Marcellus Drilling News

Allegheny County | Chesapeake Energy | CNX Resources | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Marcellus Shale Coalition Gets New Chairman of the Board
August 29, 2013August 29, 2013

It appears that Chesapeake CEO Doug Lawler’s massive firings throughout the company (no doubt demanded by corporate raider and Chessy board member Carl Ichan) have not only affected Chesapeake itself, but also the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC)–the premier group representing the drilling industry in Pennsylvania and the entire Marcellus region.

The chairman of the board of directors at the MSC had been David Spigelmyer, VP of government relations for Chesapeake. Spigelmyer is now gone from Chesapeake and gone from the board of the MSC. In his place, the board has appointed the current vice chairman, Randy Albert, COO of CNX Gas, to be chairman until Spigelmyer’s term was due to end in November…
Read More “Marcellus Shale Coalition Gets New Chairman of the Board”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide NY | Susquehanna County

What Did NYC Lawmakers Find when Visiting NE PA Frack Sites?
August 29, 2013August 29, 2013

A small group of anti-drilling New York State lawmakers from Westchester County and New York City came to Susquehanna County, PA yesterday for a “tour” of one of the most drilled (and productive) natural gas counties in PA. We’re guessing local anti-drilling celebrity (and potty mouth) Vera Scroggins led the tour, although we don’t know for sure. Regardless of who led it, the aim was to show the devastation fracking hath wrought to this poor, defenseless county. Unfortunately for Vera and other anti-drillers, reality trumps their hallucinations.

MDN was not along for the so-called tour, but we know what the visiting city folks found because we’ve also toured the county and its drilling sites: They found a pretty, rural county where the people are happy and employed, (some of them newly rich, which disgusts the old rich of NYC), and where there is no industrial wasteland. Sometimes trucks clog the roadways–but nothing like the traffic the visiting downstate lawmakers experience every day of their lives…
Read More “What Did NYC Lawmakers Find when Visiting NE PA Frack Sites?”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Aug 29, 2013
August 29, 2013August 29, 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, Aug 29, 2013”
Beaver County | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell

Shell Announces “Open Season” for Potential PA Ethane Cracker
August 28, 2013August 28, 2013

Time for Shell to get serious about whether or not they plan to build a $2 billion ethane cracker plant in Monaca, PA. Shell announced yesterday they will have something akin to a pipeline open season, a period of time when drillers can bid on capacity to send the plant (should it be built) their locally-produced ethane supplies. The bidding period will run from August 27 through October 4 and will give Shell a good idea of just how much ethane will be available for them to “crack” at the plant.

Shell reports they already have commitments from CONSOL Energy, Noble Energy, Seneca Resources and Hilcorp Energy should they decide to build the cracker. Shell is still about a year away from a final final final final decision (see our June 2012 story – Shell: Final Decision on Cracker Plant Still 18-24 Mo. Away). The next few months are likely to be crucial to that decision…
Read More “Shell Announces “Open Season” for Potential PA Ethane Cracker”
Health Impacts | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Is Cuomo Buying Off Health Commissioner to Delay Fracking Report?
August 28, 2013August 28, 2013

It’s now apparent to everyone that NY Gov. Andrew “Ditherer” Cuomo is using State Health Commissioner Nirav Shah as his excuse to delay making a decision about whether or not to allow fracking in the state. What’s Shah been up to? Going on junkets–trips where he supposedly confers with people knowledgeable about fracking in other states (and countries). For what? He can’t pick up the phone and call? Doesn’t he have email (or a physical mailing address) so people can send him information? Does he need to be face-to-face so he can look in their eyes to be double-dog sure they’re telling him the truth?

Sure sounds to us like Shah is being bought off with all-expenses paid vacations (averaging about one a month) from Prince Andrew in return for being the whipping boy. Here’s the timeline of Shah’s junkets…
Read More “Is Cuomo Buying Off Health Commissioner to Delay Fracking Report?”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Norse Energy | Statewide NY

Norse Can’t Dump NY Leases at Auction, Creditors Get Ready to Sue
August 28, 2013August 30, 2013

Norse Energy, the little energy that ultimately couldn’t (drill, because of Andrew Cuomo), bet big on New York State. It was the wrong bet. Norse holds 130,000 acres of leases in New York and literally bet the company’s future on New York’s willingness to allow fracking. The company lost the bet when they went into bankruptcy last year and finally had to put the only assets they had left on the auction block–130K leased acres–earlier this year (see Bankrupt Norse Energy to Sell NY Leases – Who Will Want Them?). As we stated at the time, who would be willing to purchase the Norse leases with a) Cuomo still not decided on whether drilling can happen in NY, and b) the courts still not decided about whether towns can ban drilling. Our answer: no one will be willing.

