Marcellus Drilling News

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Taxation | Utica Shale

Taking a Closer Look at Ohio’s “Piddly” Utica Shale Tax Increase
December 23, 2013December 23, 2013

Now that the drilling industry is heavily invested in Ohio, Democrat (and yes, even Republican) lawmakers in Ohio think they have the industry by the short hairs and they can safely raise taxes on the industry–dramatically. The thinking goes, as expressed by an Ohio Democrat lawmaker, that because of the big-time investment by industry in the state they won’t leave the state if lawmakers now raise taxes on them. It’s a pretty big gamble to take.

As MDN has written, even the Ohio Oil & Gas Association (OOGA) is now backing the Utica Shale tax increase, although the Ohio Petroleum Council (OPC) has not yet signed on for higher Utica Shale taxes (see The Secret Back Room Deal to Raise OH’s Utica Shale Tax). What, exactly, is being proposed? Let’s analyze this tax and our objections to it…
Read More “Taking a Closer Look at Ohio’s “Piddly” Utica Shale Tax Increase”
Carroll County | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Wastewater

Iron Eagle Frack Wastewater Plant in Carroll County Goes Online
December 23, 2013December 23, 2013

A month ago MDN told you about a new frack wastewater recycling plant about to start operation in Carroll County, OH (see New Frack Wastewater Recycling Plant Opens in Carroll County, OH). We’re happy to report the plant is now up and running–even though OH has yet to approve new regulations that oversee such operations.

Question: How can Iron Eagle Enterprises build and open the plant without fear it may be shut down again after the new regs are in place? Answer: Iron Eagle consulted with ODNR officials all along the way to be sure the plant they were building in Carroll County would comply with the draft regulations ODNR was writing…
Read More “Iron Eagle Frack Wastewater Plant in Carroll County Goes Online”
Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA DEP Launches New Online Mapping Tool, Pinpoints Shale Wells
December 23, 2013December 23, 2013

Late last week the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) launched an awesome new mapping tool to give everyone easy access to oil and gas well information–including Marcellus Shale wells. Display the location of wells, and turn on and off filters that allow you to view the type of well, whether or not it’s active, and a few other criteria. The DEP says the new mapping application (available here) contains basic information now, but in the future every shred of information they have on a well will be available from the tool. Very cool.

Below is the DEP press release announcing the launch of the new tool, along with our own use of the tool showing Marcellus wells in Susquehanna County, PA, to give you a sampling of what it can do…
Read More “PA DEP Launches New Online Mapping Tool, Pinpoints Shale Wells”
Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies

Magnum Hunter Top Brass Buys Their Own Stock
December 23, 2013December 23, 2013

We usually don’t report on stock prices going up or down for a given company (unless it’s part of a larger story line). We also don’t typically report on the how much stock senior management holds in a company. This time are reporting it, for a couple of reasons. In our daily review of the news, we noticed an article about the CFO and CEO of Magnum Hunter, a large Marcellus and Utica Shale driller, buying large blocks of stock in their own company. Which of course makes you wonder, what do they know that we don’t?

As part of the story below, we also learn that the company’s largest outside investor is the odious George Soros who has upped his stake in the company by 882% in recent months. He now owns 1.43% of the company. Soros is an interesting, er, “character.” His money backs rabidly anti-drilling groups like the Public Accountability Initiative, while at the same time he’s buying up major stakes in companies like Magnum Hunter, EQT and Pioneer Natural Resources (see George Soros Plays Both Sides of Fracking Issue, for Profit). Here’s the low-down on MH’s top brass buying more of their own stock…
Read More “Magnum Hunter Top Brass Buys Their Own Stock”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania

Panda Power Buys Rights for 2nd Marcellus-Fueled Electric Plant
December 23, 2013December 23, 2013

In August, MDN told you that Panda Power Funds, a private equity firm located in Dallas, TX had purchased the right from Moxie Energy to build the first new electric generating plant that will run exclusively on Marcellus Shale gas, to be built in Bradford County, PA (see Moxie Liberty Sells PA Electric Plant Project to Panda Power). Construction started on the “Panda Liberty” project in August of this year and it expected to take about 30 months to complete.

Panda announced last Friday they have purchased a second set of permits from Moxie Energy for a second electric generating plant that will run on Marcellus Shale gas–this one in Lycoming County, PA (southwest of Bradford County, but close by to the first project). This new, second project will be called Panda Patriot, adopting the Patriot name Moxie was using for the project. Here are the particulars from Panda:
Read More “Panda Power Buys Rights for 2nd Marcellus-Fueled Electric Plant”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Transco | Williams

Transco Pipeline Shatters NatGas Delivery Record in Eastern US
December 23, 2013December 23, 2013

Midstream company Williams owns the largest natural gas delivery pipeline in the country–the mighty Transco which is 10,200 miles long counting all of its offshoots. The Transco pipeline has a typical daily maximum capacity of 10.15 million dekatherms. On Dec. 12 Williams reports the Transco broke its own record by delivering 10.83 million dekatherms of natural gas during the recent cold snap.

