Marcellus Drilling News

Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Mid-Year Update for OH Utica – Who’s Drilling Where & How Much?
July 9, 2014July 9, 2014

Time for an update on the rapidly expanding Utica Shale region. Below MDN outlines the most active drillers in the Utica, indicating their acreage positions and how many wells they have permitted, drilled or producing (so far). Information on acreage positions was gleaned from company websites, the 2014 Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook, Vol. 1 and NGI’s Shale Plays Fact Book…
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Electrical Generation | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NRG Energy

The Future of Natgas – Personal Electric Generators?!
July 9, 2014July 9, 2014

Last December MDN editor Jim Willis attended and reported on the Platts Global Energy Outlook Forum in New York City (see Energy Industry Leaders Gather at Platts Forum in NYC). One of the most interesting speakers at that event was David Crane, CEO of electricity-generating giant NRG Energy. At that event Crane touted a pretty radical idea: About 1/3 of all U.S. homes have natural gas pipelines running to them. Crane believes technology exists to allow those homeowners to produce their own electricity with small units powered by natural gas, thereby cutting out the local electric utility. A recent article in Forbes magazine details why Crane’s idea isn’t just idle speculation…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Enviro Groups Seek to Use Oil Trains to Their Advantage
July 9, 2014July 9, 2014

Spurred on by several accidents of trains transporting light crude oil from the Bakken Shale, one month ago the federal government ordered railroads to share more details about those shipments with the states through which they pass. One of those states is New York. Some (a lot) of Bakken crude goes to the Port of Albany, where terminals store the oil and transfer it to ships and barges heading down the Hudson River. New York State is still deciding what information, and how much, to share with the public. The information, according to railroad CSX, is supposed to be shared with first responders (and not the general public). That’s just not good enough for virulent anti-drilling groups like Earthjustice, the Sierra Clubers and THE Riverkeeper…
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Housing | Industrialization | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Research | Statewide OH

OSU Extension Says Shale Boom Towns Don’t Have to Go Bust
July 9, 2014July 9, 2014

Are communities that see a boom from shale drilling destined to experience a bust sometime down the road? MDN recalls that was one of the main reasons Cornell “professor” Tony Ingraffea offered for why he doesn’t like shale drilling at a meeting he addressed back in 2010 (see Cornell Hydraulic Fracturing Expert Headlines First Meeting of New York Residents Against Drilling (NYRAD) in Vestal, NY). However, a new project being launched by Ohio State University’s Extension program says boom then bust “isn’t inescapable” and they aim to help communities avoid that fate…
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Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Landfills | Pennsylvania | Regulation

DEP Delays Scranton Landfill Expansion; Requires Study
July 9, 2014July 9, 2014

The third busiest landfill in Pennsylvania is the Keystone Sanitary Landfill, located on the outskirts of Scranton. The Keystone Landfill accepts a great deal of drill cuttings–leftover dirt and rock from Marcellus drilling. MDN has long chronicled Keystone’s fight to first accept and then expand the landfill (see Scranton Landfill Request for More Shale Cuttings Approved and Scranton Landfill Wants to Double (Again) Shale Cuttings). Local officials objected to the expansion but eventually gave up (see Scranton Suburb Ends Objection to Shale Cuttings at Landfill). The Keystone Landfill is back with another request. But it’s not to expand outward–this time they want to expand skyward…
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Housing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA’s Act 13 Impact Fees Help Fund Affordable Housing
July 9, 2014July 9, 2014

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett’s office announced yesterday that since 2011, the PA Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement Program (PHARE) has invested $49.8 million from natural gas and federal funding sources has been invested in housing initiatives by the Corbett administration to address housing needs created by the growing natural gas industry presence in Pennsylvania. Much of that money has come from Act 13 impact fees…
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Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues | Research

KPMG Survey: 3/4 Energy Execs Say US Energy Independent in 15 Yrs
July 9, 2014July 9, 2014

Each year powerhouse tax and auditing firm KPMG conducts a survey of U.S. energy executives. The 2014 edition of KPMG’s Energy Industry Outlook Survey (full copy below) is in and it shows that because of shale and new energy infrastructure, 73% of energy executives believe the U.S. can attain energy independence by 2030, or sooner. That’s up 10 percentage points from KPMG’s 2013 survey. Some 37% said the single most important energy-related priority should be new pipelines and electric transmission lines…
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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Jul 9, 2014
July 9, 2014July 9, 2014

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Greene County (PA) | Pennsylvania | Rice Energy

Chesapeake Sells 22K Acres in Greene County, PA to Rice Energy
July 8, 2014July 8, 2014

Chesapeake Energy continues to sell off assets in an attempt to boost its stock price and make corporate raider Carl Icahn even richer. The latest fire sale: Rice Energy announced yesterday they’ve picked up 22,000 acres and 12 Marcellus Shale wells from Chessy located in Greene County, PA for $336 million. According to Rice’s President & COO Toby Rice, the acreage is a “high quality” shale asset located in an area they’ve been developing since 2009…
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Earthquakes | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP Considers New Rules to Prevent Earthquakes from Fracking
July 8, 2014July 8, 2014

