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    Central Environmental Oilfield Services Co Gets New “Owner”

    Central Environmental Services, an oilfield services company servicing Marcellus and Utica Shale drillers with its headquarters in Washington, WV, announced yesterday they have a new owner–or perhaps a better way of putting it, a new majority investor. Harbert Private Equity Fund III, LP (“HPEF III”) announced yesterday they have purchased a majority interest in Central for an undisclosed sum. We don’t expect anything will change re management of the company. It just means Central has a new pile of money with which to expand their operations–along with someone watching over their shoulder.

    The press release announcing the new majority investor/owner in Central Environmental Services:
    Read More “Central Environmental Oilfield Services Co Gets New “Owner””

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    PA Marcellus Attorney Awarded National VIP Woman of the Year

    The National Association of Professional Women (NAPW) is a 600,000-member strong organization for professional women to network and grow their careers and reputations. Each year they select a small number of their members to recognize as a VIP Woman of the Year. For 2013/2014, NAPW has recognized southwest Pennsylvania attorney Cara Davis as a VIP Woman of the Year. Cara is the principal in her own law firm, The Law Offices of Cara Davis, which employs 11 attorneys and a variety of other law professionals.

    Oh, it just so happens that Cara is a pro-driller and her firm represents both landowners and oil and gas companies. She’s decided to specialize in the oil and gas field, and the Marcellus, being on her doorstep in Fayette County, is her focus. Cara’s firm is also a finalist in the Northeast Oil and Gas Awards. Congratulations to Cara on distinguishing herself and her firm and by excelling in the exciting Marcellus Shale industry! The official announcement…
    Read More “PA Marcellus Attorney Awarded National VIP Woman of the Year”

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    OOGA’s DeBrosse Report: Utica Drilling Ramps Up in 2013

    reportEach year the 3,200-member Ohio Oil and Gas Association (OOGA) issue the DeBrosse Memorial Report. The report is a high level look at where (and how much) drilling there has been in the state–and what they’re finding (methane, oil, NGLs). OOGA’s Peter MacKenzie presented the findings of the latest DeBrosse Report at last week’s OOGA Annual Winter Meeting in Columbus. According to MacKenzie, the data in this year’s report, “should get people’s attention,” saying it sure got his.

    OOGA supplied us with a copy of the report to share with MDN subscribers (full copy embedded below). It’s chock full of great maps and charts and statistics about oil and gas drilling in Ohio. The numbers (and maps) show the dramatic impact Utica Shale drilling has had. First up are some of the highlights as shared by the Akron Beacon Journal, followed by the full report…
    Read More “OOGA’s DeBrosse Report: Utica Drilling Ramps Up in 2013”

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    MDN Interviews David Holt, President of Consumer Energy Alliance

    MDN editor Jim Willis recently had the pleasure of speaking by phone with David Holt, president of the Consumer Energy Alliance based in Houston, TX. David was a speaker at the recent Clean Frac’ing Conference in Houston. Jim spoke to David about the mission of CEA, who belongs to it and why, David’s views on natural gas and alternative forms of energy, and about his involvement with the recent Clean Frac’ing conference (what he heard and saw at the conference). The podcast interview below runs just over 20 minutes, please give it a listen!

    Below the podcast interview are notes taken by Brittany Thomas of Cabot Oil & Gas who attended and participated on a panel discussion at the Clean Frac’ing Conference. Thanks for the notes Brittany! We bring this interview with David Holt and Brittany’s notes to you as a public service to keep you informed with how the drilling industry continues to be on the cutting edge of innovation and environmental protection…
    Read More “MDN Interviews David Holt, President of Consumer Energy Alliance”

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    Fate of 3 WV Laws that Impact Marcellus/Utica Drilling

    Each year the West Virginia legislature meets for 60 days to consider new legislation. Some bills make it to a floor vote, most do not. There are three bills of major concern to Marcellus and Utica Shale drillers before WV legislators during this session, which just wrapped up last week: chemical tank regulation; WV Future Fund; and forced pooling. One of the three passed and will almost certainly be signed into law by WV Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin. Another passed with major modifications, rendering it unrecognizable from the original. The third, to our knowledge, never made it to the floor for a vote and died in committee.

    Which was which?…
    Read More “Fate of 3 WV Laws that Impact Marcellus/Utica Drilling”

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    Rice Energy’s Washington, PA Town Meeting – 700 Turn Out

    Rice Energy and its CEO Toby Rice held a town meeting at the Bentworth High School gymnasium last Thursday evening. About 700 Washington County, PA residents showed up for the meeting which was, by all accounts, “well-mannered” and cordial–with no anti-drilling hecklers present (a minor miracle). Rice said the company will hold such meetings every six months to stay in touch with area residents and the landowners with whom they do business. Rice Energy recently went public, garnering even more money than they had hoped (see Rice Energy IPO Soars, Brings in $84M More Than Expected). The company is headquartered near Pittsburgh and is mostly focused on the Marcellus Shale. According to Toby Rice, drillers (like Rice) may turn to drilling Utica wells in the area, but only after exhausting their Marcellus options first.

