Marcellus Drilling News

Bradford County | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

435 Acres of Marcellus Land in NE PA Goes to Auction Oct 30
October 4, 2013October 4, 2013

MDN welcomes a new advertiser to our website this week. United Country Real Estate sought out opportunities to make know an upcoming auction of Marcellus acreage and MDN fit the bill–we thank them! (See their ad on the right side of any page.) The auction, which many MDN readers will be interested in, is for 435 acres of land, including mineral rights, in northeast PA. The seven separate tracts of land up for auction are located in prime Marcellus Shale country–in Bradford and Susquehanna counties. This is a court-ordered land sale. The auction will take place on October 30 at the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott in Wysox, PA.

Here are the full details from United Country Real Estate:
Read More “435 Acres of Marcellus Land in NE PA Goes to Auction Oct 30”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Oct 4, 2013
October 4, 2013October 4, 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: Fri, Oct 4, 2013”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Indiana County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA | Wastewater

What’s Missing in Latest Duke “Radioactive” Study? Real Science
October 3, 2013

Those crazy, anti-drilling kids at Duke University are at it again. They released a “study” in a “peer-reviewed” journal yesterday (a study funded in part by the anti-drilling Park Foundation) that took samples from a creek downstream from a wastewater treatment plant that used to (but no longer does) treat Marcellus fracking wastewater. Republican Michael Krancer put an end to frack wastewater treatment by such facilities in early 2011, something the Rendell administration couldn’t or wouldn’t do. Krancer and the Marcellus Shale Coalition said municipal plants processing frack wastewater was creating an issue (see PA DEP, Marcellus Shale Coalition Admit Drilling Wastewater Likely Contaminating Drinking Water). So the Park/Duke kids sampled a single creek before the practice had ended and found, not surprisingly, high (but not dangerous) levels of radioactivity in the stream bed. In other words, they’re reporting what we’ve known for the past three years.

What do the headlines in hundreds of newspapers and online sources (with lazy reporters) blare out today? Fracking causes radioactivity in streams and rivers (plural) in Pennsylvania. Even though the Duke study only looks at a single location in a single creek and the data predates when the practice ended. Real science would have investigated multiple wastewater treatment plants, not just cherry-picking one. Real science is not funded by an avowed anti-drilling organization like the Park Foundation. And real science would have pointed out frack wastewater treatment at these plants ended several years ago. But then, no one ever accused Park/Duke kids of performing real science…
Read More “What’s Missing in Latest Duke “Radioactive” Study? Real Science”
Beaver County | Columbiana County | Energy Services | Mahoning County | MarkWest Energy | Ohio | Pennsylvania

MarkWest Energy Buys an Ohio Short Line Railroad – Why?
October 3, 2013October 3, 2013

As we’re always fascinated with a good railroad story, our eyes perked up when we saw that a MarkWest subsidiary company is about to close a deal to purchase a 36-mile short line railroad from the Columbiana County (OH) Port Authority–for just $3 million. The railroad, known as the Youngstown & Southern Railroad, runs from Boardman (Mahoning County), OH through Columbiana, Rogers and Negley (all in Columbiana County), ending it’s tracks at Darlington (Beaver County), PA.

What will MarkWest do with a railroad? Right now, they’re being tight-lipped…
Read More “MarkWest Energy Buys an Ohio Short Line Railroad – Why?”
Bucks County | Montgomery County | Pennsylvania

Could Philly Burbs See Shale Drilling?! PA DCNR Launches Study
October 3, 2013October 3, 2013

Last summer MDN told you about a new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) “discovery” that there are more untapped shale plays in the northeast. One of those plays is the Newark Basin that underlies parts of New Jersey, Maryland, and yes, Pennsylvania (see the USGS report and map here: Maryland has Multiple Shale Basins?!). In particular, the South Newark Basin lies under parts of southeastern PA–Philadelphia and its suburbs. While no one believes there will ever be a drilling rig in Philadelphia, there is the possibility of drilling out in the burbs.

