Marcellus Drilling News

Eclipse Resources | Energy Companies

Eclipse Resources 3Q14: Production Up 104% from 2Q14
October 28, 2014October 28, 2014

Yesterday MDN ran what we thought was a stellar analysis between two sets of wells drilled by Eclipse Resources in the Ohio Utica Shale (see Eclipse Numbers: Dry Gas vs Wet Gas in Utica – Which One Wins?). In addition to details for those two sets of wells, Eclipse also released (yesterday) a brief summary of third quarter production numbers. The numbers, compared to the biggies in the Marcellus/Utica like Cabot and Range, are small. But definitely trending in the right direction. Production for Eclipse is up 104% from previous 2Q14 levels–an average 85.8 million cubic feet equivalent per day. The production mix during 3Q14 was 78% natural gas, 9% natural gas liquids and 13% oil…
Read More “Eclipse Resources 3Q14: Production Up 104% from 2Q14”
Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation

NC Regulator Vote Means $5B Atlantic Coast Pipeline Moves Forward
October 28, 2014October 28, 2014

An important milestone has been achieved on the way to building the $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline–a project that will run from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina (see Dominion Commits to Major New Marcellus/Utica Pipeline Project). The important milestone that just happened is the approval of North Carolina regulators that will allow Duke Energy and Piedmont Natural Gas to make contracts between their utilities and commercial divisions for gas transportation on the proposed pipeline. That is, by unanimous vote, the regulators just gave these companies permission to do business with themselves. Let us explain…
Read More “NC Regulator Vote Means $5B Atlantic Coast Pipeline Moves Forward”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Union Calls Sen. Markey/Warren Pipeline Opposition “Vulgar”
October 28, 2014October 28, 2014

Last week MDN told you that both Massachusetts U.S Senators–Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren–have turned against Kinder Morgan and their planned expansion of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline across the state (see Both Mass. Senators Oppose TGP Northeast Energy Direct Pipeline). Both Senators are, unsurprisingly, Democrats. So it was with some surprise that we noticed a schism among the Democrats on the pipeline. The Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) is calling comments by Markey and Warren to FERC “a vulgar attempt to politicize our nation’s energy regulatory agencies.” Them’s fightin’ words–especially coming from a normally Democrat stronghold (a labor union). Here’s some even stronger words from LIUNA…
Read More “Union Calls Sen. Markey/Warren Pipeline Opposition “Vulgar””
About MDN | Calendar

Calendar of Events for Oct 27-Nov 9, 2014 [Free]
October 28, 2014October 28, 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 Oct 27-Nov 9, 2014 [Free]”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Oct 28, 2014
October 28, 2014October 28, 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, Oct 28, 2014”
Eclipse Resources | Energy Companies | Harrison County | Monroe County | Ohio | Utica Shale

Eclipse Numbers: Dry Gas vs Wet Gas in Utica – Which One Wins?
October 27, 2014October 27, 2014

Some encouraging numbers from a set of well pads in the Ohio Utica Shale from Eclipse Resources. Eclipse’s Shroyer well pad in Eastern Monroe County, OH has two wells producing a combined 42.5 MMcf/d–VERY healthy initial production numbers and something to crow about. They also have a 5-well pad, the Mizer pad in Central Harrison County, OH, that’s producing a combined 10.1 MMcf/d of natural gas and approximately 1,800 Bbl/d of condensate. Not much in the way of methane but a decent amount of condensate production. How do the two sets of wells stack up against each other? Let’s run the economic numbers for Eclipse on the methane only vs condensate wells. Which do you think earns them more money?…
Read More “Eclipse Numbers: Dry Gas vs Wet Gas in Utica – Which One Wins?”
Energy Companies | Gastar Exploration | Marshall County | West Virginia | Wetzel County

Gastar Wins Lease to Drill Under Ohio River in WV
October 27, 2014October 27, 2014

