Marcellus Drilling News

American Energy Partners | Carroll County | Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Utica Shale

Aubrey Leases More Land for Drilling — in the Northern Utica!
October 7, 2013October 7, 2013

The puzzle pieces continue to fall into place with respect to the deals being done by former Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon in the Utica Shale. Last week MDN told you about a joint venture between McClendon’s new company, American Energy, and Red Hill Development, to lease land for drilling in southeastern Ohio–counties like Guernsey and Harrison (see McClendon’s Utica Company Does JV with OH Driller, Drilling Soon). We now know about a second joint venture–this one with Great River Energy–a new production company formed through a partnership between McClendon’s American Energy and Texas firm Orange Energy Consultants.

The surprise about this new jv? They’re leasing land in Columbiana and Carroll counties, north of what is thought to be the “sweet spot” in the Utica wet gas area. Looks like Aubrey just can’t stay away from the northern Utica!…
Read More “Aubrey Leases More Land for Drilling — in the Northern Utica!”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Inergy | New York | Schuyler County

Walkin’ and Talkin’ and Prayin’…To Seneca Lake?
October 7, 2013October 7, 2013

Saying that “every body of water has a spirit” and attempting to communicate with that spirit, later this week a small group of (wacko) anti-drillers intend to walk 80 miles around Seneca Lake, NY to pray to the lake spirit that no evil fracking comes to harm the little water nymphs that live in the lake. Or something like that.

We long ago gave up on trying to figure out these people…
Read More “Walkin’ and Talkin’ and Prayin’…To Seneca Lake?”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Susquehanna County

Gasland II Starlet Leaves Anti-Drilling Behind, Adopts “Realism”
October 7, 2013October 7, 2013

What’s this…one of the stars of Gasland II, someone who trash-talked the shale drilling industry in Dimock, PA has changed sides? Yep. Well, sort of. Victoria Switzer has given up what she calls “tunnel vision” and has adopted “realism.” She says, “Realism is good.” She no longer calls for a halt to drilling in PA and instead wants to ensure it’s done safely–by working with industry and regulators. Welcome to logic and sanity! Glad to have you on our side.

Watch out Josh Fox: Switzer is not the only former anti-driller now whistling a different tune…
Read More “Gasland II Starlet Leaves Anti-Drilling Behind, Adopts “Realism””
Crestwood Midstream | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Inergy | M&A

Crestwood/Inergy Complete Their Merger Today, Worth $8B
October 7, 2013October 7, 2013

MDN told you last week that Crestwood Midstream and Inergy Midstream were close to consummating the merger of their two companies and that it would be coming soon (see Crestwood/Inergy $7B Merger Update: Combined Boards Announced). Looks like soon is today.

A press release from Friday says today, Monday, the final paperwork will be filed and the two companies will officially be merged. The new company will take the name Crestwood Midstream Partners and starting tomorrow it will trade on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol of CMLP. The two companies together, contrary to previous estimates, will be worth $8 billion (not $7B previously reported), a true midstream giant…
Read More “Crestwood/Inergy Complete Their Merger Today, Worth $8B”
Ashtabula County | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Processing Plants | Utica Shale

More Details on Ashtabula, OH Gas-to-Liquids Plant
October 7, 2013October 7, 2013

A few weeks ago MDN told you about a new gas-to-liquids plant coming to Ashtabula, OH (see Utica Shale Gas-to-Liquids Plant Planned for Ashtabula, OH).

Another story, this one in Crain’s Cleveland Business, provides a few more details about this $300 million plant that will convert Marcellus and Utica Shale gas into chemicals and even diesel fuel…
Read More “More Details on Ashtabula, OH Gas-to-Liquids Plant”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Oct 7, 2013
October 7, 2013October 7, 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, Oct 7, 2013”
Commodity Price | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

The Cabot O&G Marcellus Rocketship – To the Moon!
October 4, 2013October 4, 2013

Cabot Oil & Gas, one of our favorite Marcellus drillers, continues to amaze and astound just about everyone. Last Friday (a week ago) the company issued a new “guidance” or “this is our best, educated guess” as to how much natural gas production the company will end up producing for 2013, and how much they believe it will grow in 2014. Given Cabot is already the number one natural gas producer in PA and the first member of what MDN calls the “billion cubic feet per day” club (see Who’s a Member of the Marcellus “1 Bcf/d” Club?), it’s amazing that in 2014 they predict production will be up another 30-50% over this year. Wow!

Something just as startling and no doubt the envy of all their competitors, Cabot CEO Dan Dinges tips their hand as to what the breakeven price is at which the company starts to make money. It’s a LOT lower than even we thought is was…
Read More “The Cabot O&G Marcellus Rocketship – To the Moon!”
Carlyle Group | Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Philadelphia Energy Solutions | Processing Plants | Statewide PA

Philly Refinery Processes 190K Barrels/Day of Shale Oil
October 4, 2013October 4, 2013

My how times change. A year ago the then-Sunoco Philadelphia refinery was set to close its doors with a loss of 850 jobs. But something happened on the way to closing down: shale. Shale oil, in particular. Today, the refinery is called Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES), a joint venture between the Carlyle Group and Sunoco (Sunoco merged with and is now known as Energy Transfer Partners). As MDN chronicled in July 2012, three shale plays will ultimately play an important role for the refinery–the Bakken, the Marcellus and the Utica (see Sunoco & Carlyle Group Ink Joint Venture for Philly Refinery). However, PES is also eyeing other shale plays, like oil from the Permian Basin (in Texas). That would be a hoot–Pennsylvania refining Texas oil!

