Marcellus Drilling News

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Court Says 7 Towns Can Keep Marcellus Money & Ban Drilling Too
July 18, 2014July 18, 2014

The seven Pennsylvania townships that sued and ultimately won the right to gut the Act 13 law over zoning regulations (Robinson, Nockamixon, South Fayette, Peters, Cecil, Mount Pleasant, and the Borough of Yardley) don’t want drilling in their townships, but they sure love the money that comes from drilling. In addition to gutting the zoning provisions in the Act 13 law, the towns bridled when the Public Utility Commission (PUC), acting in accordance with the Act 13 law, withheld money from four of the seven towns for their anti-drilling ordinances that violate state oil and gas drilling law. Yesterday the court said the PUC couldn’t do that anymore–further gutting Act 13. However, three other outstanding issues about Act 13 were decided in favor of the drilling industry, including the so-called doctor “gag rule”…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA | Wastewater

Delaware Riverkeeper Wins Right to Get Half-Baked Radiation Data
July 18, 2014July 18, 2014

In January 2013 the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced they would study the issue of radiation levels in shale oil and gas waste (see PA DEP Announces New Study of Radiation in Shale Drilling). The study would take an estimated 12-14 months. That time has come and gone. The DEP is finished with its data collection–but not quite done with analyzing, verifying and (eventually) publishing the results. Not good enough for the Delaware Riverkeeper (the eccentric Maya van Rossum, see Delaware Riverkeeper Network (DRN) Gets a French Kiss from Phila. Inquirer). The litigious van Rossum via her DRN filed an appeal to get her hands on the preliminary/unsubstantiated/unvetted data collected by the DEP–and she won…
Read More “Delaware Riverkeeper Wins Right to Get Half-Baked Radiation Data”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Gov. Cuomo in No Particular Hurry to Decide on Fracking
July 18, 2014July 18, 2014

The man-child who can’t make a decision on fracking–New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo–did a sit-down interview with the editorial board of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle on Wednesday. When asked about fracking, he did what he always does–he made excuses. It seems Gov. Andy is no particular hurry on the issue…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

SGICC Grant Funds PA Study on Converting Marcellus Gas to Methanol
July 18, 2014July 18, 2014

The Ben Franklin Shale Gas Innovation & Commercialization Center (SGICC) earlier this week announced they have made a grant (amount undisclosed) to “boutique consulting firm” ADI Analytics to study whether or not it’s economically feasible for PA to convert natural gas to methanol using a small or medium size plant. The findings of the study, due later this year, could have a big impact in PA–both by using more of the abundant Marcellus Shale gas supply, and in supplying jobs and economic benefits from a methanol plant. What, you may ask, is methanol used for?…
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Industrywide Issues | Reserves (Proved and Unproved)

Defining Our Terms: Different Types of O&G Reserves
July 18, 2014July 18, 2014

From time to time MDN mentions a driller’s “proved reserves” and sometimes their “unproven reserves.” Like this story from earlier this week: Magnum Hunter Proved Reserves Up 10.7%, Marcellus/Utica Tops; or this story from February: CONSOL Proved Reserves Up 44%, Marcellus the Key. Sometimes we define those terms and sometimes not. There’s always new MDN readers who may not be all that familiar with industry inside lingo. Yesterday our favorite federal government agency–the U.S. Energy Information Administration–published a helpful guide to define just what proved/unproved and other types of reserves mean. It’s a sort of “Oil & Gas Reserves 101” kind of article, a very helpful article we thought you would find useful…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Washington County

Fisherman: Marcellus Isn’t Causing Fish Kill in Cross Creek Lake
July 18, 2014July 18, 2014

Apparently in the anti-drilling zeal to stop drilling in places like Washington County, PA, some people have made reckless claims that Marcellus Shale drilling has led to fish kills in places like Cross Creek Lake, a 258 acre lake owned by Washington County that sits inside a 3,300-acre county park off Route 50 between Hickory and Avella. One fisherman who’s been fishing the lake for the past four years (and fishing in general for the past 40 years) says he thinks inexperienced or careless anglers are the source of dead fish turning up in the lake, not Marcellus drilling…
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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Supply Chain | Washington County

Methane Detection Company – Sensitive Enough to Detect Cow Farts
July 18, 2014July 18, 2014

Yet another example of a company in a far-flung industry that’s finding success by selling a service to the Marcellus drilling industry. Cherokee Helicopter Service in Washington County, PA is working with drillers and midstream companies to detect pipelines and drilling operations that leak methane. The equipment used by Cherokee is so sensitive, it can detect a single cow farting…
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Air Quality | Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Supply Chain

Attack of the Drones: Using UAVs to Make Marcellus Safer?
July 18, 2014July 18, 2014

Drones–model airplanes and model helicopters with cameras (or bombs) strapped onto them are all the rage. Even in shale-land! A small start-up company in Pittsburgh is manufacturing quadcopters (a model helicopter with four rotors) that can be used to fly along pipeline routes, carrying equipment to sniff out potential methane leaks. According the the inventor, it’s a lot less expensive than flying a real helicopter along a pipeline or sending people by foot…
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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Jul 18, 2014
July 18, 2014July 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: Fri, Jul 18, 2014”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

