Marcellus Drilling News

Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Portage County | Regulation | Wastewater

Anti-Drillers Try to Close Portage County, OH Injection Well
July 1, 2014July 1, 2014

Two anti-drilling groups–Concerned Citizens of Ohio and the the Virginia-based Center for Health, Environment and Justice–have filed a reckless complaint with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency alleging an injection well in Portage County, OH has been illegally accepting millions of gallons of frack wastewater. The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) disagrees. Here’s a breakdown of the situation and the claims and counter claims…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Roads | Statewide PA | Supply Chain

Another Supply Chain Success Story: Flagger Force
July 1, 2014July 1, 2014

The ingenuity of small business people never ceases to amaze us–especially that of small businesses finding ways to serve, and profit from, the Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling industry. In business circles it’s called the “supply chain”–those companies who find ways of profiting from drilling. The latest company to do so is Flagger Force–a company based in Lancaster County, PA that sends out flaggers (to control traffic) in many surround states beside Pennsylvania. Flagger Force is also a major vendor for drillers in PA…
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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Jul 1, 2014
July 1, 2014July 1, 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, Jul 1, 2014”
Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Norse Energy | Regulation | Statewide NY

Shale Drilling in NY is Over – High Court Upholds Town Bans
June 30, 2014June 30, 2014

This is a very sad day indeed. We’ve just received word that New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, has reaffirmed two lower court rulings that allows entire townships in the state to strip away property owners’ rights to allow drilling, in contravention to the U.S. Constitution. The two cases, long chronicled here on MDN, are the “Middlefield” and “Dryden” cases (see NY Pro-Drillers File Final Briefs in Dryden/Middlefield Cases for background). What does it mean? In our opinion it means there will never be any meaningful shale drilling in New York. No driller in his right mind will roll the dice, lock up thousands of acres by spending millions of dollars, just to see it all disappear at the next town board election with a vote by 3 of 5 people. What a complete and utter tragedy this is for freedom-loving Americans who happen to live in the increasingly communistic state of New York. Below is a copy of the decision…
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Accidents | Energy Companies | Equinor/Statoil | Industrywide Issues | Monroe County | Ohio

Statoil Frack Trucks Catch Fire in Monroe County, OH
June 30, 2014June 30, 2014

Crews were working to frack a Utica Shale well at a Statoil drill pad in Monroe County, OH around 9 am on Saturday when hydraulic tubing (not to be confused with the process called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking) from some of the equipment caught fire. The fire quickly spread to 20 trucks lined up at the pad, burning the trucks (some of them exploding) and creating thick, black smoke that billowed for hours. Fortunately no one was injured, although 20-25 families living within a mile of the well were evacuated…
Read More “Statoil Frack Trucks Catch Fire in Monroe County, OH”
Allegheny County | Exporting | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

China Visits the Marcellus to Learn Our Secrets
June 30, 2014June 30, 2014

Calling Pittsburgh a “very beautiful city” and the “shale gas center of the United States,” a group from the China Shale Gas Delegation visited southwest PA last week to learn how America unlocks bountiful shale gas in a safe, economical manner. And of course they chose the biggest and best shale play to study: the Marcellus. Essentially the Chinese were here to learn our secrets–and being big-hearted Americans (and relatively stupid), we opened up and shared…
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Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

3 New (Short) Pipelines from GreenHunter in Tri-state Area
June 30, 2014June 30, 2014

GreenHunter Resources, a subsidiary of Magnum Hunter Resources, is making small moves to compete with MarkWest Energy and Williams. Today, GreenHunter announced they are building (in a partnership with Major Pipeline LLC) three new, short pipelines. The three pipelines represent a total of 34 miles of new pipeline, when added together. One pipeline each will be dedicated to brine/wastewater, fresh water, and condensate. Two of the pipelines will originate in southwestern PA and one in WV. All of them will connect with one of GreenHunter’s barge terminals on the Ohio River. Also in the mix is a condensate “splitter”…
Read More “3 New (Short) Pipelines from GreenHunter in Tri-state Area”
Lease & Royalty Payments | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Sees Rash of “Top Leases” for Shale Drilling
June 30, 2014June 30, 2014

Landowners in West Virginia who leased their property but for whom there has not been drilling may have a new source of income. According to an article in the Wheeling Intelligencer / News-Register, some companies are now offering what’s called a “top lease” to landowners without drilling. What, exactly, is a top lease?…
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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Washington County

Peters Twp Continues to Plot and Plan to Stop Drilling
June 30, 2014February 3, 2015

Peters Township (in Washington County, PA) is one of the seven selfish townships that sued the state and eventually won to dismantle large and important pieces of the Act 13 Marcellus drilling law (see Lawsuit Filed: PA Towns Sue State over Marcellus Act 13 Law and PA Supreme Court Rules Against State/Drillers in Act 13 Case). Peters continues to meet and plot how they can further undermine drilling in their township, even after winning the Act 13 lawsuit…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Another PA Senate Bill Seeks to Help Conventional O&G Drillers
June 30, 2014June 30, 2014