Riding in on a white horse just in time to help out was (ta da ta da)–the Marcellus Shale. Williams brought its Northeast Supply Link project (in the Marcellus) online early, ahead of schedule, which contributed an additional 250,000 dekatherms for Transco to use in meeting the increased demand…
Read More “Transco Pipeline Shatters NatGas Delivery Record in Eastern US”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Processing Plants

Kinder Morgan Continues Marcellus/Utica Ramp-up…in Texas!
December 23, 2013December 23, 2013

Kinder Morgan, the country’s largest midstream (pipeline) company, seems to have “all of a sudden” woken up to the opportunities in the Utica and Marcellus Shale. Last week alone they announced a $150 million upgrade to their Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) from “north to south” to cart away more Utica/Marcellus gas, a $74 million expansion of the TGP westward and on up to Canada (the Niagara expansion), and a new natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline from the Utica to Sarnia, Canada called UTOPIA (see MDN’s Kinder Morgan category for the rapidly growing list of KM stories).

It seems KM was not done! On Friday, the company issued yet another press release, this one announcing the expansion of fractionation plants in Texas. Why? To handle NGLs that will be pipelined from the Utica and Marcellus to the Gulf Coast. Seems you can’t get away from the Utica/Marcellus–even in Texas! Here’s the details from KM…
Read More “Kinder Morgan Continues Marcellus/Utica Ramp-up…in Texas!”
Belmont County | Energy Companies | Hess | Ohio | Utica Shale

Hess Has Gall to Drill Utica Well Next Door to a Cemetery in OH
December 23, 2013December 24, 2013

We just have to bring you a story so…important…we’re…outta…breath…to…tell…you. The evil drillers at Hess–drilling in Belmont County, OH (one of the best places to drill on the planet)–have the gall, the temerity, the reckless disregard to drill a Utica Shale well right next to a cemetery! I mean, don’t they know they may disturb the dead? Don’t they know that for a full 30 days or so their drilling will ruin the view from some of those graves in that cemetery. The nerve!

Never mind the same area where Hess is drilling was mined for coal in the 1970s and 80s, a much more destructive process with years of eyesores. Hey, that was then and this is now. And don’t tell anyone (double-swear promise?)–but the cemetery has leased their 2.2 acres to Hess too–so the Hess well is going to go underneath the cemetery. Yes it’s nearly two miles down, but you know, (*whispering*) ghosts live down there. Here’s arguably one of the most important stories we’ll bring you (in the next 5 seconds)…
Read More “Hess Has Gall to Drill Utica Well Next Door to a Cemetery in OH”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Dec 23, 2013
December 23, 2013December 23, 2013

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, Dec 23, 2013”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Supreme Court Rules Against State/Drillers in Act 13 Case
December 20, 2013December 20, 2013

No doubt most MDN readers have already heard the earth-shattering news from yesterday that Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court has sided with the seven towns who sued the state to retain their right to regulate (zone) where drilling and related activities can and cannot happen in their communities. MDN has long covered this story and worried that a split decision after one of the justices resigned would lead to an unresolved situation. As fate would have it, one of the Republicans on the bench, Chief Justice Ron Castille, sold out and turned against the industry, so it ended up being a 4-2 decision with (predictably) all three Democrats voting against the industry plus RINO Castille.

What was the decision? For different reasons (they couldn’t agree among themselves), the justices said localities should be able to write their own rules for where drilling can and can’t go. Which is certainly not a bad thing (the right to determine), except in some communities local town boards are packed with anti-drillers that make life a living hell for anyone or anything related to drilling. Ultimately innocent landowners and taxpayers are the ones who lose out because drillers will walk away from areas where unreasonable people pack town boards (no drilling, no leases, no jobs, no tax revenue). That’s exactly what will now start to happen in PA.

Anti-drilling groups like The Sierra Club, Delaware Riverkeeper and PennEnvironment were positively orgasmic in their reaction. They now get to kill drilling in at least some locations in PA. The Marcellus Shale Coalition said it’s a truly a sad day for PA. We agree. Below we bring you what we consider the “best of” coverage of the opinion. We have not had time to thoroughly research it ourselves, so we’ll rely on others to analyze it. We’ve also embedded the full 162-page decision filed by the Supreme Court so you can read it for yourself…
Read More “PA Supreme Court Rules Against State/Drillers in Act 13 Case”
Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Susquehanna County

Cabot Signs Deal to Export Gas via Cove Point, MD
December 20, 2013December 20, 2013

The good news continues to roll out of Cabot Oil & Gas. In a corporate updated issued yesterday, the company said they’ve signed a deal with Pacific Summit Energy (a subsidiary of Japanese company Sumitomo) to export up to 350,000 million Btus of natural gas per day via Dominion’s planned Cove Point, MD LNG export facility. The Cove Point facility is currently supposed to be in operation in 2017. The deal runs for 20 years. Previously, MDN told you that Japan and India have already spoken for 100% of LNG exports from Cove Point (see Dominion’s Cove Point LNG Facility Achieves Important Milestones).