    Here’ more of what Toby said last week at the Bentworth High School…
    Read More “Rice Energy’s Washington, PA Town Meeting – 700 Turn Out”

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    Trickle Down Shale Economics Benefit Belmont County, OH

    A few weeks ago MDN highlighted the results of a recent survey by Ohio University of local elected officials across 17 counties experiencing the majority of shale activity and development in Ohio (see Survey Says! OU Survey of Local OH Officials on Utica’s Impacts). Two county officials in Belmont County, OH did not participate in the survey, but agree with it’s findings. That is, Utica Shale drilling is having a major impact on their county.

    Here’s a closer look at how drilling in Belmont County is affecting those who live there, including beneficial “trickle down” economics that go along with an infusion of large amounts of money…
    Read More “Trickle Down Shale Economics Benefit Belmont County, OH”

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    Utica Shale Drilling Ripple Effect in Northern Part of Play

    Just because you don’t see a drilling rig and holes being drilled in the ground, it doesn’t mean Utica Shale drilling isn’t having enormous, positive economic benefits in a community. So says Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber officials. They point to the hundreds of permanent new jobs at area manufacturers–jobs created and sustained directly by the drilling industry.

    More on the Utica supply chain and how it’s benefiting areas that haven’t (yet) seen their own Utica wells drilled…
    Read More “Utica Shale Drilling Ripple Effect in Northern Part of Play”

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    PA Batman, Protected Species & Marcellus Drilling

    The anti-drilling media in Pennsylvania continually tries to oppress and stir up sentiment against drilling any way they can. One of their favorites is to christen a species as “protected” and then accuse the drilling industry of wanting to drill right where that protected species lives–heartless jerks. So when common-sense Republican lawmakers decide to modify the rules just a bit to make it easier to drill, or build, or farm where a “protected” bat is located, the howls of protest go up. No, the proposed change is not about drilling willy nilly and causing the extinction of a truly endangered species. These species are not on the federal endangered species list–they’re simply on the PA “protected” list.

    This is about libs who want to use “protection” for wildlife as an excuse to control legitimate commercial activity–whether farming or drilling or building, or whatever. Right on cue, we have a story of precious, helpless little bats. A disease (miraculously not related to drilling) is wiping out certain species of bats in PA–and has been for years, long before shale drilling arrived in the state. Some want to use the bat protection issue as an excuse to restrict drilling and other activities…
    Read More “PA Batman, Protected Species & Marcellus Drilling”

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    Time to Congratulate Devon & Crosstex on the Birth of EnLink

    As we previously told you, Devon Energy, a drilling company with some midstream assets, and Crosstex Energy, a midstream company, were due to merge (see Crosstex Energy Gets a Name Change, Merger with Devon Proceeds). It was quite a while in coming–lots of lawyers reviewing every syllable of every paper.

    Last Friday the two companies announced they have finally, fully, irrevocably tied the merger knot and together they have delivered a bouncing baby…midstream company. They named the new baby EnLink. Time for a cigar…
    Read More “Time to Congratulate Devon & Crosstex on the Birth of EnLink”

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    Syndicated Columnist’s Eyes Opened by Marcellus Shale Drilling

    Syndicated columnist Deroy Murdock visited an Anadarko Petroleum Marcellus Shale drilling site in Lycoming County, PA last year to see first-hand what happens when a well gets drilled. As he puts it, at the time it was a “cyclone of equipment, personnel and activity.” Four months later he returned to the same location. And what did he see? Three acres of a well pad with five wellheads sticking up a few feet and a “constant, mild hiss.” The sound of natural gas being harvested.

    Here is Murdock’s first-hand account of what he experienced upon his return, and what it means for our nation at large…
    Read More “Syndicated Columnist’s Eyes Opened by Marcellus Shale Drilling”

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    The Link Between Ukraine and Marcellus Shale Gas

    Is there a link between Russia’s nakes aggression and invasion of Ukraine, and American shale gas, like that found in the Marcellus and Utica? You bet there is! When Russian bully Vlad Putin wants to throw his weight around, he turns off the natural gas pipeline to places like Poland and Ukraine. Keeps the peasants in line, especially during long, cold winters like this one. Just the threat of turning it off has a profound effect.

