Marcellus Drilling News

Latest Slash and Burn Asset Sales from Chesapeake

May 16, 2014May 16, 2014

Back in March MDN told you that Doug “the ax” Lawler and his boss corporate raider Carl Icahn had decided to spin off Chesapeake Oilfield Operating (COO), the oilfield division of the company (see Chesapeake Rushes to Spin Off Oilfield Services into New Company). Today Chesapeake reiterated that COO will be spun off by the end of June. Not only that, but Chessy is dumping a bunch of other assets in order to work down their debt…
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Heinz & William Penn Cut Ties with CSSD; 1st Application for Cert

May 16, 2014May 16, 2014

The news keeps rolling in with respect to the Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD). Yesterday MDN told you about a new grant to the organization (see CSSD Thrown a Lifeline from Richard King Mellon Foundation). Today we know how much the unspecified grant was for, and more importantly, why it was so important. We also have news that after 14 months of existence, the CSSD has it’s very first application for certification…
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Panda Liberty Breaks Ground on Bradford, PA Electric Plant

May 16, 2014May 16, 2014

Once upon a time there was a Kung Fu Panda…er, no, wrong story. Once upon a time there was a Moxie, as in Moxie Energy, that got the bright idea to build an electric generating plant in the middle of the most abundant and cheap natural gas supply in the world–in the Marcellus of Bradford County, PA. They named it Liberty, as in Moxie Liberty. However, Moxie decided to sell their idea (and the authorizations/permits to proceed) to someone else. That’s where the Panda comes in–as in Panda Power Funds (see Moxie Liberty Sells PA Electric Plant Project to Panda Power). The renamed Panda Liberty officially broke ground yesterday on a project that will create 600 jobs and pump an estimated $6 billion into the local economy…
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Blair County | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Supply Chain

Energy = Jobs in Blair County, PA – 50 New Jobs on the Way

May 16, 2014May 16, 2014

It’s a pretty simple equation: Jobs = Energy. It also happens to be true. Makes for a great campaign slogan, which is why it was coined and continues to be used by Pennsylvania Tom Corbett. Yesterday Corbett announced another 50 new energy-related jobs are on the way in Blair County (Altoona area), courtesy of a new facility for a manufacturer of commercial service vehicles used in the Marcellus Shale…
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Cabot, Southwestern Contract for More Pipeline Capacity in NEPA

May 16, 2014May 16, 2014

An unexpected and pleasant surprise: Cabot Oil & Gas and Southwestern Energy are producing so much Marcellus gas in Susquehanna County, PA (northeastern part of the state), they need extra pipeline takeaway capacity. Even with the forthcoming Constitution pipeline (see New Marcellus Constitution Pipeline Announces “Final” Route), more capacity is still needed. Enter DTE Energy and their Bluestone Pipeline, which is about to get a major expansion…
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FERC Final EIS: Cove Point Won’t Hurt Environment

May 16, 2014May 16, 2014

Last September the U.S. Dept. of Energy gave it’s blessing to the Cove Point, MD LNG export facility that Dominion wants to build (see Celebrate! Dominion Wins DOE Approval for MD LNG Export Facility). DOE approval was a major hurdle. A second major hurdle has just been spanned. Yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement (copy below) and found…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Research

Real Science: Comprehensive Water Study in Lycoming County, PA

May 16, 2014May 16, 2014

Finally, some real scientific inquiry is about to take place in the PA Marcellus. Instead of yesteryear hippies who teach at places like Cornell and “analyze” other people’s data, reading into it whatever they want to (cough Ingraffea/Howarth cough), we’re about to have a groundwater quality monitoring program in the heart of the Marcellus Shale–Lycoming County–and they’re going to use real, in-the-field-measurement science…
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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

