Marcellus Drilling News

Commodity Price | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | NG Vehicles | Research

New IEA Report: NatGas in Transportation About to “Take Off”
June 20, 2013June 20, 2013

The International Energy Agency (IEA) today released their Medium-Term Gas Market Report (MTGMR), in which they say U.S. natural gas production will accelerate from 2014 through 2018 as higher prices spur drilling and infrastructure expansion brings more shale supplies to market. There are a number of interesting tidbits in the study (see a summary and slide show embedded below).

Among the predictions in the report is that natural gas is about to take off in a major way as a transportation fuel, making a serious dent in oil: “Thanks to abundant shale gas in the United States and amid more stringent environmental policies in China, gas is expected to do more to slow oil demand growth than electric vehicles and biofuels combined.”

The IEA press release announcing the latest MTGMR:
Read More “New IEA Report: NatGas in Transportation About to “Take Off””
Crestwood Midstream | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Inergy | M&A

Crestwood Midstream & Inergy Tie 2/3 of the Merger Knot
June 20, 2013June 20, 2013

In early May, MDN told you that Crestwood Midstream (with pipelines and processing plants in the Marcellus) and Inergy Midstream will merge to form a $7 billion midstream behemoth (see M&A Mania: Crestwood Midstream & Inergy will Merge). Yesterday, the first step along the road to marital bliss was completed when Crestwood paid $80 million cash for Inergy, L.P. and both Crestwood and Inergy did a complicated stock swap. The third and final step on the merger road will happen in the third quarter when Crestwood Midstream will be formally merged into a subsidiary of Inergy Midstream.

The announcement from yesterday updating us on Crestwood and Inergy’s elaborate dance:
Read More “Crestwood Midstream & Inergy Tie 2/3 of the Merger Knot”
Energy Companies | PDC Energy | Utica Shale

PDC Energy Sells CO Assets, Will Use Money for Utica Drilling
June 20, 2013June 20, 2013

On Tuesday, PDC Energy sold off it’s non-core Colorado oil and gas assets to Caerus Oil and Gas for $185 million. According to PDC’s CEO Jim Trimble, they plan to use part of that money for drilling in the Utica Shale…
Read More “PDC Energy Sells CO Assets, Will Use Money for Utica Drilling”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Jun 20, 2013
June 20, 2013June 20, 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, Jun 20, 2013”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Research

Big News: EPA Fracking Study Delayed 2 Years – Now Due 2016
June 19, 2013June 19, 2013

Big news from the “Shale Gas: Promises and Challenges” conference in Cleveland, OH yesterday from none other than the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Jeanne Briskin, coordinator of the multi-year study on hydraulic fracturing research the EPA’s Office of Research and Development is performing, said yesterday the final report for the EPA fracking study will be delayed by two years–until 2016. This is the first time MDN has heard that the final study will be delayed.

The fracking study was ordered by an activist Congress back in 2010. The EPA released an outline of their research plan in late 2011 but by then had already started to collect data, ahead of completing the plan for how they would collect the data (see EPA Releases Plan to Study Fracking, Jumps the Gun). A preliminary report was due and was issued in late 2012 (see EPA’s Fracking Study Progress Report (Dec 2012)). The final report is due in 2014. Not anymore…
Read More “Big News: EPA Fracking Study Delayed 2 Years – Now Due 2016”
Industrywide Issues | Supply Chain | Utica Shale

Plugging in to the Utica Shale Supply Chain
June 19, 2013

What does it take to become a supplier to the drilling industry? This article about an Ohio company that successfully cracked the Utica Shale supply chain sheds some light on the ins and outs of selling to the industry:
Read More “Plugging in to the Utica Shale Supply Chain”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Anti-Drilling Stupidity on Parade in Albany, NY
June 19, 2013June 19, 2013

The problem in New York, dear reader, is not (necessarily) an inept politician–Gov. A. Cuomo–but rather the hypocrisy and stupidity of many of my fellow residents. To wit, a rally in Albany on Monday drew something over 1,000 anti-fossil fuel protesters (the AP says 2,000, they always double the real number), where those who attended cheered poll results that show an increase across the state in those who oppose shale drilling…
Read More “Anti-Drilling Stupidity on Parade in Albany, NY”
Earthquakes | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Stanford Prof Says Fracking & Earthquakes are a Concern
June 19, 2013June 19, 2013

Every three or four months, as regular as clockwork, the mainstream media resurrects the claim that “fracking causes earthquakes.” We’ve written about it a number of times (see MDN’s Industrywide Issues>Earthquakes category). Any kind of underground activity causes small (micro) “earthquakes.” But the kind you feel on top of the ground–the kind of earthquake that makes the surface move? No, fracking does not do that. At least almost never–we are aware of a single instance in England where a well was fracked directly on a fault line that caused an earthquake (see Report from England Links Fracking to Earthquakes).

