Marcellus Drilling News

Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Norse Energy | Regulation | Statewide NY | Tompkins County

Norse Energy Appeals Town Ban Case Back to NY High Court
September 16, 2014September 16, 2014

In April MDN reported on the rumors that Norse Energy, the ill-fated company that bet big on New York State with 180,000 acres of leased land in NY, had been sold at bankruptcy court (see Highest Bid for Norse Energy $2.65M – Was it Sold & Who Bid?). As we pointed out in the story, we don’t know if the company was actually sold, and if it was, who the actual buyer was. We still don’t know. What we do know is that the only thing left to sell were Norse’s leases, since they had already sold off all of the hard assets (see Lights Turned Off, Door Closed – Good Night, Norse Energy). However, the Norse trustee retained at least some of the leases assets so the company could continue their lawsuit against New York for bankrupting them. Try to get back at least some of that money. Then the double-whammy: The New York Court of Appeals (our highest court) ruled against Norse and said local towns can ban fracking (see Shale Drilling in NY is Over – High Court Upholds Town Bans). The new news, just coming to light for us, is that Norse appealed that decision back to the Court of Appeals for a second time, based on a recent decision in a Colorado court…
Read More “Norse Energy Appeals Town Ban Case Back to NY High Court”
Butler County | Carroll County | Energy Companies | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Rex Energy | Utica Shale

Rex Energy: Utica Wells Pump Liquids; New Rig in PA; LOC +$100M
September 16, 2014September 16, 2014

Rex Energy yesterday issued an interim third quarter 2014 update on results for their recently drilled and completed Utica Shale wells in Ohio, and on operations in Butler County, PA. Rex’s OH Utica wells coming online in Carroll County, OH showed low daily output for methane–2.1 million cubic feet per day–but more than made up for it with big output for condensate (“natural gasoline”) and natural gas liquids: one set of Rex’s Utica wells averaged 454 barrels per day of condensate and 433 barrels per day of NGLs. Rex also announced they are adding a third drilling rig in their Butler, PA area starting in early 2015 after picking up 208,000 acres from Shell (see Rex Energy Takes Shell to the Cleaners – Picks up 208K Acres). And, the company got a $100 million increase in their line of credit…
Read More “Rex Energy: Utica Wells Pump Liquids; New Rig in PA; LOC +$100M”
Energy Companies | Vantage Energy

Vantage Energy IPO Target Goes from $400M to $601M
September 16, 2014September 16, 2014

In July, Colorado-based Vantage Energy, with a major operation in the Marcellus Shale, filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering (IPO) in which they said they want raise $400 million (see Marcellus Driller Vantage Energy Files for $400M IPO). That’s out the door. Yesterday, Vantage announced it is moving forward with an IPO later this month and they now hope to sell up to 23,550,000 shares of common stock and raise $601 million–a pretty healthy jump. Vantage owns 48,000 acres in the Marcellus Shale–in Greene County, PA. They also have a sizable stake in the Barnett Shale (in Texas). Vantage is a relatively young company, founded in 2006 by the former president of EnCana, Roger Biemans…
Read More “Vantage Energy IPO Target Goes from $400M to $601M”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Athens, OH Anti-Frackers Demand Army Corps Count Each Form Letter
September 16, 2014September 16, 2014

The silly (and vacuous) “protesters” who don’t want GreenHunter to build a barge facility on the Ohio River (where there are what, dozens, hundreds of such facilities?) think that if they can convince enough like-minded (we use the term “minded” loosely) anti-fossil fuelers to sign their John Hancock on form letters that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should count each form letter individually instead of lumping them together. So instead of a “massive” 4,000 form letters received, the Corps records getting “fewer than 1,000” so-called protest letters against the wastewater barge facility. Appearances and raw numbers are all that matter to the carbon energy-allergic members of the Athens County Fracking Action Network (ACFAN). What’s the answer for this small group of people whose lives have no meaning apart from being against something? According to ACFAN and their odious backers at Food & Water Watch–sign more form letters to demand the Corps count their previous form letters!…
Read More “Athens, OH Anti-Frackers Demand Army Corps Count Each Form Letter”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Taxation | Utica Shale

