Marcellus Drilling News

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

New PennEnvironment “Report”: Soak Drillers for More Bond Money
July 17, 2013July 17, 2013

More huffing and puffing from the anti-drilling group PennEnvironment. Yesterday they released a new so-called report called “Who Pays the Costs of Fracking?” (full copy embedded below). PennEnvironment, using paid interns from an anti-fossil fuel think tank called The Frontier Group to write this drivel, attempt to make the case that drillers don’t pay enough bond money up front for future, possible, maybe, someday problems that might arise–potentially. So make ’em pay now, up front.

Of course their chief recommendation–require obscenely high up-front bonds from drillers–is nothing more than a back-door way of making it more expensive to drill, leading to less drilling. But that’s what these types of organizations do–sit around and dream up ways to slow the use of those evil, nasty fossil fuels…
Read More “New PennEnvironment “Report”: Soak Drillers for More Bond Money”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Regulation | Statewide MD

Maryland Public Comment Session #2 on Drilling Best Practices
July 17, 2013July 17, 2013

For years, MDN has poked fun at the State of Maryland and has said, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that Maryland is the only state more dysfunctional than New York on the topic of hydraulic fracturing and shale drilling. Now? We’d say Maryland and New York are neck-in-neck in the race to screw up the biggest economic and jobs miracle in generations. But we’d still give Maryland a slight edge as being “most dysfunctional.” That dysfunction was on full display at yesterday’s second public meeting held by the Maryland Dept. of the Environment to receive comments on a draft best practices for shale drilling document–a document recently released by the governor’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission (see Maryland Releases Draft “Best Practices” in Shale Drilling Report for a copy).

The Baltimore Sun was on hand for yesterday’s second public meeting–held in Baltimore–and filed this report:
Read More “Maryland Public Comment Session #2 on Drilling Best Practices”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

New API Ad Addresses Public Concerns about Fracking
July 17, 2013July 17, 2013

The American Petroleum Institute, the preeminent trade association for America’s oil and gas companies, has just launched a new advertising campaign to address public concerns (and correct media misstatements) about fracking. The ad will be run on TV and radio spots, as well as in print and online. It’s a great video ad (watch it below).

Here’s the announcement from API on the new ad campaign:
Read More “New API Ad Addresses Public Concerns about Fracking”
Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale | Washington County (OH)

OH Students Get High-Paying Jobs in OH Utica Shale Industry
July 17, 2013July 17, 2013

A group of Ohio schoolteachers went on a field trip recently, touring drilling sites in eastern Ohio–Washington County, to be specific. A reporter tagged along to get their impressions and produced an interesting article. As part of that article, the reporter spoke to several educators about job opportunities in the Ohio oil (and gas) field patch. We’ve brought you such stories before, but it bears repeating that (in this case) Ohio students graduating from Marietta College’s petroleum engineering and geology department are actively, aggressively recruited and many get jobs right out of college with starting salaries of over $100,000 per year!

In addition, there’s plenty of high-paying jobs for those without a degree who have skills–like welding, truck driving and diesel mechanic. You can see how the Ohio Utica Shale is radically improving the jobs situation in Ohio:
Read More “OH Students Get High-Paying Jobs in OH Utica Shale Industry”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Jul 17, 2013
July 17, 2013July 17, 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, Jul 17, 2013”
Energy Companies | Hess | Lease & Royalty Payments | Newfield Exploration | Pennsylvania | Wayne County

DRBC Delay Costs Wayne County Landowners $187.5M, Hess Pulls Out
July 16, 2013July 16, 2013

Thank you Carol Collier (Executive Director) and the other members of Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC): You’ve just cost Wayne County, PA landowners a collective $187.5 million by your continued inaction to allow drilling in Wayne County. Newfield Appalachia PA and Hess Corp. started sending notices last week to Wayne County landowners that they’ve decided to terminate the leases they made with them in 2009–on more than 100,000 acres.

