Marcellus Drilling News

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research | Wastewater

NSF/Park Found. Research Claims Frack Fluid Tracking with Tracers
October 21, 2014October 21, 2014

Last year MDN endorsed a proposal put forth largely by anti-drillers–a proposal that tracers be used in fracking fluids to put to rest, once and for all, the silly notion that frack fluids are rising from the depths to “contaminate” water aquifers (see Using Tracers in Fracking Fluid – Ready for Prime Time?). Using tracers, or unique “fingerprints” that positively identify fluid as coming from shale drilling, can be used to check nearby streams and rivers to ensure such fluids have not somehow been released into the environment after they’ve come back to the surface for disposal by recycling or injection well. Our only concern was/is that the science is solid. Yesterday, the National Science Foundation announced researchers (using NSF and Park Foundation grant money) have field tested and pronounced they now have a solid solution…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Northampton County | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines

Dela. Riverkeeper, Sierra Club Hold Stop PennEast Pipeline Mtg
October 21, 2014October 21, 2014

THE Delaware Riverkeeper herself, Maya van Rossum, has apparently been called back from outside the orbit of the Delaware River Basin (see Martian Chronicles: Delaware River Basin Shifts to Western PA?). What urgent matters would draw Ms. van Rossum from trying to stop evil shale well drilling in western PA all the way back to the Delaware River Basin in eastern PA? Why, a pipeline, of course. She, along with a contingent of Sierra Clubbers, held a “stop the PennEast Pipeline Project” meeting at Northampton Community College last night. There were lots of words like “dangerous” and “devastation” bandied about, in an attempt to fire up ~125 of the faithful who attended…
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Crestwood Midstream | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines

Crestwood Announces Successful Open Season for MARC II PA Pipeline
October 21, 2014October 21, 2014

Speaking of the PennEast Pipeline, yesterday Crestwood Midstream announced a successful non-binding open season (a yeah, we’ll use your pipeline when you build it) for their MARC II Pipeline in the Marcellus Shale. The MARC II is a new 30-mile pipeline extending the Central New York Oil & Gas Company (owned by Crestwood) to connect with the proposed new PennEast Pipeline along with a connection to the Transco Pipeline and the proposed new Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline–all three connections happening in Luzerne County, PA…
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Cardinal Gas Services | Energy Companies | Energy Services | EV Energy Partners | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Total

Done Deal: S Koreans Buy 34% of Cardinal Gas Services for $612M
October 21, 2014October 21, 2014

As MDN told you a month ago, South Korea wants in on the Marcellus/Utica action and two South Korean companies had committed to buying up to a 34% stake in Cardinal Gas Services (see Total, EVEP Sell Interest in Cardinal Midstream to S Koreans for $612M). The deal is now done. Yesterday Samchully, the lead South Korean company, announced they have completed the purchase of the full 34% stake in Cardinal for $612 million…
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Aqua America | Energy Services | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Supply Chain

Water Pipelines for Drillers Great Idea, But Few & Far Between
October 21, 2014October 21, 2014

An excellent article appears in today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, written by one of the few (perhaps only) reporters they have who is objective when it comes to writing about the natural gas industry: Anya Litvak. Anya used to write for the Pittsburgh Business Times before the Post-Gazette poached her. Anya’s article addresses the issue of using water pipelines to feed the growing demand for water used by shale drillers. It’s a win/win because it tends to be cheaper and it reduces truck traffic. However, the up-front cost to build a pipeline (on the part of a water company) is not cheap and many drillers aren’t willing to commit to the 3-15 year term that water utilities want to have before they are willing to build such a pipeline. As part of the article we get this interesting update on PA water company Aqua America…
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Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrialization | Industrywide Issues | Research

Cleveland Fed Bank Report Addresses Boom & Bust in Shale Drilling
October 21, 2014October 21, 2014

An analyst with the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland authored and released an article addressing the concerns over shale gas and oil development. The article, titled “Deep Wells, Deep Pockets, and Deep Impact” (full copy embedded below) purports to address the issue of what can communities do about the boom and bust cycle attached to any natural resource extraction process? We were excited to read what the Fed’s learned analyst would say about an important issue like this one. We were disappointed that he did a lot of problem identification, but offered little in the way of problem resolution…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Supply Chain

Fortis Energy Adds New Workover Rig in Marcellus/Utica
October 21, 2014October 21, 2014

Oilfield services companies span the range from the Halliburtons and Schlumbergers to the mom and pop companies with a single drilling rig. Fortis Energy Services, a privately held company headquartered in Michigan (but with operations in the Marcellus/Utica) is not nearly as big as Halliburton, but it’s way bigger than a mom and pop. Fortis operates in the Midwest and northeast with a number of rigs. They’ve just added two more “workover” rigs to their fleet–one of them dedicated to the Marcellus/Utica. What’s a workover rig?…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Research

The Big Change from Coal to Natgas in Electric Generating Plants
October 21, 2014October 21, 2014

We take no pleasure, as some do, in the demise of the coal industry. Yes coal pollutes more than other fossil fuels, but there are newer technologies that can be used to ease emissions from coal. But it seems it is an uphill battle and a battle that is (unfortunately) already lost. Once “environmentalists” have put the last nail in the coffin of the coal industry, they’ll be sharpening their axes to come after natural gas. It’s already starting to happen. However, the fact remains that many coal-fired electric generating plants in the U.S. are in the process, or soon will be, of converting to use natural gas. It’s good news for natgas, but the good news comes at the expense of coal. SNL Energy has just published a report tracking the conversion of these plants–plant by plant–from coal to (mostly) natgas…
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About MDN | Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