MDN recently reported on legislation making headway in Pennsylvania that would split regulations between conventional and unconventional oil and gas operators in the state (see PA Legislation to Split Conventional/Unconventional Regs Advances). A second PA Senate bill, SB1310, is also making its way through the legislative process. MDN views 1310 as a “helper bill” for SB1378. SB1310 would create a new group called the Pennsylvania Grade Crude Development Advisory Council that would be composed of 17 members (yes, it already sounds bloated) to “assist” the PA Secretary of the Dept. of Environment Protection. Assist the secretary with what?…
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Health Impacts | Industrywide Issues | Research | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WVU: 10 Ways to Reduce Enviro/Health Impacts from Shale Drilling
June 30, 2014June 30, 2014

Researchers from West Virginia University have just published a new paper aimed at reducing environmental and health risks from Marcellus Shale drilling. The paper, titled “Practical measures for reducing the risk of environmental contamination in shale energy production,” is published in the Journal Environmental Sciences: Processes & Impacts and contains 10 specific recommendations that drillers can adopt to make shale drilling safer and less impactful…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Talisman Energy

Anti-Drilling Coloring Book – Let the Laughter Begin
June 30, 2014June 30, 2014

Three years ago Talisman, a driller in the Marcellus Shale (and other shale plays) produced a coloring book for kids. The main character in the book is Talisman Terry. You could hear the gaffaws and laughter from mainstream media, then their righteous indignation that Talisman would “dare” to publish a coloring book that aimed to brainwash little kiddies away from the green religion and bias them toward nasty fossil fuels (see ‘Fracking’ company targets US children with colouring book and Color me fracked: Energy industry produces coloring book to make case for gas drilling to kids). Prior to Talisman Terry was Chesapeake Charlie, same kind of deal. Apparently those coloring books weren’t such a stupid idea after all, because virulent anti-drillers have produced their own coloring book with the aim of brainwashing of kids to keep them in the green religion. Fresh out is the Stream and Shale Coloring Book from so-called scientist J.J. Brown…
Read More “Anti-Drilling Coloring Book – Let the Laughter Begin”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Jun 30, 2014
June 30, 2014June 30, 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, Jun 30, 2014”
Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH

Big News: ETP “Rover” Marcellus/Utica Pipeline to Midwest/Canada
June 27, 2014June 27, 2014

Midstream company Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) announced a major new Marcellus/Utica Shale pipeline infrastructure project yesterday that will transport up to 3.25 billion cubic feet per day of northeast shale gas to markets in the Midwest and Canada. Dubbed the Rover Pipeline Project, ETP says they already have three important (and big) customers lined up to use the new pipeline system, including Aubrey McClendon’s American Energy Partners, Antero Resources and Range Resources. A binding open season to sign up more customer begins today and runs for a month. The first leg of the new pipeline will connect PA, WV and southeast OH processing plants by crossing Ohio, following an existing pipeline route. A second leg will connect northwestern OH to Canada by slicing up through Michigan. Here’s the particulars, along with a map…
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CNG/LNG | Energy Companies | Ethane | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Range Resources Corp

Range Announces Multiple Agreements to Sell Natgas & Ethane
June 27, 2014June 27, 2014

A big, important announcement from Range Resources yesterday to go along with the big, important news that ETP will build a new Marcellus/Utica pipeline (see today’s lead story). Range confirmed ETP’s announcement yesterday that they (Range) will be a customer for the new Rover Pipeline that crosses Ohio and will eventually connect to Canada. In fact, Range says they are the “foundation” shipper on that new pipeline, which is due to be in service October 2017. Range will ship 400,000 million Btus (or 388 million cubic feet) per day on the Rover Pipeline–for 20 years. In addition, Range also announced agreements to sell their Marcellus gas for export via the Cheniere LNG export facility in Sabine Pass and via a second unnamed LNG facility. And the really big news (for MDN)–Range has signed up to become the second source of ethane for the Odebrecht WV cracker plant. They also plan to sell ethane to the Sasol cracker plant planned in Lake Charles, LA…
Read More “Range Announces Multiple Agreements to Sell Natgas & Ethane”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

Corbett Still Says Marcellus Severance Tax a Possibility, if…
June 27, 2014June 27, 2014

We continue to be concerned about PA Gov. Tom Corbett’s resolve when it comes to slapping a Marcellus-killing severance tax on drillers in the state in order to fund a state budget that’s simply spends too much. Our latest concern is with comments he made to an AP reporter yesterday…
Read More “Corbett Still Says Marcellus Severance Tax a Possibility, if…”