Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, May 28, 2014
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Corbett Keeps New Surface Drilling Banned in PA Forests
Last Friday PA Gov. Tom Corbett issued an executive order that a) maintains an ongoing moratorium on any new drilling on the surface of PA public forests and parks, and b) allows for drilling under some public lands (very limited) if the drilling can be done from adjacent private land. You would think from the reaction from the usual reactionaries like PennFuture and PennEnvironment, that Corbett had sprouted horns, a pitchfork and a tail. In Middle Eastern cultures from centuries ago they would have ripped their shirts and thrown ashes on their heads–all because Corbett decided to take a sensible approach to raising another $75 million for the cash-strapped PA budget…
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Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Monroe County | Ohio | Tyler County | Utica Shale | West Virginia
Magnum Hunter 3rd Driller to Target the Utica in WV
Magnum Hunter Resources, a driller with a big presence in the West Virginia Marcellus Shale and increasingly in the Ohio Utica Shale, is now the third driller to tap the Utica Shale in West Virginia. The lucky WV county where Magnum Hunter is drilling its first Utica well in the Mountain State? Tyler County…
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Dimock is Back in the News – New LDC on the Way
Dimock. That single word for many people evokes pictures of brown water in clear jars with claims that shale gas drilling “polluted the water in Dimock, PA.” Of course, it isn’t true. But that doesn’t stop good propagandists like Josh Fox from making money from peddling a lie (see Study Proves Fracking Didn’t Cause Methane in Dimock Water Wells). Now that Dimock is resolved and behind us, this little township in rural Susquehanna County is back in the news. Because of natural gas. But this time, Josh Fox certainly won’t make a movie out of it. Last week the PA Public Utility Commission (PUC) approved an application from Leatherstocking Gas (a local distribution company–or LDC) to run local natural gas pipelines to schools, homes and businesses in Dimock…
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OH Wastewater Disposed Via Injection Wells Jumps 15% in 2013
The volume of wastewater and brine disposed of by pumping it back down an injection well in Ohio jumped 15% from 2012 to 2013. According to new data released by the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR), 16.3 million barrels of wastewater and brine was disposed of during 2013 in Ohio injection wells. But contrary to the hew and cry of anti-drillers–the increase did not come from Pennsylvania drillers. The increase came from Ohio Utica Shale drilling…
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Former Enron Exec Makes “Unethical” Play to Derail PGW Deal
In March MDN told you about the deal negotiated by Philadelphia’s Democrat mayor, Michael Nutter, to sell off (i.e. privatize) the country’s oldest and largest municipal-owned gas company–the Philadelphia Gas Works (see Phila. Gas Works Deal for $1.86B – Marcellus/Utica One of Keys). To his credit, Nutter negotiated a good deal for the city, its residents, and the ratepayers of PGW. One of the main draws for the deal is its proximity to the Marcellus Shale (see Fascinating Look Behind the Curtain of the Phila. Gas Works Deal). However, resistance to the sale was swift and strong–by city council and their entrenched political interests in keeping labor unions happy. Now comes word that a Russian-born former Enron executive is working behind the scenes trying to derail the deal…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Snyder Brothers | Statewide PA | Taxation
High-Priced Strippers in PA: Semantic Gymnastics with Impact Fee
Synder Brothers, a mostly conventional (vertical-only) oil and gas driller in Pennsylvania, is having a lover’s quarrel with the PA Public Utilities Commission over what a stripper is and isn’t. Er, a stripper well, that is. The outcome of that argument may mean Synder Brothers will have to pony up $500,000 for impact fees on wells they’ve drilled that are, according to them, “stripper wells.” And what, pray tell, is a stripper well?…
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Access Midstream Partners | Energy Services | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | M3 Midstream | Momentum | Ohio | Processing Plants
Harrison, OH a Hub for Midstream Processing – Continues to Grow
A few weeks ago MDN told you that Access Midstream and partners M3 Midstream and EV Energy Partners are planning to boost capacity and add a second “processing train” to their Leesville, OH gas processing complex (see Access Midstream: Major Expansion of Utica Processing Facility). With added capacity, the complex will be able to process 1.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day! In addition, the jv partners’ Scio, OH facility is currently building a third processing train to their fractionation (liquids-separating) operation…