The PA Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) has just “quietly” awarded a contract to Penn State University to study “what lies beneath” in Bucks and Montgomery counties. The contract began July 1 and won’t be completed until June 30, 2015–two full years. When done, we should have a good idea of whether or not there’s recoverable shale gas in the area. So, is this study a prelude to drilling one day?…
Read More “Could Philly Burbs See Shale Drilling?! PA DCNR Launches Study”
Energy Companies | Trans Energy | Tyler County | West Virginia

Trans Energy Sells Off Holdings in Tyler County, WV – Who Bought?
October 3, 2013October 3, 2013

Yesterday Trans Energy, a pure play driller focused on the Marcellus Shale (in West Virginia) announced they’re selling off their holdings in Tyler County, WV so they can concentrate on their holdings and drilling operations in Marshall, Wetzel and Marion counties instead. The deal is for 1,163 acres, two well pad sites and one uncompleted Marcellus Shale well. Trans Energy is getting $11.2 million for the transaction.

The announcement from Trans Energy does not identify who is doing the buying, but MDN has what we consider a pretty solid guess…
Read More “Trans Energy Sells Off Holdings in Tyler County, WV – Who Bought?”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Transco | Williams

Williams Goes Back to (PR) School Over Controlled Release Panic
October 3, 2013October 4, 2013

Williams scared the bejeebers out of teachers and students at the Dallas School District (near Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, PA) last Thursday when they did a controlled release of natural gas from their nearby Transco interstate natural gas pipeline. Williams was emptying part of the pipeline to work on it and the controlled release caused a panic and calls to 911 with concerns over a gas leak. Williams admits they could of/should of done a better job in communicating with residents in the community, and that they should of waited until after (or before) school hours to do the controlled release. Of course local anti-drillers seized on the “incident” to make some PR hay.

So, did Williams learn their lesson?…
Read More “Williams Goes Back to (PR) School Over Controlled Release Panic”
Energy Services | Halliburton | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Lewis County | Muskingum County | Ohio | West Virginia

Halliburton Shuts Down WV Cement Plant, Moves to OH
October 3, 2013October 3, 2013

In a move that’s sure to anger West Virginians, but make Ohioans happy, Halliburton announced Tuesday they’re shutting down their cement plant operations in Weston (Lewis County), WV and moving it 150 miles away to a new service center they’ve opened in Zanesville (Muskingum County), OH. No word on how many jobs in Weston are affected…
Read More “Halliburton Shuts Down WV Cement Plant, Moves to OH”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH

Muskingum Watershed Taken to Court by Anti-Frackers (Yawn)
October 3, 2013October 3, 2013

MDN has long chronicled the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District’s (MWCD) challenges with selling a relative thimble-full of its vast water supplies to Utica Shale drillers. Not only are they now selling water, they’ve leased a good number of acres for drilling–some of it under lakes and reservoirs. That really ticks off the eco-nuts.

Anti-frackers have thrown tantrums and have done their darnedest to stop the MWCD from allowing drilling and from selling water to frackers–for a time they even bullied them into a retreat (see Muskingum Watershed Reverses Decision to Sell Water to Drillers)–but ultimately the anti-frackers have failed. So now it’s off to court to see if they can convince a liberal judge somewhere to put the breaks on progress in Ohio…
Read More “Muskingum Watershed Taken to Court by Anti-Frackers (Yawn)”
East Resources | Energy Companies | Shell | SWEPI

Russian Spinmeisters Talk Down American Shale, Makes Us Laugh
October 3, 2013October 3, 2013

Russia hates the American shale revolution because it threatens their worldwide dominance in natural gas, and it threatens their ability to threaten others with it. Vlad Putin has long poo-pooed our shale reserves as nothing more than a flash in the pan. So we found it amusing to read the story (below) from the Voice of Russia Radio network that tries to spin Shell’s recent exit from some of its holdings into a story about oil and gas companies are “losing interest” in American shale. Yeah right! We had to pick ourselves up off the floor after laughing so hard.

