Marcellus Drilling News

American Energy Utica | Energy Companies | EnerVest | Harrison County | Ohio | Utica Shale

Clue? Aubrey McClendon Picks up Clendening Reservoir Leases
October 23, 2013October 23, 2013

It ain’t much land, but it is notable nonetheless for the clue it provides. The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) has approved the re-assignment of mineral rights for 133 acres at the Clendening Reservoir in Harrison County, OH to American Energy Utica, Aubrey McClendon’s new company.

It gives us a continuing look at just where in the Utica Aubrey is concentrating his $1.7 billion worth of efforts…
Read More “Clue? Aubrey McClendon Picks up Clendening Reservoir Leases”
Antero Resources | Energy Companies | Guernsey County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Noble County | Ohio | Utica Shale

Muskingum Watershed District Approves 3rd Water Sale for Fracking
October 23, 2013October 23, 2013

As they have done in the past, the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District in Ohio has approved more water sales for using fracking. This batch comes from Seneca Lake in southeast OH. The Utica Shale driller buying the water is Antero Resources…
Read More “Muskingum Watershed District Approves 3rd Water Sale for Fracking”
Arrowhead Utica Pipelines | Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Hilcorp Energy | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Ohio | Sunoco Logistics | Trucking

Progress for Arrowhead NGL Transload Facility in Wellsville, OH
October 23, 2013October 23, 2013

Progress for the Arrowhead Utica Pipeline transloading facility being built on property leased by Arrowhead Utica (a subsidiary of Utica driller Hilcorp) from the Columbiana County Port Authority in Wellsville, OH. The transloading facility is a $20-$40 million project that will bring natural gas liquids (NGLs) to the facility to be loaded on rail, truck and barge.

On Monday, the Port Authority approved easements and rights of way to Arrowhead and Sunoco Pipeline to install and maintain pipelines near the Wellsville facility…
Read More “Progress for Arrowhead NGL Transload Facility in Wellsville, OH”
Energy Companies | Erie County (NY) | New York | Pennsylvania | Seneca Resources | Statewide NY | Statewide PA

National Fuel Gas Production Jumps 45% in FY13
October 23, 2013October 23, 2013

National Fuel Gas Co. is headquartered in Buffalo, NY, but it’s the Pennsylvania Marcellus that is causing the company to grow “by leaps and bounds.” National Fuel said its oil and natural gas production jumped 45% during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. Via their Seneca Resources subsidiary, they are a major Marcellus player with 780,000 net acres in the PA Marcellus.

Which leads MDN to ask, what the heck are they still doing with their HQ in Buffalo? Why not move to Pittsburgh or someplace else in PA?…
Read More “National Fuel Gas Production Jumps 45% in FY13”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Bucks County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Michigan Driller Walks Away in Frustration from SE PA Leases
October 23, 2013October 23, 2013

Michigan-based driller Arbor Resources leased a bunch of land in southeastern Pennsylvania six years ago–in Bucks County (in the orbit of Philadelphia). Specifically, they leased land for gas drilling in Nockamixon Township. There is no Marcellus Shale in that area, but there are other formations, including the South Newark Basin. Arbor wanted to drill a few test wells for natural gas in the area, but the town opposed it and went to court to block it. Then in 2012, some squishy liberal Republicans shamefully snuck an eleventh hour ban on drilling in the South Newark Basin until more “studies” could be done into the 2012 budget (see Republicans Sneak SE PA Drilling Ban into Budget Deal).

With continuing low prices for natural gas, six years of legal issues with Nockamixon Township, a ban by the Delaware Basin Commission in effect in that area, and a state-enforced ban from RINOs in place, Arbor is throwing in the towel and walking away from Nockamixon and southeast PA. Good riddance for Arbor, no doubt. Goodbye tax revenue, goodbye jobs and goodbye millions of dollars of investment for Nockamixon…
Read More “Michigan Driller Walks Away in Frustration from SE PA Leases”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crime | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Glitter, Whistles and the Unhinged Antics of Anti-Frackers
October 23, 2013October 23, 2013

We bring you the following story about fracking protesters in New Hampshire purely for entertainment value–to show you just how bizarre and unhinged some of these people become. We’re not quite sure how “glitter” plays into the anti-fracking movement, but we predict a run on glitter if the anti-fracking movement picks up steam. Get your glitter supplies at AC Moore while you still can!