EPA Power Grab Continues: 813-page Proposed Rule for Refineries

May 16, 2014May 16, 2014

Like an athlete overdosing on steroids to pump up his body mass, the EPA is injecting the Clean Air Act with an equivalent of steroids in order to make itself the regulator of oil and gas in the U.S., countermanding the U.S. Constitution. The latest egregious attempt at a federal takeover comes from EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy who announced yesterday a “proposed” new rule for air monitoring around “refineries”. The proposed new rule (full copy below) is 813 pages long. You know when it’s 813 pages long, it’s going to cost a lot of people a lot of money…
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1st NRG | Energy Companies | Utica Shale

Latest 1st NRG Corp Press Release – Still Want to Drill the Utica

May 16, 2014May 16, 2014

1st NRG Corporation has been saying since October 2012 they want to drill in the Utica Shale, if only they could get a little investor love (see 1st NRG Corp Newest Entrant in OH Utica Shale). At one point they got a $7 million loan to drill in the Utica and other plays. The Utica part never materialized. But 1st NRG is back with a another press release hawking Utica drilling…
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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, May 16, 2014

May 16, 2014May 16, 2014

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Act 13 Goes Back to Lower Court, Disturbing Comments from Judge

May 15, 2014May 15, 2014

Yesterday the seven selfish townships who sued to overturn Pennsylvania’s Act 13 oil and gas law–and won (before the PA Supreme Court)–were back in the lower appellate court at the direction of the Supreme Court, arguing some of the fine points in their attempts to drive the last nail in the coffin to bury Act 13 (see Act 13 Case Goes Back to Court, Drillers Petition to Join Lawsuit)…
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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Taxation | Utica Shale

OH House Passes 2.5% Severance Tax Bill, Where to Now?

May 15, 2014May 15, 2014

As predicted, yesterday afternoon the Ohio House of Representatives passed a bill that will assess a 2.5% severance tax on Utica Shale drilling in the state–raising it from current levels (under 1%). As MDN previously wrote, Ohio’s Republicans caved (see OH Repubs Sell Out on Severance Tax, Kasich Wants Even More!)…
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Blowout Preventer Failed at Morgan County, OH Utica Well Site

May 15, 2014May 15, 2014

We now have a few more bits of information about the drilling accident last week in Morgan County, OH (for background, see PDC Accident: Drilling Mud Spills into Creek in Morgan County, OH). At least two safety measures, including the well blowout preventer, failed to contain the gas and drilling mud from coming back out of the borehole after PDC Energy hit a pocket of natural gas while drilling…
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More Evidence the Odebrect WV Ethane Cracker Will Happen

May 15, 2014May 15, 2014

MDN continues to be encouraged by what we see happening with Odebrecht and their plans to build a multi-billion dollar ethane cracker plant and petrochemical complex near Parkersburg, WV, the state’s third largest city (see WV Announces Brazilian Company to Build Ethane Cracker Complex). As we previously commented, the WV ethane cracker just feels like it’s going to happen (see Odebrecht’s WV Ethane Cracker has The Big Mo–Momentum). The evidence that it will happen continued this week…
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NY Dem Senators Admit Hearing on Landfills Meant to Scare

May 15, 2014May 15, 2014

New York’s anti-drilling (and stupid) Democrat State Senators have admitted (more or less) why they held a hearing on Tuesday about frack waste from Pennsylvania coming to NY landfills–to scare the $#%@ out of people (see NY Dem Senators Want to Ban PA Drill Cuttings from NY Landfills). Not only do they not want drilling in the state, they don’t want upstate communities to benefit from drilling in PA either. So pathetically small…
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Lebanon County Anti-Pipeline Meeting Yields a Surprise

May 15, 2014May 15, 2014

A group of shrill anti-drillers organized an informational meeting last night at Lebanon Valley College to try and scare landowners into rejecting a proposed Williams Central Penn South pipeline through Lebanon County. Funny thing is, of the 50 or so that showed up, quite a few think it will be built–and if it is, it may not be such a bad thing…
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