Uh, VOR, have you ever heard of the wholly-owned Shell subsidiary called SWEPI? It stands for Shell Western Exploration and Production Inc. Oh, and East Resources? Yeah, Shell bought them. Shell now owns 850,000 acres in the Marcellus Shale play–#2 behind Chesapeake’s 1.8 million acres. So please, tell us again how Shell is abandoning American shale plays–we need another good laugh!…
Read More “Russian Spinmeisters Talk Down American Shale, Makes Us Laugh”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Oct 3, 2013
October 3, 2013October 3, 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: Thu, Oct 3, 2013”
Accidents | Blue Racer Midstream | Caiman Energy | Dominion Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Processing Plants | Rex Energy | West Virginia

Natrium, WV Fractionation Plant Still Closed After Explosion/Fire
October 2, 2013October 2, 2013

As MDN previously reported, an explosion and fire was reported at the Blue Racer Midstream’s Natrium, WV natural gas processing plant early Saturday on Sept. 21 (see Explosion/Fire at Blue Racer’s Natrium, WV Processing Plant). It’s a week and a half later and the plant, which both processes or separates wet gas and further fractionates it into its component compounds remains closed while an investigation continues. WV officials and the plant’s owners (Blue Racer is owned by Dominion and Caiman Energy II) still don’t know what caused the explosion and fire.

Meanwhile, at least one Natrium customer has found an alternative source to process their wet gas…
Read More “Natrium, WV Fractionation Plant Still Closed After Explosion/Fire”
Belmont County | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Rice Energy | Utica Shale

Rice Pays Belmont County Higher Signing Bonus than Landowners
October 2, 2013October 2, 2013

Rice Drilling is betting big on Belmont County, OH. County commissioners recently signed a sweet deal with Rice Drilling for 406 acres of county-owned land. The lease terms were $7,500 per acre signing bonus and a 20% royalty. That delivers just over $3 million to the county coffers, plus a lot more when the gas begins to flow.

The county deal is, however, sweeter than other recent contracts signed by Rice in the area–contracts between Rice and more than 1,000 landowners in Belmont County. Those leases resulted in payments from Rice for more than $236 million! But area landowners got “just” $5,900 per acre from Rice for a signing bonus…
Read More “Rice Pays Belmont County Higher Signing Bonus than Landowners”
American Energy Utica | Energy Companies | Guernsey County | Harrison County | Ohio | Tuscarawas County | Utica Shale

McClendon’s Utica Company Does JV with OH Driller, Drilling Soon
October 2, 2013October 2, 2013

Yesterday MDN brought you the news that former Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon had started a second company specifically created to target the Utica Shale (see Aubrey McClendon Forms Utica Company, Gets Major Investor). In true Aubrey “wheeling and dealing” fashion, his new company, called American Energy Utica, is already forming joint ventures with other companies in the Utica Shale. One of those companies is Red Hill Development, an independent oil & gas driller located in Dover (Tuscawaras County), OH.

Red Hill Development is tickled pink to be working with McClendon and says the partnership will be an ongoing venture “for many years to come.” According to Red Hill, the new joint venture is already applying for permits and will begin drilling by the end of this year. The focus of their drilling efforts? Guernsey and Harrison counties…
Read More “McClendon’s Utica Company Does JV with OH Driller, Drilling Soon”
Economic Impact | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Gov Going to Europe to Find Him a Cracker
October 2, 2013October 2, 2013

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin is nothing if not persistent. For several years, the governor and his trusty Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette have been talking about landing an ethane cracker plant for WV (see WV Gov. Tomblin Beats the Ethane Cracker Drum Once Again). MDN is pulling for them! We have been for a long time. And it seems every few months we see a story along the lines of, “Just hold on, it’s a comin'”. But it never seems to.

So if a cracker investment is not coming to WV, Gov. Tomblin is going out to find it! He’s heading off to Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy on a European ~~vacation~~ trade mission in October to thank those countries for investing in WV, and to invite them to invest more. In particular, he’d like someone to invest in a cracker plant…
Read More “WV Gov Going to Europe to Find Him a Cracker”
Chesapeake Energy | Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Regulation

Salem, OH Votes Down Ordinance to Restrict Drilling in City
October 2, 2013October 2, 2013

In July 2012, the city of Salem, OH signed a lease with Chesapeake Energy to allow drilling on 381 acres of city-owned land (land outside city limits). Terms of the lease: $7,000 signing bonus and 20% royalties (see Salem, OH to Sign Lease Deal with Chesapeake for $7K+20%). It probably wouldn’t send the right signal to turn around and pass a law that would prevent drilling inside city limits after signing a lease and accepting millions of dollars. Yet, such a law was under serious consideration by Salem City Council.

Tuesday night, City Council wisely chose to vote down a proposed zoning amendment that would have prevented drilling inside city limits…
Read More “Salem, OH Votes Down Ordinance to Restrict Drilling in City”