Not wanting to tick off the DRBC and the member states of NY, NJ, PA and DE, the drillers blamed the lease terminations on a change in strategy–they want to drill in oily shale plays. But we know the real reason…
Read More “DRBC Delay Costs Wayne County Landowners $187.5M, Hess Pulls Out”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Landowners with Marcellus Wells: The (Property) Tax Man Cometh
July 16, 2013July 16, 2013

A developing story for Pennsylvania landowners, as reported by WTAE Channel 4 (ABC) Pittsburgh: If you’re a PA landowner with over 10 acres of farmland or woodlands, it’s likely you pay a much lower tax rate on the land because of the “Clean and Green” Act–technically known as the Pennsylvania Farmland and Forest Land Assessment Act of 1974. Clean and Green is meant to keep taxes on farms and other agricultural-types of property lower, based on the land’s value for agriculture, rather than taxed on the land’s prevailing or “full market” value. When the land’s use changes, however, to something like an industrial use (i.e. used for a drill pad), the landowner is responsible for paying higher taxes on the prevailing market value for that portion of land used for that purpose.

If you haven’t been paying a higher tax rate for the portion of your land used for drilling (as we understand it, only the surface portion used–where there’s a drill pad), you may retroactively owe back taxes. It seems that the Clean and Green tax issue for landowners with Marcellus wells on their property is now heating up, and if you’re not paying the higher tax, it’s being spun that you’re “hurting ordinary taxpayers”…
Read More “PA Landowners with Marcellus Wells: The (Property) Tax Man Cometh”
Antero Resources | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Noble County | Ohio | Pipelines | Rockies Express Pipeline | Utica Shale

REX Reverses Pipeline Flow from OH for Mystery Utica Customer
July 16, 2013July 16, 2013

What a difference a year makes. Last August, RBN Energy President Rusty Braziel said the Rockies Express Pipeline (REX), which originates in Rio Blanco County, Colorado and sends gas to Monroe County, Ohio, was in danger of drying up because there’s so much shale gas coming from the Marcellus. His prescription? Turn it around and send gas the other way (see REX NatGas Pipeline Faces Stiff Competition from Marcellus). Looks like REX has taken Rusty’s advice.

In a press release issued yesterday, REX announced they have a binding agreement with an unnamed “large Utica Shale producer” who wants to use the pipeline to ship 200,000 decatherms of processed natural gas per day to the Midcontinent region of the country. That is, REX is reversing the flow for at least part of the pipeline. And who might the unnamed “mystery” producer be? We think we know…
Read More “REX Reverses Pipeline Flow from OH for Mystery Utica Customer”
Butler County | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Greene County (PA) | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Upper Devonian Shale | Washington County

New Shale Layer Above the Marcellus Yields Positive Results
July 16, 2013July 16, 2013

What’s this? A new, third layer of shale a few hundred feet above the Marcellus is producing good quantities of shale gas? Yep. And CONSOL Energy reports they’ve successfully tapped it…
Read More “New Shale Layer Above the Marcellus Yields Positive Results”
CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies

CONSOL 2Q13: Drilled 17 Marcellus/Utica Wells, Completed 15
July 16, 2013July 16, 2013

Second quarter earnings and operational update season is upon us. Yesterday Pittsburgh-based CONSOL posted their 2Q13 update (below). CONSOL has traditionally been one of the country’s largest coal producing companies. In recent years, however, they’ve changed their focus to natural gas–specifically Marcellus and now Utica Shale natural gas. That ongoing changeover is quite evident by the amount of space in the update below devoted to gas vs that devoted to coal operations.