To be honest, we have the feeling if it weren’t fracking these ~~burned-out hippie retreads~~ people are protesting, it would be something else. Their lives appear to be meaningless without something to be “against”…
Read More “Glitter, Whistles and the Unhinged Antics of Anti-Frackers”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Oct 23, 2013
October 23, 2013October 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: Wed, Oct 23, 2013”
Allegheny County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Back from the Chesapeake Dead: David Spigelmyer Takes Helm at MSC
October 22, 2013October 22, 2013

The Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC), the premier organization representing the Marcellus drilling industry in Pennsylvania and beyond, has named a new leader. Since the organization’s founding in late 2009 it has been led by the very talented Kathryn Klaber. In a surprise announcement in July, Katie said she would be stepping down from her post (see Kathryn Klaber Stepping Down as CEO of Marcellus Shale Coalition). She has big shoes to fill. So who will fill them?

David Spigelmyer has become the new CEO of the MSC effective this week. David’s name may be familiar. Until August of this year he was chairman of the executive board for the MSC. He was on the board representing Chesapeake Energy, one of the largest drillers in the Marcellus. Then Chessy’s new CEO Doug Lawler swung his ax…
Read More “Back from the Chesapeake Dead: David Spigelmyer Takes Helm at MSC”
Economic Impact | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Did Gov Tomblin Find a European Investor for a WV Cracker Plant?
October 22, 2013October 22, 2013

At the beginning of October, MDN told you that West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin was heading out on a 13-day whirlwind European ~~vacation~~ trade mission to five different countries. One of his aims was to find someone to invest in an ethane cracker plant in West Virginia (see WV Gov Going to Europe to Find Him a Cracker). Tomblin is almost done touring Europe and said by phone from Switzerland that “he expects to make announcements within the next few days concerning deals made” as a result of his trip.

Will one of those announced deals be an investment in a cracker plant?…
Read More “Did Gov Tomblin Find a European Investor for a WV Cracker Plant?”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Cows Belch Methane Like a Fire Breathing Dragon!
October 22, 2013October 22, 2013

Anti-frackers are anti-frackers mostly because they hate fossil fuels. Natural gas, i.e. “methane,” is one of those evil, dirty fossil fuels. It’s a philosophical thing for anti-frackers. Methane from the ground is non-renewable, ya know–and we just can’t have that! Call it being energy prejudiced.

Now comes word that–unbelievably–cows also emit methane, and a lot of it. No, not from that end silly–they emit methane from burping! Cows emit something like 250-300 liters per day of methane from belching. Each cow is a mini-environmental disaster. Who knew that cows were such rude, belching polluters? But have no fear–the Argentinians have figured out a way to capture all that burped methane and purify it for use by humans (and no, this is NOT a joke). MDN does wonder: Will this new revelation about methane from cow burps and the ability to harness it spawn a new anti-burping movement? Anti-frackers might now become anti-burpers…
Read More “Cows Belch Methane Like a Fire Breathing Dragon!”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | New York County | Pipelines | Spectra Energy

Spectra NJ-NY Marcellus Gas Pipeline Goes Online Nov. 1
October 22, 2013October 22, 2013

It’s been a long road and a long time in coming, but the good news is that starting Nov. 1, residents of New York City will have another 800 million cubic feet of cheap mostly-Marcellus natural gas flowing into the city through Spectra Energy’s 16 mile, $1.2 billion pipeline from New Jersey to New York. The pipeline will flow enough gas to heat 2 million homes in NYC each year. Outgoing Mayor Michael Bloomberg has called more natgas for NYC “vital”. Most New Yorkers are in favor of the new pipeline, but that didn’t deter some from trying to stop the new pipeline.