In what seems to be unrelated but actually is related, Cabot also said they’ve achieved another milestone–they now produce 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day out of their wells in Susquehanna County, PA. That’s just one year after hitting 1 Bcf/d! So in one year production has skyrocketed another 50%. Truly astonishing. How much of today’s current production is Cabot committing to send overseas?…
Read More “Cabot Signs Deal to Export Gas via Cove Point, MD”
Accidents | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

EPA Makes Chesapeake Pay $9.7M for Spilling Dirt in Creeks & Swamps
December 20, 2013December 20, 2013

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced yesterday that they’ve slapped Chesapeake Energy with a $3.2 million fine, and a requirement that Chessy spend another $6.5 million to clean up 27 sites in West Virginia that the EPA says were “damaged by unauthorized discharges of fill material into streams and wetlands.” That is, Chessy got sloppy and dumped some dirt in a few creeks and swamps (the horror!). The EPA used the federal Clean Water Act to extract their multiple pounds of flesh out of Chesapeake. The EPA is all proud of themselves that this is “one of the largest” fines ever levied by the EPA using the CWA.

Here’s the announcement direct from the belly of the rogue beast itself:
Read More “EPA Makes Chesapeake Pay $9.7M for Spilling Dirt in Creeks & Swamps”
Energy Services | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Ohio | Processing Plants | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

OH Utica Condensate Processing on the Way from MarkWest/EMG
December 20, 2013December 20, 2013

MarkWest Energy Partners and the Energy & Minerals Group (EMG) announced yesterday they have formed a joint venture to build a network of condensate processing facilities in eastern Ohio. The new venture will be called Ohio Condensate Company, LLC and it already has its first customer–Gulfport Energy. According to the announcement the jv is working on signing up more customers. The first project for the jv will be a new condensate stabilization facility with “associated logistics and storage terminal capabilities” to be constructed in Harrison County, OH. That facility is due to be in service by 3Q14.

The details as revealed by MarkWest & EMG yesterday:
Read More “OH Utica Condensate Processing on the Way from MarkWest/EMG”
Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Susquehanna County | WPX Energy

John Hanger Uses Franklin Forks Water Issue to Boost Gov Campaign
December 20, 2013December 20, 2013

Using the case of three families in Franklin Forks, PA who are suing WPX Energy for contaminating their water wells as a political issue, John Hanger, former Secretary of the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), says the investigation done by the DEP wasn’t independent enough for his liking and the agency should re-do it. The three families claim WPX caused methane to migrate into their water wells. The reason the story has been in the news is because WPX had tried (and finally gave up) to remove fresh water tanks from the residents after the DEP determined WPX’s drilling was not at fault (see WPX Decides to Let Franklin Forks Families Keep Water Tanks).

Hanger’s protestations give his failing campaign to get the Democrat nomination for governor some badly needed media attention since his candidacy is rapidly sinking. He’s looking for any wedge issue he can find. The WPX story, visible as it is right now, is tailor made. Here’s John’s trumped up reasons for why the investigation should be redone…
Read More “John Hanger Uses Franklin Forks Water Issue to Boost Gov Campaign”
Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Eureka Midstream | Ohio | Statewide OH | Statewide WV | Triad Hunter | West Virginia

Magnum Hunter Production #s for Recent Wells Drilled in OH & WV
December 20, 2013December 20, 2013

This morning Magnum Hunter issued an operational update for wells recently drilled in both the Marcellus and Utica Shale–in Ohio and West Virginia. In addition to production stats for the new wells (see below), MH reports they continue to snap up acreage in both the Marcellus and Utica. They now own 89,000 acres in the Marcellus and 105,000 acres in the Utica. Some of that acreage overlaps and they plan to drill both Marcellus and Utica wells on the same pad in some cases.

Here’s the update, including well results from wells drilled in Monroe and Washington counties in OH, and Tyler County in WV:
Read More “Magnum Hunter Production #s for Recent Wells Drilled in OH & WV”
Energy Companies | WPX Energy

Apco O&G, WPX Energy’s Alter Ego, Ejects Hill as CEO Too
December 20, 2013December 20, 2013

MDN told you yesterday our theory of why WPX Energy CEO Ralph Hill was booted–due to investor meddling from the company’s second largest investor Taconic Capital Advisors (see CEO Shake-up Explained: Taconic Capital Jerking WPX’s Chain). Something we didn’t know was that Ralph Hill was also CEO of another company–Apco Oil & Gas International. Apco is the international arm of WPX (drilling in non-U.S. countries). The two companies share most of the same management and the same board of directors.

Yesterday Apco issued a press release saying Hill was booted from their company too…
Read More “Apco O&G, WPX Energy’s Alter Ego, Ejects Hill as CEO Too”