Kasich to Laser Focus on Hiking Utica Severance Tax
September 16, 2014September 16, 2014

Apparently Ohio’s RINO Gov. John Kasich–he who calls skilled gas field workers from Texas and Oklahoma “foreigners” (although he loves the money and jobs provided by companies headquartered there)–hasn’t been “focusing” on the issue of soaking Utica drillers with high taxes and apparently that’s why it hasn’t yet happened. So Gov. Kasich will center himself, hum a mantra and focus really hard on screwing the Utica Shale industry in the coming year and that, he hopes, will do the trick to raise the severance tax rate in his state…
Read More “Kasich to Laser Focus on Hiking Utica Severance Tax”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Sep 16, 2014
September 16, 2014September 16, 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, Sep 16, 2014”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Regulation | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

MA Town Health Board Claims “Unlimited Power” to Stop TGP
September 15, 2014September 15, 2014

Who knew the U.S. Constitution had a clause in it that grants the Deerfield, Massachusetts town health board “unlimited power” to do what they want to do. That’s what Cristobal Bonifaz, a lawyer from Conway, MA, is claiming. Even though the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, according to federal law, is the sole agency charged with granting or withholding permission on interstate pipelines, Bonifaz says the Deerfield health board has “unlimited power” to do what they want, and he’s volunteering to be their attorney in attempting to stop the expansion of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline through the township. How?…
Read More “MA Town Health Board Claims “Unlimited Power” to Stop TGP”
Butler County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Rex Energy

Rex Gets Permits to Drill Near Martian School, Antis Apoplectic
September 15, 2014September 22, 2014

Finally! On Friday, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection wisely granted drilling permits to Rex Energy for a site 3/4 of a mile away from a school in Mars (Butler County), PA. Some of the Martian parents are anti-drilling and demanded the school board engage in the illegal action of setting up a no-drill zone two miles beyond school property (see Martians Still Trying to Invade Neighbors to Prevent Drilling). Clearly such a measure would never hold up in court–but that doesn’t stop anti-drillers from trying, wasting everyone’s time and money. Now it looks to be a moot point. However, the Martians are not done yet. They’re a bit shell-shocked that their pretentious demands have been turned down (adult versions of spoiled children who have just been told “NO!”), so they’re regrouping and hatching new strategies on where to go from here…
Read More “Rex Gets Permits to Drill Near Martian School, Antis Apoplectic”
Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Supply Chain

ETP Selects Manufacturer for 600 Miles of Pipeline for ET Rover
September 15, 2014September 15, 2014

Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) in June announced their intention to build a 600-mile long pipeline called ET Rover that will shuttle some 3.25 billion cubic feet per day of Marcellus and Utica Shale gas to markets in the Midwest and Canada (see Big News: ETP “Rover” Marcellus/Utica Pipeline to Midwest/Canada). ETP hasn’t wasted any time. They already have a number of large customers lined up. The company has also lined up the manufacturer that will produce the 600 miles of pipeline–the largest order for this company in it’s 35-year history…
Read More “ETP Selects Manufacturer for 600 Miles of Pipeline for ET Rover”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Rockies Express Pipeline

Reversing the Fortunes for “Wrong Way” REX Pipeline
September 15, 2014September 15, 2014

What happens when you build a major interstate natural gas pipeline–and you’ve guessed wrong about the market. That happened to Tallgrass Energy and their Rockies Express Pipeline (REX), which runs from Colorado and Wyoming in the West to Ohio in the East. The REX Pipeline was completed in 2009, just in time for the shale revolution to begin in the Marcellus and now in the Utica. What to do when you’re pumping gas into a saturated market? At last week’s LDC Gas Forum in Chicago, Tallgrass vice president Doug Walker said you change things up…
Read More “Reversing the Fortunes for “Wrong Way” REX Pipeline”
Fairmount Santrol | Geauga County | Ohio

