”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Rice Energy | Trucking | Washington County

Marcellus Industry Lends a Hand with Nabbing Trucking Violations
November 17, 2014November 17, 2014

There’s no getting around the fact that when drilling comes to an area, so too does a LOT of truck traffic. Anyone who lives in an area with active drilling can attest to the headaches of following a water truck up a hill going half the speed limit. Because the industry is high profile, those who operate truck fleets (and the energy companies who hire them) typically enforce strict rules for drivers. They also maintain their fleets in tip-top shape to ensure there are no safety violations. Case in point: Washington County, PA…
Read More “Marcellus Industry Lends a Hand with Nabbing Trucking Violations”
Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Statewide OH

Another OH DMA Case Decided in Favor of Landowners
November 17, 2014November 17, 2014

For some time now MDN has been following court challenges to Ohio’s Dormant Mineral Act (DMA). The DMA is really two pieces of legislation: One which went into effect in 1989, the other which sought to clarify the 1989 law that went into effect in 2006 (see Video: OH Lawyers Explain Dormant Minerals Act & Impact on Utica). The Ohio Supreme Court has heard a case on the DMA but has still not ruled. However, other cases on the periphery of the DMA have been decided (see OH 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Decision on Dormant Minerals Act). Another such case, Wendt v. Dickerson, was decided a few weeks ago–a case which found in favor of landowners who want to reclaim mineral rights in certain circumstances…
Read More “Another OH DMA Case Decided in Favor of Landowners”
Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Landfills | Pennsylvania

Scranton Newspaper Takes Another Swipe at Local Landfill/Cuttings
November 17, 2014November 17, 2014

This past summer MDN brought you the story of Keystone Sanitary Landfill and their request to expand the landfill skyward (see DEP Delays Scranton Landfill Expansion; Requires Study). Keystone Landfill, on the outskirts of Scranton, PA, is the state’s third busiest landfill. They accept a lot of Marcellus drill cuttings (leftover rock and dirt). A consultant for Keystone, Albert Magnotta, recently told Scranton’s ~~anti-drilling rag~~ the Times-Tribune that residents from the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area will run out of places to dump their trash in five years if Keystone is not allowed to expand. So the Times-Tribune found another landfill not too far away, Alliance Sanitary Landfill in Taylor, PA–owned by the country’s largest garbage collection/dumping service (Waste Management)–to dispute Keystone’s claim. The Times-Tribune would love nothing better than to close down Keystone (a privately-owned local company) and their ability to accept drill cuttings, by assisting a nationally-owned competitor…
Read More “Scranton Newspaper Takes Another Swipe at Local Landfill/Cuttings”
Energy Services | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | UIL Holdings

PDN: City Council Ruined the Promise of Energy Hub in Philly
November 17, 2014November 17, 2014

Can Philadelphia ever be THE energy of hub of the northeast? According to an editorial in the Philadelphia Daily News, City Council has ruined that possibility by scuttling the deal to sell Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) to UIL Holdings (see Phila. City Council’s 6-Hour Hearing on PGW Sale, UIL Appearance). According to the editorial writers, City Council is focusing on retaining 1,600 (and shrinking) public sector union jobs at PGW instead of allowing the sale of PGW which potentially could lead to Philly becoming THE northeast energy hub employing 10 times that number of energy jobs…
Read More “PDN: City Council Ruined the Promise of Energy Hub in Philly”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH

OH Anti Group Claims Legislature Wants to Drill in State Lands (Redux)
November 17, 2014November 17, 2014

The wacko Ohio Environmental Council (committed anti-drillers all) is raising the alarm that the Ohio legislature, and RINO Gov. John Kasich, may be about to allow oil and gas drilling under state-owned lands. One can only hope they would be so smart as to allow it! Yes ladies and gents, an Ohio House committee is, according to the OEC, considering a “stealth effort” to re-open Ohio public lands to oil and gas drilling. Ooooo…
Read More “OH Anti Group Claims Legislature Wants to Drill in State Lands (Redux)”
Uncategorized

Calendar of Events for Nov 17-30, 2014 [Free]
November 17, 2014November 17, 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 17-30, 2014 [Free]”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Nov 17, 2014
November 17, 2014November 17, 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 17, 2014”