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has launched a “massive data mining project” to consider drafting new rules around induced seismicity–or the possibility that in rare circumstances fracking itself may cause low-level earthquakes. What seems to have caught the attention of the DEP is the assumption by their counterparts in Ohio, the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR), that a series of low-level earthquakes near the OH/PA border were in fact due to fracking operations being conducted by Hilcorp (see ODNR Says Youngstown Earthquakes “Probably” Caused by Fracking)…
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Accidents | Chevron | Energy Companies | Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania

Parents of Worker Killed in Chevron Greene Co Fire Sue
July 8, 2014July 8, 2014

In February of this year there was an explosion and fire at Chevron’s Lanco 7H well pad in a remote area northwest of Bobtown in Greene County, PA (see Explosion & Fire at Chevron Well in SWPA – 1 Person Missing). Sadly, the fire killed Ian McKee, 27, a Cameron International contractor working at the Chevron well site (see Remains of Chevron Contractor Found at Greene County Well Site). Ian’s parents recently filed paperwork suing Chevron…
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Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

2014 Pipeline Roundup: Most Important Northeast Pipeline Projects
July 8, 2014July 8, 2014

Pipeline infrastructure is critical to the development of any shale play, but in particular for the Marcellus and Utica Shale region. We are blessed with some of (we would say THE) best shale gas resources in the country. As more drilling takes place, you need a way to get all of that gas to market. “Markets” include local, New England, the East Coast, the South, the Midwest, the Southwest and even exports to Canada and (via LNG) Japan and India and perhaps even Europe. MDN has long chronicled pipeline projects in the northeast. However, Dave Messersmith, Penn State Extension Educator part of the Penn State Marcellus Education Team, recently penned an excellent roundup of some of the most important pipeline projects for the northeast–pipelines that either are in the works now, or announced…
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Belmont County | Butler County | Carroll County | Energy Companies | Guernsey County | Noble County | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Rex Energy

Rex Energy Begins Selling Ethane; New Wells Go Online in June
July 8, 2014July 8, 2014

Rex Energy, the “little driller that could” and indeed “is” doing a marvelous job in the Marcellus Shale, issued an important update yesterday. Rex reports they began ethane sales on June 11–which was a little bit delayed from what they had expected. But better late than never. Rex projects selling 2,000-3,000 barrels per day of ethane until mid-July at which point more sources will come online. Once all cylinders are firing, the company expects to sell 5,000 barrels of ethane per day. In addition to the good ethane news, Rex recently brought a number of new Marcellus Shale wells online and expects to keep up a brisk pace this year…
Read More “Rex Energy Begins Selling Ethane; New Wells Go Online in June”
Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Meigs County | Ohio | Regulation | Wastewater

GreenHunter Seeks Approval for Barge Facility in Meigs County, OH
July 8, 2014July 8, 2014

Over the past few years GreenHunter Water, a subsidiary of Magnum Hunter Resources, has purchased seven barge facilities along the Ohio River with the stated intent to transport frack wastewater from up the river in places in Pennsylvania and West Virginia and even Ohio, to further down the river in Ohio–where it would be offloaded and disposed by injection well. We wrote in May 2013 of the long road to receiving federal approval for such a plan (see The Long (Federal) Road to Approve GreenHunter’s Barge Terminals). Then in October it seemed like an approval from the U.S. Coast Guard was imminent (see Coast Guard Green Lights Barge Transport of Frack Wastewater). Here we are in July 2014–and still no Coast Guard approval in sight, which is disappointing…
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Electrical Generation | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Spectra Energy

Spectra Energy to the Rescue! New England Pipeline Expansion
July 8, 2014July 8, 2014

Seems that Kinder Morgan and their planned expansion of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline across Massachusetts isn’t the only company to respond to the plea from New England’s governors to get more natural gas coming to the region (see Blue State Blues: 6 New England States Want New Natgas Pipeline). Spectra Energy has responded to the call to get more gas going to New England. Last week Spectra announced plans to expand the Algonquin and Maritimes pipeline systems adding an additional 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day by 2017, much of it slated for New England’s electric generating plants…
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Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics | Williams

Envelope Please: 4 of 5 Top Midstream Companies in Marcellus/Utica
July 8, 2014July 8, 2014

Who’s the “best of the best” when it comes to the midstream sector–for the entire country? It probably won’t surprise you to learn that the #1 midstream company in the Marcellus, by size of operations in the Marcellus, claimed the top spot in EnergyPoint Research’s 2014 Oil & Gas Midstream Services Customer Satisfaction Survey. That company is, of course, MarkWest Energy. What may surprise you is that Sunoco Logistics, currently under an intense smear campaign by anti-drillers who want to prevent the Mariner East natural gas liquids pipeline from beginning operation, came in at #2. Two other companies with major operations in the northeast are also in the top 5…
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