Norse has confirmed our logical deduction. The company issued a short statement yesterday stating they received a few low-ball bids for the leases, but the bid amounts are not near enough to satisfy creditors left holding the bag. Those creditors are now looking at filing lawsuits against Norse and its management…
Read More “Norse Can’t Dump NY Leases at Auction, Creditors Get Ready to Sue”
Allegheny County | CONSOL Energy | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

CONSOL Energy Reveals Drilling Plan for Pittsburgh Airport
August 28, 2013August 28, 2013

CONSOL Energy and Pittsburgh Airport officials held a joint press conference yesterday to share more of the details for CONSOL’s plan to drill on airport-owned property. You may recall the airport authority signed a deal with CONSOL in February of this year, netting the airport a nifty check for $50 million as the signing bonus (see $50M Check in the Mail: Pittsburgh Airport Lease a Done Deal). However, the signing bonus is just an hors d’oeuvre. All done and told–after receiving royalties for years to come–the airport expects the project to bring in a staggering $1 billion or more.

The proposed drilling plan (see the map below) calls for 6 well pads, 47 Marcellus Shale wells on those pads (with the possibility of drilling Upper Devonian wells later on), three fresh water ponds (“impoundments”) and 17 miles of gathering pipelines. CONSOL said that seismic testing in and around the airport property will begin in late October of this year, however, the first test wells will not be drilled until third quarter of 2014…
Read More “CONSOL Energy Reveals Drilling Plan for Pittsburgh Airport”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

Anti-Drillers Smear PA DEP Over Delayed Global Warming Report
August 28, 2013August 28, 2013

A Pennsylvania state report on the impacts of the mythical concept of human-induced global warming on residents of the state is a year and a half late. Boo hoo. Big deal. Aren’t there enough of these kinds of “reports” circulating already? Why is another one needed? Apparently anti-drillers in PA and at the NPR reporters at StateImpact Pennsylvania want to see it published. They also want it to contain a reference to the totally debunked and discredited “study” by Cornell professors Robert Howarth and Anthony Ingraffea. You know, the study that laughably says burning coal is better for the environment than natural gas. MIT later put that whopper to rest (see New MIT Study on Fugitive Methane Discredits Cornell Study).

But let’s not let real science get in the way here! Anti-drilling groups like PennFuture want Howarth’s discredited “research” to be included in the final report. When someone from the PA DEP dared to say it ought to be removed, well, the antis had a cow. PennFuture went on a fishing expedition and obtained internal emails and drafts of the report and leaked it to sympathetic StateImpact reporters. It’s now time to crucify the DEP official who wanted the holy words of Bobby & Tony removed…
Read More “Anti-Drillers Smear PA DEP Over Delayed Global Warming Report”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Columbia County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

Shale Justice Coalition Plans to Gate-Crash John Hanger Appearance
August 28, 2013August 28, 2013

Shhh. Don’t tell anyone…but the Shale Justice Coalition plans to show up en masse at a talk being given by former PA Dept. of Environmental Protection Sec. John Hanger on September 3rd at Bloomsburg University. Hanger is running for the Democrat nomination for governor in PA and the folks at Shale Justice don’t like his views on drilling. Shale Justice doesn’t want anyone other than the anti-drilling faithful to know about their plans to gate-crash Hanger’s talk, so they’ve asked that their secret announcement not be shared on social media or publicly announced. Whoops. Guess we kind of blew that!

Here’s the Shale Justice Coalition email announcement, as passed along to us by an MDN reader…
Read More “Shale Justice Coalition Plans to Gate-Crash John Hanger Appearance”
Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Education | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

Cabot to Teach Hazelton, PA 9th Graders How to Frack
August 28, 2013August 28, 2013

Ninth-grade students at a new magnet school opening this fall in the Hazelton, PA area will be taught a series of lessons on the technology, economics and environmental issues related to fracking and shale gas drilling. The plan calls for the school’s teachers to lead four lessons in the series, an “environmentalist” (i.e. anti-driller) will teach one lesson, and someone from Cabot Oil & Gas, the northeast PA driller funding the program, will teach two of the lessons. There’s sure to be stiff opposition to Cabot’s involvement from the anti-drillers. “Fair” to them would be Cabot pays for the whole thing but anti-drillers are the only voices heard in the classroom. Not this time!