OH Frack Sand Co Going Public, Seeks Big $ in IPO
September 15, 2014September 15, 2014

An Ohio-based frack sand company, Fairmount Santrol (formerly Fairmount Minerals), recently announced their intention to go public and sell shares of stock. Flying under the legal name FMSA Holdings, the company is headquartered in Chesterland (Geauga County), OH, in the northeastern corner of the state. Fairmount Santrol was founded in 1986 and last year reported $1.2 billion in revenue (or $1.6 billion, depending on the source you use) and $114 million in net income. How much money do they hope to raise?…
Read More “OH Frack Sand Co Going Public, Seeks Big $ in IPO”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Public Opinion | Statewide PA

Poll: Huge Majority of PA Voters Want More Home-Grown O&G
September 15, 2014September 15, 2014

The results of a Harris poll taken of 608 Pennsylvania registered voters at the end of July/beginning of August is bad news for anti-drillers–really bad news. The Harris poll found an astounding 87% of Pennsylvanians think it’s “important” that we produce more oil and natural gas right here in the good ole US of A–including Pennsylvania itself. That single question alone puts anti-drilling candidates on notice that they’re on the endangered species list this November. Even more astonishing: 70% of Pennsylvanians think the federal government doesn’t do enough to encourage energy infrastructure here at home. Talk about an anti-drilling nightmare in the making!…
Read More “Poll: Huge Majority of PA Voters Want More Home-Grown O&G”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Antis Take Aim at PA Drillers for Not Hiring Enough Minorities, Women
September 15, 2014September 15, 2014

We seriously wonder if PBS reporterette Marie Cusick, who writes anti-drilling diatribes on the Pennsylvania StateImpact website, has ever, herself, visited a Marcellus well pad. How else could she write an article pejoratively titled “Gas drillers still ignoring law to include women and minorities”? MDN has visited pads a number of times–and the thing that stood out to us was the number of women suited up in overalls working in the dirtiest jobs on the drill site. But let’s not let reality destroy a good work of “journalistic” fiction…
Read More “Antis Take Aim at PA Drillers for Not Hiring Enough Minorities, Women”
East Resources | Energy Companies | Erie County (NY) | New York | Statewide NY

National Media Acknowledges Marcellus Shale Saved the Bills
September 15, 2014September 15, 2014

It’s not often that MDN sets the trend for national news, but we have to say we believe we did this time. Going back to June 2014, MDN speculated that if the Buffalo Bills franchise was purchased by billionairre Terry Pegula, it would be Marcellus money funding the purchase (see Fascinating Connection Between NFL & Marcellus/Utica). We then brought you the news that Aubrey McClendon, the former Chesapeake CEO and fracking “bad boy” the media loves to hate, would also help fund the purchase via his purchases of Marcellus and Utica property from Pegula (see Aubrey McClendon’s Money Makes Purchase of Buffalo Bills Possible). Last week the deal was struck and indeed, Pegula the Marcellus fracking billionaire, was the winner (see Buffalo Bills Stay in Buffalo, Thanks to $1.4B of Marcellus Money). After we reported that story on Wednesday, it took a couple of days, but eventually even Gannett and the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin had to admit we were right. In an interesting twist, the PSB reports that NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo is gushing with praise for Pegula, which of course just points out his sleazy, political double-standard on the fracking issue…
Read More “National Media Acknowledges Marcellus Shale Saved the Bills”
About MDN | Calendar

Calendar of Events for Sep 15-28, 2014 [Free]
September 15, 2014September 15, 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 Sep 15-28, 2014 [Free]”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Sep 15, 2014
September 15, 2014September 15, 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, Sep 15, 2014”