    Four eastern European nations–Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic sent an official letter on Friday to U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner begging him to step up U.S. efforts at exporting natural gas to Europe–so they can tell Vlad where to stick his gas. American exports would make for a much more secure Europe and would serve to marginalize Putin and his bullies. If we could just get the Obama administration to start crawling toward more export facility approvals (instead of being at a virtual standstill), it would certainly help. Exporting to Europe would help sop up some of the oversupply we have in the Marcellus Shale…
    Read More “The Link Between Ukraine and Marcellus Shale Gas”

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    Where Does YOUR Business Fit in the Marcellus/Utica Supply Chain? [FREE]

    puzzle piecesA little more than a year ago MDN editor Jim Willis developed a Supply Chain tutorial that was included in Vol. 3 of the 2012 Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook. The tutorial is Jim’s attempt at graphically charting how the upstream and midstream shale drilling business works, and more importantly, where various vendors/businesses plug in during that process. That is, where can your business sell its services to the industry. The shale drilling process is like an orchestra. The energy company (whom we call “the driller”) is the conductor, and all of the instruments in the orchestra that must play together at the right time, hitting the right notes, are typically businesses not owned by the driller. There is a lot of opportunity for local businesses to sell their products and services to the Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling industry. But many don’t know where to begin. That’s what the tutorial aims to address.

    Jim is today releasing the MDN Supply Chain tutorial as a stand alone report. See it and download it below, for free. It’s Jim’s way of giving the industry, and faithful MDN readers, a boost.

    NOTE: Jim is seriously considering a new series of workshops, either in person or online, to assist businesses with learning how to locate opportunities and sell to the Marcellus and Utica Shale industry. If such a concept sounds interesting you to, drop Jim an email at: jim@marcellusdrilling.com and let him know “I’m interested” and he’ll add you to an announcement list when/if he releases such a service. In the meantime, please download and enjoy Jim’s Supply Chain tutorial…
    Read More “Where Does YOUR Business Fit in the Marcellus/Utica Supply Chain? [FREE]”

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    NY Attorney General Files to Dismiss Norse Lawsuit, More Delays

    The government of the State of New York–or rather certain government officials–continue to deny justice to residents in the state. The state’s supposed chief defender of the law, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, unbelievably has filed a motion to dismiss the Article 78 case filed by Norse Energy that would compel Gov. Andrew Cuomo, DEC Commissioner Joe Martens and State Health Commissioner Nirav Shah to stop their intentional obstruction and finalize shale drilling rules. Norse, and the residents of New York, have been denied justice for 5 1/2 long years, and now Schneiderman doesn’t even want to allow those people their day in court. The attempt, if successful, would be an unimaginable miscarriage of justice by the highest officials in the state. It is, in fact, government tyranny of its residents.

    Norse’s legal beagle, Tom West, has filed a counter motion to the AG’s motion that points out the arrogance and huge legal holes in the AG’s arguments. In addition to delaying a hearing that was first set in January, then moved by the court to March, and now moved again to “sometime in April,” the court that will hear the case (Albany County Supreme Court) has decided to join a similar case brought by the 70,000-member Joint Landowners Coalition of New York to the Norse Energy case. West believes the AG will try to dismiss the JLCNY case as well (Schneiderman has no shame and actively works against his own constituents). Below is an update from The West Firm along with an announcement from the JLCNY about the further delay in their case…
    Read More “NY Attorney General Files to Dismiss Norse Lawsuit, More Delays”

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    Research Recommends Different Radioactivity Test for Wastewater

    A new study has just been accepted for publication in the peer reviewed journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters titled, “Matrix Complications in the Determination of Radium Levels in Hydraulic Fracturing Flowback Water from Marcellus Shale” (full copy embedded below). It is important to understand what this highly technical article does, and does not, say–and what it does, and does not mean. The article reports research by a professor of radiology (and his colleagues) at the University of Iowa into the different ways Marcellus Shale flowback wastewater can be tested to determine the level of radioactivity in the water. There is a concern that Pennsylvania and New York have specified a method of testing put forward by the federal EPA that is fine for drinking water, but not accurate when testing Marcellus Shale wastewater. The professor and his team have determined the EPA method of testing only shows 1% of the true amount of radioactivity in some water samples, whereas there are other, more reliable tests, that catch nearly all of the radioactivity.

    The purpose of the research–the “import” or “bottom line”–is that environmental regulatory agencies are using the wrong test when it comes to analyzing frack wastewater. What this research shows is that a different test is needed. However, what the research does NOT show is that the level of radioactivity found is dangerous to handle or dangerous to dispose of, either by recycling or by injection well. The only way some (not all) wastewater would be dangerous is by releasing it back into rivers and streams without proper treatment–something PA banned nearly three years ago under then-DEP Sec. Michael Krancer (see PA DEP, Marcellus Shale Coalition Admit Drilling Wastewater Likely Contaminating Drinking Water)…
    Read More “Research Recommends Different Radioactivity Test for Wastewater”