More than half of the refinery’s 350,000 barrel per day capacity now comes from the Bakken Shale in North Dakota. How? Mostly by railroad, with the rest by barge. According to PA Gov. Tom Corbett, on hand for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the refinery earlier this week, the Marcellus and Utica will soon play a role at the refinery too: “There’s a pipeline coming over here soon that’s going to be bringing natural gas over. You’re using natural gas now to fuel some of your efforts here but also to create a propane and ethane facility here”…
Read More “Philly Refinery Processes 190K Barrels/Day of Shale Oil”
Delaware County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Millennium Pipeline | New York | Pipelines | Regulation

Millennium Pipeline Gets FERC Approval for Hancock, NY Compressor
October 4, 2013October 4, 2013

The Millennium Pipeline is a major northeastern natural gas transmission pipeline that starts in Steuben County, NY, runs along the center/bottom of the state (an area called New York’s Southern Tier) and angles down through the Catskill Mountains toward New York City, ending in Rockland County, NY. If you know anything about the geography of New York, it roughly parallels State Route 17 (in parts now called Interstate 86). The Millennium runs close to where MDN sits, not far from Binghamton. It handles an increasing amount of Marcellus Shale gas and is one of the important ways Marcellus gas gets to market.

Just down the road about 33 miles from MDN is a little town called Hancock, NY–in Delaware County. The Millennium runs by Hancock. The company previously filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to build a new compressor plant near Hancock, at a location called Hungry Hill. The Millennium wants to install a single 15,900 horsepower compressor engine to increase pressure and throughput of gas in the pipeline as it flows through Delaware County. A compressor at Hungry Hill would add 107,500 thousand cubic feet per day of additional capacity to the pipeline. FERC has just green lighted the project…
Read More “Millennium Pipeline Gets FERC Approval for Hancock, NY Compressor”
Crestwood Midstream | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Inergy | M&A

Crestwood/Inergy $7B Merger Update: Combined Boards Announced
October 4, 2013October 4, 2013

In May, MDN told you that Crestwood Midstream, with pipelines and processing plants in the Marcellus, and Inergy Midstream, America’s fourth largest propane retailer, trying to establish a new underground propane storage facility near Watkins Glen, NY but is being frustrated by the state’s DEC, would merge to form a $7 billion midstream behemoth (see M&A Mania: Crestwood Midstream & Inergy will Merge). In June the two companies tied 2/3 of the knot (see Crestwood Midstream & Inergy Tie 2/3 of the Merger Knot).

The companies remain at a 2/3 merger–at this stage. However, they have announced the composition of the boards of directors (plural) for Inergy. There is Inergy GP the parent/umbrella company, and Inergy Midstream GP, which will merge with Crestwood. Both boards of directors (see below) contain Crestwood people on them starting next week. So it appears the consummation of this merger marriage will happen soon…
Read More “Crestwood/Inergy $7B Merger Update: Combined Boards Announced”
Boardwalk Pipeline Partners | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Williams

Rumor Now Reality: Williams/Boardwalk to Build Gulf LPG Terminal
October 4, 2013October 4, 2013

Williams and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners announced in March they will build a natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline that would run from the Marcellus/Utica region all the way to the Gulf Coast. They dubbed the new pipeline the Bluegrass Pipeline (see Williams, Boardwalk Announce Marcellus-to-Gulf Coast NGL Pipeline). But where would the new pipeline connect to along the Gulf Coast to process the NGLs? In July, we heard rumors that Williams and Boardwalk were considering building a new LPG export facility to process and export the Marcellus/Utica NGLs (see Bluegrass NGL Pipeline Recap, Builders Eye LNG Exports Too).

It’s no longer a rumor…
Read More “Rumor Now Reality: Williams/Boardwalk to Build Gulf LPG Terminal”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

MA Dems Propose Frack Ban on Non-Existent Shale Drilling – Duh!
October 4, 2013October 4, 2013

Anti-drilling nutters in Massachusetts have introduced legislation to ban fracking in the state, even though there’s no frackable shale to be found. Why do it? To make a political statement, of course. Symbolism over substance reigns supreme in the Bay State controlled by you-know-which political party.

So, you might expect the following editorial that strongly criticizes said politicians for proposing a frack ban bill, and criticizing the state for supporting alternative energy sources only (sources that require huge infusions of taxpayer money to make them work), to be an editorial penned by MDN. Or perhaps from a Tea Party organization. But, you would be wrong. The strongly-worded editorial below is from none other than the editors of the Boston Herald…
Read More “MA Dems Propose Frack Ban on Non-Existent Shale Drilling – Duh!”
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?”