As MDN previously reported, the state of West Virginia had previously put out to bid state-owned land that sits along the Ohio River, and the land under the Ohio, for leases to drill under the Ohio for Marcellus and Utica Shale gas (see State of WV Looks to Lease Area Under Ohio River for Drilling). The state ultimately received four bids to drill three different parcels of land (see Details on 4 Bids to Drill Under Ohio River in WV). One of the four, Gastar Exploration, has been accepted and the final aspects of the lease are right now being negotiated. According to the WV Dept. of Commerce, the other two parcels also have been “identified” with a driller, but Commerce declined to ID who those winners are. Here’s more on the Gastar deal…
Read More “Gastar Wins Lease to Drill Under Ohio River in WV”
Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Upper Devonian Shale

EQT’s 19-Well Pad with 22 Miles of Laterals & 770 Frac Stages
October 27, 2014October 27, 2014

Last week EQT released their third quarter financial and operational update, which MDN chronicled (see EQT 3Q14: Revenue Up 12%, 91 New Wells Spud in Northeast). As often happens, the top brass from EQT held an analyst call to further spread the company message and to take questions from analysts who prepare reports read by investors. Sometimes you find a few gems in the prepared and off-the-cuff remarks in those calls. One such gem in the EQT call from last week is information about EQT’s drilling strategy–longer laterals–which are leading to a cheaper cost-per-foot (an average 6% cheaper). Another gem: EQT will drill a single pad in 2015 with 11 Marcellus wells and 8 Upper Devonian wells (a “stacked pay” well). If you add up the total length of all of the laterals that will be drilled, it adds up to 115,500 feet–nearly 22 miles! EQT will use 770 frac stages along those 22 miles of laterals. Ginormous well pad!…
Read More “EQT’s 19-Well Pad with 22 Miles of Laterals & 770 Frac Stages”
Access Midstream Partners | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Williams

Deal Details for Williams/Access Midstream Merger – TTV of $50B!
October 27, 2014October 27, 2014

One of the biggest–perhaps THE biggest–midstream stories of 2014 is the buyout of Access Midstream by Williams (see Big News: Williams Partners Buying Access Midstream for $6B). Access Midstream, formerly Chesapeake Midstream, has a big footprint in the Marcellus/Utica region. Yesterday (Sunday night) Williams and Access issued a joint statement that the merger plan is now done. The deal outline is settled–and now it’s down to the lawyers and approvals from the government. They expect the completed merger/takeover by Williams to be done “by early 2015.” Yesterday’s announcement (below) gives the blow by blow of the negotiated deal. It also outlines the roles that Access’ corporate officers will play in the newly combined company. As MDN said initially, this deal has the makings of creating a worthy challenger to Kinder Morgan, the nation’s largest midstream company. We originally estimated the combined value of Williams and Access combined would be around $38 billion. According to the announcement yesterday, the “total transaction value” (TTV) of this deal will be ~$50 billion!…
Read More “Deal Details for Williams/Access Midstream Merger – TTV of $50B!”
Accidents | Antero Resources | Doddridge County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | West Virginia

Antero Gets 30 Day Extension to Fix Problems @ Doddridge Well Pad
October 27, 2014October 27, 2014

The West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) has granted Antero Resources another 30 days to get problems under control at a well pad in Doddridge County, WV. You may recall Antero was drilling a new well and the borehole penetrated an existing well at the pad, creating problems with local water wells (see Antero Hits Producing Well Drilling New Well, Methane in Local Water). A “cease operations” order was issued on Sept. 26 and that order has been extended another month while Antero awaits test results from local water wells that were affected by the accident…
Read More “Antero Gets 30 Day Extension to Fix Problems @ Doddridge Well Pad”
Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Williams

Constitution Pipeline Gets FERC Final Environmental Approval
October 27, 2014October 27, 2014