During construction of the pipeline Spectra had to deal with a lot of nonsense, like protesters who turned into strippers (see NYC Pipeline Protesters Get Naked, Paint Themselves Green), protesters who didn’t even tell themselves they were about to spontaneously break the law (see Nutjob Protester Stops NYC Pipeline Construction for 2 Hours), and groups of protesters like the [In]Sane Energy Project that sued to stop the pipeline (see Judge Tosses Out Lawsuit Against Spectra NYC Pipeline Project). Spectra pressed on through it all and they’re about to turn on the valve Nov. 1. Success at last!…
Read More “Spectra NJ-NY Marcellus Gas Pipeline Goes Online Nov. 1”
Industrywide Issues | Research

EIA to Launch New Monthly Drilling Productivity Report
October 22, 2013October 22, 2013

If you’ve read MDN for any length of time, you know we’re generally not fans of the federal government and the bloated bureaucracy it has become. The EPA, for one, has way overstepped its Constitutional authority in our humble opinion (we call it a rogue agency). There is, however, one federal agency we like and admire and respect: the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The EIA is populated with bright people that produce helpful and insightful reports about energy production and consumption in the U.S., indeed around the world. While the EIA is not exactly prophetic, their word is about as close to energy Gospel as it gets.

With the so-called government shut-down now over, the EIA is back in business. Yesterday they announced they’re starting up a new monthly report called the Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). The report will tell us just how efficient (or not) rigs are at drilling, and how productive (or not) wells are, by region/shale play. Among the very important things to be tracked in the new DPR will be the decline rate of newly drilled wells–how quickly the gas and oil flowing out of shale wells peters out. Here’s yesterday’s EIA announcement:
Read More “EIA to Launch New Monthly Drilling Productivity Report”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WVU Prof Tells Legislators 625′ Setback in Drilling is Not Enough
October 22, 2013October 22, 2013

A West Virginia University professor that helped prepare a report for the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) continues to voice concerns about the way the WVDEP has interpreted the results of the study he helped research. In June the WVDEP released a third and final study (this one on air quality) required under WV’s 2011 Horizontal Well Control legislation. The report as issued by the WVDEP says based on the results of the research study, no new regulations are needed to control air emissions around drilling sites (see WVDEP Releases Study on Air Quality Impacts of Shale Drilling).

However, Dr. Michael McCawley, chairman of the Dept. of Occupational & Environmental Health Sciences in the School of Public Health at WVU and author of the original “raw” report, said he thinks air emissions from Marcellus and Utica shale drilling do need tweaking, particularly the amount of distance required from a well site to the nearest structure, like a home or school (called a “setback”). McCawley thinks 625 feet from the center of a well pad is not enough (see Did WVDEP Ignore It’s Own Research on Shale Well Air Pollution?). On Monday Dr. McCawley was back before WV legislators making the same argument…
Read More “WVU Prof Tells Legislators 625′ Setback in Drilling is Not Enough”
American Water Management | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Trumbull County | Wastewater

Drilling Begins on Wastewater Injection Well in Trumbull County
October 22, 2013October 22, 2013

The first of what may end up being three new frack wastewater injection wells is now being drilled in Trumbull County, OH. American Water Management Services is right now drilling one of two planned injection wells in Weatherfield, OH. A second company, Kleese Development, has made application to drill a third injection well in the area.

The details:
Read More “Drilling Begins on Wastewater Injection Well in Trumbull County”
Energy Companies | Energy Services | Hilcorp Energy | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | NiSource | Ohio | Pennant Midstream | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide OH

OH Hickory Bend Processing Plant Dedication in Oct, Online in Dec
October 22, 2013October 22, 2013

NiSource and Hilcorp Energy are building a natural gas processing plant in Springfield Township (Mahoning County), OH as part of a joint venture called Pennant Midstream. The Hickory Bend Processing Plant, as it’s called, will be dedicated on Oct. 28, although it won’t actually be up and running until sometime in December. The Hickory Bend project includes not only the processing plant (the first of a potential three processing plants), it also includes some 55 miles of wet gas gathering pipelines in eastern OH.

The initial investment in Hickory Bend by NiSource and Hilcorp is $375 million, but by the time it’s all done and dusted (in several years’ time with more processing plants), it could easily top $1 billion…
Read More “OH Hickory Bend Processing Plant Dedication in Oct, Online in Dec”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Josh Fox Lectures President Obama: Stop Fracking or Else
October 22, 2013October 22, 2013

Even though he’s an Obama @!$ kisser and boot-licker, frat boy and fake documentary maker Josh Fox has some words of warning for his American presidential idol: I won’t like you anymore if you keep fracking. Oooooo, we’re sure Barry is really concerned. Like he gives two flips what Josh Fox thinks…
Read More “Josh Fox Lectures President Obama: Stop Fracking or Else”