MDN Quote on Obama EPA/BLM Featured in National Publication
October 21, 2014October 21, 2014

A hat tip and big thank you to national conservative news/blog site The Daily Caller–a major source of news both inside and outside the Washington, DC beltway. MDN was reading a story on a topic of interest to us in The DC–about President Obama’s EPA and Bureau of Land Management waiting until after the election until they unveil more onerous new regulations on the oil and gas industry–when early in the story we spotted this quote from/reference to MDN…
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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Oct 21, 2014
October 21, 2014October 21, 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 21, 2014”
Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Norse Energy | Regulation | Statewide NY | Tompkins County

NY High Court Rebuffs Norse Request to Re-hear Town Ban Case
October 20, 2014October 20, 2014

We won’t bother to chronicle, once again, the long fight in New York State over the right of a town board with 3-5 members deciding that every resident in a township will lose the right to use their property the way they want to (even though property ownership is sacrosanct under the U.S. Constitution). In the People’s Republic of New York, the mob rules. The rule of law is out the window. And so, a few New York high court judges who want to retain their posts under Gov. Andrew Cuomo, decided nobody really reads the Constitution anymore anyway–and that local town boards (not individual landowners) will now decide whether or not shale drilling will take place (see Shale Drilling in NY is Over – High Court Upholds Town Bans). One of the litigants in the case was Norse Energy, forced into bankruptcy by New York’s now 6+ year moratorium on fracking. Norse took over leases from Anschutz Exploration and sued the Town of Dryden, NY over their idiotic frack ban. Based on a recent Colorado case that is similar (and found against so-called “home rule” by towns), Norse asked New York’s highest court to re-hear the case (see Norse Energy Appeals Town Ban Case Back to NY High Court). The ~~crooked~~ judges said “nope”…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Chautauqua County | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation

Dunkirk NY Electric Plant Natgas Conversion Challenged in Lawsuit
October 20, 2014October 20, 2014

There is precisely one (and only one) decision that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has made with regard to clean-burning natural gas that we know of. Last December Gov. Cuomo trudged through three feet of snow in Dunkirk, NY to announce a deal had been struck to convert the local coal-burning electrical generating plant to burn natural gas instead (see Dunkirk, NY Electric Plant Saved – Converting from Coal to NatGas). If the plant is not allowed to convert, it will close and 435 megawatts of electricity will disappear, and along with it, 40% of the taxes paid to local governments and the local school district will evaporate too. You might think environmentalists would be happy to have the plant convert from “dirty” coal to clean-burning natural gas. How have they responded? By filing lawsuits against the conversion…
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Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | MarkWest Energy | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Range Resources Corp | Regulation | Washington County

Civil War Between Cecil Supervisors/Zoning Board Over Compressor
October 20, 2014October 20, 2014

As MDN reported in early October, MarkWest Energy finally (after four years) won the right to build a compressor station in Cecil (Washington County), PA (see MarkWest Wins Court Case to Build Compressor Station in Cecil, PA). The compressor station will be built on property owned by Range Resources. It’s Range’s gas that will flow through that station on its way to market. The Cecil Board of Supervisors voted to not challenge a Commonwealth Court (a lower court) decision that said the zoning board erred when denying MarkWest a permit to build the compressor station. However, the zoning board itself can still appeal the decision (see Cecil Supervisors Vote to NOT Appeal MarkWest Compressor Decision). It appears to us like a civil war has erupted between the Cecil board of supervisors and the zoning board…
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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Southwestern Energy

Fitch Ratings Says Chesapeake/Southwestern Megadeal a “Win/Win”
October 20, 2014October 20, 2014

There are three ratings agencies (the “big three”) that rate companies and governments on their financial health, including the ability to borrow money and pay it back. The big three are Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch Ratings. Fitch, in a move we have not seen before, issued a press release on Friday commenting on last Thursday’s really big news that Chesapeake is selling 413,000 acres and 435 drilled wells–all of it in the Marcellus/Utica–to Southwestern Energy (see Chesapeake Sells Close to 25% of Marcellus/Utica Operation). Fitch jumped in with their own analysis of the deal and has pronounced it a “win/win”…
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Antero Resources | Energy Companies

Antero Resources’ Line of Credit Upped $1B to $4B
October 20, 2014October 20, 2014

One of the largest Marcellus/Utica drillers is Antero Resources. Last week we reported on Antero’s third quarter update in which they tout that by using shorter stage lengths (SSLs) when fracking wells has resulted in better producing wells (see Antero Resources 3Q14: Shorter Stage Lengths Yield 20-30% More Gas). Looks like Antero’s bankers liked that news too. They’ve just extended Antero’s credit line an extra $1 BILLION!…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lancaster County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Williams

DC Lawyer: PA Landowners Should Get Involved in Pipeline Process
October 20, 2014October 20, 2014

A surprisingly (mostly) fair and balanced article from anti-drilling PBS reporter (we’d call her an anti-drilling advocate) Marie Cusick with StateImpact Pennsylvania from last week on the topic of pipelines. The occasion was a good-sized meeting of 200 or so in Lancaster County, PA–folks who turned out to hear some out-of-town lawyers talk about how they can deal with the inevitable Atlantic Sunrise pipeline project proposed by Williams. The project will mean 177 miles of “greenfield” pipeline–pipeline that digs up completely new trenches across “virgin” land where there is no existing pipeline. Washington, DC attorney Carolyn Elefant was one of the speakers at the meeting and spoke to StateImpact following the meeting…
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