MDN finds it amusing the program will feature a mock town hall meeting complete with squabbling neighbors and people falsely claiming their water wells have been contaminated. We need to learn ’em young, ya know…
Read More “Cabot to Teach Hazelton, PA 9th Graders How to Frack”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

New Marcellus Surface Regulations Coming for PA Drillers
August 28, 2013August 28, 2013

In February 2012, Pennsylvania passed and Gov. Tom Corbett signed the Act 13 legislation into law–the first new legislation to address shale drilling in the state (see Gov. Corbett Signs New Marcellus Drilling Law). Among the provisions in the new law was an instruction (and permission) for the Environmental Quality Board (EQB), the rulemaking body of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, to craft new regulations for drilling. The EQB wasted no time in crafting new rules for the subsurface portion of drilling (see Rewrite of 1984 PA Oil and Gas Act Underway).

The second part of the EQB’s charge is now underway. Yesterday the EQB approved and released (for public comment) new regulations aimed at surface activities associated with natural gas drilling (a summary of the new rules is embedded below, along with the full text of the proposed regulations). This new round of regulations deals with protecting public resources like parks and forests, deals with orphaned and abandoned well identification, institutes new containment rules (for fresh water and wastewater), and firms up protection of water resources…
Read More “New Marcellus Surface Regulations Coming for PA Drillers”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Aug 28, 2013
August 28, 2013August 28, 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, Aug 28, 2013”
Anadarko | Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Chesapeake Energy | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | EV Energy Partners | Gulfport Energy | Halcon Resources | Hess | Ohio | PDC Energy | Rex Energy | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Who’s Who in OH Utica Shale Drilling for 2013
August 27, 2013August 27, 2013

Investor’s website Market Realist ran a 7-part series on the Utica Shale yesterday–really good stuff. As part of that series they list the biggest drillers/leaseholders in the Ohio Utica Shale. It’s a very useful rundown and update on the latest positions held by the major players of the Utica. We’ve pulled and condensed from their article to give you the latest rundown on who’s who in the Ohio Utica Shale…
Read More “Who’s Who in OH Utica Shale Drilling for 2013”
Alternative Energy | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

DOE Sec. Moniz Says NatGas Both Problem and Solution
August 27, 2013August 27, 2013

Obama administration officials, including the newly minted Ernest “Hair” Moniz, refuse to “debate” the mythology surrounding man-made global warming, declaring the debate is now over and that they have won a debate only just beginning! Whatever. In a speech yesterday at Columbia University, Moniz towed the Obama line that carbon emissions must be capped, especially from coal (today) and one day from natural gas too. However, the speech and the Q&A that followed weren’t all bad (from a pro-drilling perspective). Moniz is a realist, unlike many in his party. He recognizes that natural gas is a lower-carbon fossil-fuel bridge to a renewable energy future–and it’s a mighty long bridge (decades) at that.

Unfortunately we could not locate a transcript of Moniz’s speech, so we have to rely on skewed, anti-drilling reporting from Bloomberg:
Read More “DOE Sec. Moniz Says NatGas Both Problem and Solution”
Braxton County | Chesapeake Energy | Earthquakes | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | West Virginia

New Case of Earthquakes Related to an Injection Well in WV?
August 27, 2013August 27, 2013

One of the gross inaccuracies MDN has tried to address over the past several years is the claim that “fracking causes earthquakes.” It does not. At least not measurable earthquakes people can feel at the surface. No less a source than the National Academies of Science released a study last year to “finally” put that particular myth to rest (see NRC Study: Fracking Does Not Cause Earthquakes). Unfortunately the earthquake myth is just too good a PR opportunity to pass up, so anti-drillers haul it back out about every three months for a new round of exposure.

The earthquake issue is confusing for many people because there is a loose connection between earthquakes and fracking: injection wells. Although most fracking wastewater is now recycled to be used again for more drilling, some of it is disposed of via deep injection wells. If an injection well happens to be located near a geologic fault, the pressure from the injected fluid has the potential to trigger an earthquake. It happened in Youngstown, OH in late 2011/early 2012 (see ODNR Finds Youngstown Injection Well Caused Earthquakes). According to a recent report from WV Public Broadcasting, it may now be happening again near a Chesapeake-owned injection well in Braxton County, WV…
Read More “New Case of Earthquakes Related to an Injection Well in WV?”
Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Marcellus Reshuffle? EIA Says WV/SWPA Luring Rigs Away from NEPA
August 27, 2013August 27, 2013

According to the brains at the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)–and we say “brains” in a very complimentary way–the northern panhandle of West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania together have formed an integrated “wet gas” drilling region that is luring drilling rigs away from the highly productive dry gas area of northeastern PA. Here is their analysis and reasoning, along with some nifty charts:
Read More “Marcellus Reshuffle? EIA Says WV/SWPA Luring Rigs Away from NEPA”