A VERY key piece of the puzzle for building the 124-mile Constitution Pipeline from Susquehanna County, PA north all the way to Schoharie County, NY fell into place late last week. On Oct. 24, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued final environmental review of the proposed pipeline, being built by Williams (with major partner Cabot Oil & Gas, whose gas will flow through it). The final environmental impact statement (EIS) issued by FERC says the pipeline can be built with a minimum impact to the environment. What potential obstacles now remain? Very few. FERC will issue a final “Order” to authorize the pipeline and is expected to do so by Jan. 22, 2015. Game over for anti-drillers on this one. They lost…
Read More “Constitution Pipeline Gets FERC Final Environmental Approval”
Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Utica Shale | Washington County (OH)

Marietta’s City-Owned Land for Lease Tied Up (Again) by City Council
October 27, 2014October 27, 2014

For (quite) a while now the city of Marietta, OH has tried to get leases of city-owned property for drilling under (not on) to extract Utica Shale gas. The first time around they tried, they delayed and it cost them (see Delay in Leasing City-Owned Land Costs Marietta, OH Big $). They decided to try again, with five different parcels (see Marietta Tries 2nd Time to Lease City Land for Utica Drilling). MNW Energy, a leasing company for Protege Energy, originally offered to lease Gunlock Park and Goose Run Road (two of the five parcels) for $4,750 per acre signing bonus and 17.5% royalties. Looks like that deal is back on the table and the city is reviewing it–hopefully in a more timely manner this time around. The problem is, it appears city council is once again frittering around…
Read More “Marietta’s City-Owned Land for Lease Tied Up (Again) by City Council”
Allegheny County | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Baker Hughes | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

Anti-Drillers Protest Steelers Game Over Breast Cancer Donation
October 27, 2014October 27, 2014

How small and mean, and frankly stupid, can anti-drillers get? Pretty small and mean and stupid. On Sunday, a handful of anti-drillers protested outside of Heinz Field where the Pittsburgh Steelers were set to play the Indianapolis Colts–there to protest oilfield services company Baker Hughes handing over a check for $100,000 at half-time to the Susan G. Komen foundation for breast cancer research (the world’s foremost such organization). We wrote about these nutters previously (see Liberal Group Calls Baker Hughes Breast Cancer Effort “Pink Sh*t”). There is no connection between shale drilling and breast cancer, but let’s not let facts get in the way of a good protest, right?…
Read More “Anti-Drillers Protest Steelers Game Over Breast Cancer Donation”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Oct 27, 2014
October 27, 2014October 27, 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, Oct 27, 2014”
Energy Services | EnLink Midstream

EnLink Midstream’s Primary Focus in the Marcellus/Utica is…
October 24, 2014October 24, 2014

EnLink Midstream, the newly combined Crosstex Midstream + Devon Energy midstream division, has announced a “drop down transaction”–which means on paper they transferred assets from one corporate entity to another–both entities owned by EnLink. That is, they sold themselves their own assets. On paper, the “transaction” is valued at $192 million and includes E2 Appalachian Compression, LLC and E2 Energy Services, LLC, both subsidiaries with operations in the Marcellus/Utica. Beyond the financial mumbo jumbo in their announcement, MDN found one line of interest that talks about what, exactly, EnLink’s “primary focus” in the Marcellus/Utica is…
Read More “EnLink Midstream’s Primary Focus in the Marcellus/Utica is…”
Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Shore Exploration & Production | Statewide VA | Virginia

What Were Landowners in Central VA Paid for a Lease Bonus?
October 24, 2014October 24, 2014

We consider Virginia “northeast” as far as coverage goes on MDN. While the Marcellus skirts the very edge of the state and there’s very little Marcellus that would like ever get drilled in Virginia, there are other shale basins in the state, one of which is the Taylorsville Basin–south and east of Fredericksburg, VA. MDN told you in April that Shore Exploration has leased 84,000 acres in the Taylorsville Basin (see Virginia Inches Closer to Shale Drilling in Taylorsville Basin). We now know what they paid per acre for those leases (hint: not very much by Marcellus/Utica standards)…
Read More “What Were Landowners in Central VA Paid for a Lease Bonus?”