During 2Q13, CONSOL drilled 13 Marcellus Shale wells and 4 Utica Shale wells. They also completed 15 Marcellus Shale wells during that period. Overall, CONSOL produced 418 million cubic feet of natural gas per day on average during second quarter. However, perhaps the most exciting news in this update is CONSOL’s successful results for a new, third shale layer: the Upper Devonian layer. The full CONSOL update:
Read More “CONSOL 2Q13: Drilled 17 Marcellus/Utica Wells, Completed 15”
Tyler County | West Virginia

Title Researchers Camp Out at Tyler County (WV) Clerk’s Office
July 16, 2013July 16, 2013

There are at least two reliable ways to know where drilling is about to begin (or expand): One is to monitor where (and how many) permits for drilling have been issued. MDN covers that with our Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook series, each volume of which maps where permits were issued in the past four months. Drillers don’t pay for expensive permits unless they’re going to drill. But in order to get a permit, you already must have leased the land. So the other way to predict future drilling is by how busy the local county clerk’s office is–where the land records are kept. Case in point: Tyler County, WV.

According to MDN’s Databook 2013 – Vol. 1, Tyler County had 189 permits issued for 38 wells for January-April 2013. Going by the fevered activity at the county clerk’s office, however, predicts those numbers will soon go much higher. Title researchers are camping outside the county clerk’s office starting 6 pm the night before (!) in order to secure a spot in the clerk’s office the next day when the doors open. It’s becoming a problem for some residents…
Read More “Title Researchers Camp Out at Tyler County (WV) Clerk’s Office”
Accidents | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Washington County

Smoke at MarkWest Chartiers, PA Gas Processing Plant
July 16, 2013July 16, 2013

MarkWest operates a large natural gas processing plant in Chartiers Township (Washington County), PA. In the past few years they doubled the size of the plant. Apparently the installation of more new equipment due to go online yesterday didn’t go as planned. Characterizing it as “several events,” automated safety equipment kicked in and burned off (or flared) propane at the plant–resulting in smoke that could be seen for miles.

The (scant) known details of what happened yesterday at the Chariters processing plant:
Read More “Smoke at MarkWest Chartiers, PA Gas Processing Plant”
Energy Companies | Range Resources Corp

Range Resources 2Q13: Production Up 27% Due to Marcellus
July 16, 2013July 16, 2013

Last week Range Resources released its 2013 second quarter update. Range reports its production volumes hit record highs of 910 million cubic feet equivalent per day–of that, 79% was natural gas the rest liquids, oil and condensate. The company credits its continued success and the dramatic increase from last year (up 27%) to a single cause: the Marcellus Shale.

The report issued by Range last Thursday:
Read More “Range Resources 2Q13: Production Up 27% Due to Marcellus”
Energy Companies | Marion County | Marshall County | Trans Energy | Tyler County | West Virginia | Wetzel County

Trans Energy Presentation: Charts, Maps & More
July 16, 2013July 16, 2013

Trans Energy, Inc. is a “pure play” (single focus) driller in the Marcellus Shale–specifically in the northern panhandle region of West Virginia. Along with its joint venture partner Republic Energy, Trans Energy owns and operates on 62,000 acres in WV, primarily in Marshall, Wetzel, Tyler and Marion counties.

In April, Trans Energy issued a investors presentation full of very useful charts and maps and details about their operations (embedded below). We’ve just noticed that presentation and believe it’s worth passing along now, even though it’s now three months old. We especially like the “Competitive Market Position” map on slide 8…
Read More “Trans Energy Presentation: Charts, Maps & More”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Jul 16, 2013
July 16, 2013July 16, 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: Tue, Jul 16, 2013”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Portage County | Statewide OH | Wastewater

Wastewater Injection Wells in Ohio – Comprehensive Update
July 15, 2013

On Sunday, the Akron Beacon Journal ran an excellent article on injection wells in Ohio. Their findings: Portage County disposed of more frack wastewater via injection wells than any other county in Ohio last year–disposing of 2.3 million barrels of brine and frack fluid wastewater. Brine, you may recall, is naturally occurring water from the depths that comes out of drilled wells long after the fracking fluid has been pumped out. Brine is very “salty” with a high concentration of minerals.

What may be a surprising statistic for some: Nearly two-thirds of the wastewater disposed of in Ohio wells was from out of state–most of that from Marcellus drilling in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Here’s part of the article, which details a list of Ohio counties and how much wastewater they disposed of via injection wells:
Read More “Wastewater Injection Wells in Ohio – Comprehensive Update”