New York Caves to Anti-Drillers Again: Discloses Oil Train Movements
July 17, 2014July 17, 2014

When an oil train in New York explodes from a terrorist act, don’t say we didn’t warn you. The blood of it will be on the hands of eight environmental groups (including Earthjustice, Sierra Club and Riverkeeper). New York State officials caved and decided to turn over details about Bakken crude oil train movements through the Empire State in response to a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request (see NY Enviro Groups Seek to Use Oil Trains to Their Advantage). The anti-drilling (and complicit) Albany Times Union newspaper helpfully published the details…
Read More “New York Caves to Anti-Drillers Again: Discloses Oil Train Movements”
Air Quality | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues

Google Spy Car Colludes with EDF to Map “Leaky” Methane Pipelines
July 17, 2014July 17, 2014

Apparently Google wasn’t content with snooping on your private home computer network, grabbing your passwords and online activity as their spy car sneaked down highways and city streets supposedly taking pictures for Google Maps (see Google Loses Appeal in Street View Snooping Case). Google and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) colluded to secretly outfit Google’s spy cars with so-called methane leak detectors to monitor methane leaking into the atmosphere because, you know, methane causes (don’t laugh) man-made global warming (*cough* most brutal winter in the past 25 years followed by a cooler-than-normal summer *cough*). EDF decided to out themselves and Google with the following press release:
Read More “Google Spy Car Colludes with EDF to Map “Leaky” Methane Pipelines”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Butler County | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Rex Energy

Martians Demand School Board Ban Fracking Outside its Own Orbit
July 17, 2014July 17, 2014

Turning down $1 million wasn’t enough for the lib anti-drilling parents in Mars (Butler County), PA. They continue to try and deny Rex Energy their lawful right to drill shale wells on non-school property 3/4 of a mile away (see Martians Threaten Lawsuit Against PA Town to Prevent Drilling). Meanwhile, the Elk Lake School District in Susquehanna County, PA has two wells drilled on school campus grounds–with no pollution or harm to the kiddies–and continues to rake in the dough (see Rural NE PA School Nets $1.7M in Royalties from 2 Marcellus Wells). Earth to Mars! Pull your heads out of the sand…
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Allegheny County | Housing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

More Housing for Marcellus/Utica on the Way in Pittsburgh Region
July 17, 2014July 17, 2014

A New Jersey-based real estate investment company, UMH Properties, Inc., announced yesterday they’ve purchased four manufactured home communities in the Pittsburgh, PA area for $12.2 million. The reason? To expand in the Marcellus/Utica region. The company plans to build homes for sale and for rent to those who work in the Marcellus and Utica Shale…
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Antero Resources | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Reserves (Proved and Unproved) | Utica Shale

Antero Resources: Marcellus/Utica Program Going Gangbusters
July 17, 2014July 17, 2014

Antero Resources, now with 488,000 acres of leased land in the Marcellus/Utica region, issued a very impressive update yesterday. According to the update, Antero is running 15 drilling rigs in the Marcellus and 5 rigs in the Utica. Some 26% of their acreage is now classified as “proved reserves.” Those proven reserves have risen by 19%–to 9.1 trillion cubic feet (13% liquids) from year-end 2013 numbers. Wow! They drilled and completed 22 Utica wells (added them to proved developed reserves) in the first six months of 2014. Those wells include: 4 rich gas (1100-1200 Btu), 2 highly-rich gas (1200 to 1225 Btu), 3 highly-rich gas/condensate (1225 to 1250 Btu) and 13 condensate (1250 to 1300 Btu) wells. Here’s the very full and rich update from Antero:
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Energy Services | Kinder Morgan

Kinder Morgan CEO: TGP a Star, Gulf Coast Benefits from Marcellus
July 17, 2014July 17, 2014

Kinder Morgan (KM) and its various subsidiaries is the country’s largest pipeline company and fourth-largest energy company of any kind. KM Energy Partners issued a “first six months of 2014” update yesterday (that’s what we call it anyway). The news continues to be good for KM. Chairman and CEO Richard D. Kinder said the company’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline in particular is a star performer for the company: “TGP’s services continue to be in high demand due primarily to ongoing growth in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays. Earnings were boosted by a number of TGP expansion projects that came online last November, along with the approximately $175 million Utica Backhaul project which began service in April.” He also said the Gulf Coast is hugely benefiting from the Marcellus/Utica…
Read More “Kinder Morgan CEO: TGP a Star, Gulf Coast Benefits from Marcellus”
CNG/LNG | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | UIL Holdings

Philly City Council Continues to Diddle Around on PGW Sale
July 17, 2014July 17, 2014

The (lazy) Philadelphia City Council went on summer recess before doing the city’s business of evaluating the $1.86 billion deal to sell the city-owned Philadelphia Gas Works to UIL Holdings Corporation, a Connecticut-based investor-owned gas and electric utility (see Phila. Gas Works Deal in Jeopardy Due to Vacationing City Council). They’re excuse for heading to the Jersey shore before doing their jobs? They need more “studies”. Their lackadaisical handling of the deal means UIL could, as of yesterday, walked away from the deal. Fortunately for Philadelphians, UIL has decided to stick around–for now…
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