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Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, May 27, 2014
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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CA Anti-Driller Tom Steyer Purchasing Tom Wolf PA Governorship
Looks like newly-minted Pennsylvania Democrat candidate for governor, Tom Wolf (who is a multi-millionaire), has signed up to be the political b*tch for Tom Steyer from California (a multi-billionaire). How else would you describe it when Steyer has pledged $100 million to fund three gubernatorial and four Senate races (all Democrats)–one of which is the governor’s race in PA? That’s $14.3 million for Wolf if the $100 million pot of Steyer’s gold is split evenly. If Wolf wins, he’ll be owned lock, stock and by the short hairs by Steyer–in office to do Steyer’s bidding. The reason Steyer is willing to buy Wolf an election in PA? Steyer hates fossil fuels. Surprised?…
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EPA Issues “Final” Permit for PA Injection Well, Then Rescinds It
Looks like the word “final” doesn’t really mean “final”–at least for the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA issued a “final permit” to Windfall Oil and Gas to drill a wastewater injection well near Dubois (Clearfield County), PA in February (see New Wastewater Injection Well Approved in Clearfield County, PA). The EPA’s exact language when issuing the permit after 18 months of evaluation: “Based on all of the public comments received, EPA is issuing a final permit to Windfall Oil and Gas.” The “final” permit allows Windfall to operate the well until 2019 (see a copy of the permit below). But then anti-drillers got involved and pressured the EPA. So the EPA has just taken the “unusual step” of withdrawing it’s “final” approval for the injection well. What’s it called when someone changes his or her mind on a whim? Oh yeah, flaky…
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PIOGA Issues “Plea” to Drillers for Drill Cutting Samples for Study
The Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA) is putting out “a plea” for drillers in PA to lend a hand. PIOGA wants to prove to the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) that drill cuttings are not radioactive and not “laced” with dangerous chemicals. Why do they want to prove it? So that drill cuttings (leftover rock and dirt when the borehole is drilled) can be recycled and used as fill on drilling sites, and as fill for construction sites in general. Problem is, the drillers are not cooperating…
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ODNR Allows Drill Cuttings to be Used for Construction, Roads
An interesting juxtaposition for MDN. We reported in a story today that PIOGA has put out a plea for drill cutting samples so they can perform a study that will prove to the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) that drill cuttings are not radioactive or laced with chemicals and that it’s safe to recycle them for use in things like fill for construction sites–and even road work. Recycling is good! The juxtaposition is Ohio, where the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) already allows the use of drill cuttings for such purposes–with a permit of course…
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Aubrey McClendon Raises Huge $8.7B for Shale Drilling…So Far
Aubrey McClendon certainly has not let getting fired from the company he co-founded, Chesapeake Energy, slow him down. Aubrey has now raised an eye-popping $8.7 billion in capital to fund oil and gas drilling–much of it in the Utica Shale. Nearly half of that, around $4 billion, is coming in deals aimed at the Permian Basin (in Texas) and the Marcellus Shale. Those deals, according to an interview granted by McClendon last week at a conference in Houston, are still not “announced” nor “detailed”. He plans to announce the deals by the end of summer…
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Earth to Mars: We’re Coming to Frack You!
No, this is not a spoof nor a joke. A petroleum engineer and professor at the Colorado School of Mines, Alfred William Eustes III, will address a meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) in Aberdeen, United Kingdom on May 28th. The topic of his discussion? How oil and gas drilling techniques developed here on earth may help us discover whether or not there currently is or previously has been life under the surface on Mars…
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Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, May 23, 2014
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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