At yesterday’s “Shale Gas Promises and Challenges” event in Cleveland, a pro-drilling professor from Stanford University, Mark Zoback, playing to an anti-drilling crowd, said fracking’s link to earthquakes is a concern…
Read More “Stanford Prof Says Fracking & Earthquakes are a Concern”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY State Politicians Tackle the *Really* Tough Issue…of Cider
June 19, 2013June 19, 2013

This post is somewhat off-topic and purely for your entertainment purposes. We’re near the end of a legislative session here in New York State–you know, the state where 4/5 of the state, known as “Upstate,” is in economic poverty with job and population losses year after year. Our intrepid governor, Andrew “The Ditherer” Cuomo is hard at work with lawmakers (before heading off to the Hamptons for the summer). They’re trying to figure out how to improve the lives of all ~~serfs~~ New York residents, especially those ~~losers~~ in Upstate.

Would an immediate influx of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of investment from drilling in shale deposits be one of the things our hardworking politicians are discussing to, you know, improve the lives of Upstaters, especially farmers? Nope. Not even on the table. Instead, they’re fiddling around with legislation to allow farmers to make up to 150,000 gallons of hard cider a year (using NY apples of course)–presumably to keep them drunk so they won’t notice their property rights have been confiscated and they’re about to lose the family farm…
Read More “NY State Politicians Tackle the *Really* Tough Issue…of Cider”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Soil | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

OH Anti-Drillers Worked Up over Radiation
June 19, 2013June 19, 2013

Anti-driller Dr. Marvin “Radon” Resnikoff has found some new clients to buy his recycled reports about killer radioactivity from shale drilling. His latest takers? The FreshWater Accountability Project Ohio (FWAPO). You may recall the U.S. Geological Survey was none too impressed with Resnikoff’s wild radioactivity claims (see Radon Debate: USGS Responds to Marvin Resnikoff Accusation). But hey, a guy’s gotta make a livin, ya know? So he continues to peddle his “radioactive” reports.

Last week the FWAPO released one of Resnikoff’s recycled light-on-facts reports (just change the headers and add the word “Ohio” in a few places)–see a copy embedded below. Resnikoff now has the anti-drilling faithful in Ohio all worked up over radiation…
Read More “OH Anti-Drillers Worked Up over Radiation”
Allegheny County | Armstrong County | Butler County | Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Indiana County | Industrywide Issues | NiSource | PennEnergy Resources | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Westmoreland County | XTO

NiSource Big Pine Gathering Pipeline Goes Online in SW PA
June 19, 2013June 19, 2013

NiSource and Columbia Pipeline Group announced yesterday their new Big Pine Gathering System is now online and running in PA’s Marcellus Shale. Big Pine is a 57-mile pipeline gathering system serving southwestern PA: Allegheny, Butler, Armstrong, Indiana and Westmoreland counties. NiSource has a long-term contract with XTO Energy to deliver XTO’s natural gas to three different pipeline transmission systems. In addition to XTO, NiSource recently signed PennEnergy Resources as another customer for the new pipeline.

Details from the NiSource press release:
Read More “NiSource Big Pine Gathering Pipeline Goes Online in SW PA”
Ohio | Statewide OH

Place Your Bets: Will ‘Blood and Oil’ TV Show Last a Month?
June 19, 2013June 19, 2013

Once again our opinion is confirmed that television is a vacuum cleaner with the sole purpose of sucking your brains out. You watch it–your IQ goes down. The latest empirical evidence to support that rather bold statement? A new “reality” series called Blood and Oil on the Discovery channel.

Yesterday, MDN told you about a new TV series debuting last night on the Discovery channel about a small family oil company in Ohio, threatened with extinction by big, bad oil coming to the state to tap the Utica Shale (see Blood and Oil: New “Reality TV” Series about OH Oil Company). We watched the first 12 minutes or so–until the first commercial break. That’s all we could take…
Read More “Place Your Bets: Will ‘Blood and Oil’ TV Show Last a Month?”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Jun 19, 2013
June 19, 2013June 19, 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, Jun 19, 2013”
Butler County | Energy Companies | Exxon Mobil | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | XTO

XTO’s New NGL Recovery Plant in Butler County, PA Now Online
June 18, 2013June 18, 2013

Flying under the radar for more than year, XTO Energy (the Marcellus/Utica Shale subsidiary of Exxon Mobil) announced yesterday their natural gas liquids (NGL) recovery plant in Butler County, PA is now up and running. The plant will process wet gas coming from the the southwestern portion of PA, separating NGLs from methane. Although not referenced in the XTO announcement (see below), the recovered NGLs will be fractionated (further separated) and marketed by MarkWest (see MarkWest Signs Deal with XTO to Process NGLs in PA).

The announcement from XTO that their new NGL recovery plant is now up and running:
Read More “XTO’s New NGL Recovery Plant in Butler County, PA Now Online”
Carrizo Oil & Gas | Energy Companies

Carrizo Focuses on Eagle Ford, Keeps Toe Dipped in Marcellus/Utica
June 18, 2013June 18, 2013

Marcellus and Utica Shale driller Carrizo Oil & Gas issued a second quarter brief update yesterday to say results they’re getting in the Eagle Ford Shale play (in Texas) are better than expected. Carrizo gets both oil and gas in the Eagle Ford, which seems to be their focus lately. Carrizo operates three rigs in the Eagle Ford, two in the Niobrara Formation (Colorado), and one rig in the Marcellus. According to the release, Carrizo will move up previously planned Utica drilling from 2014 to 2013 to avoid drilling in the winter. They plan to drill their second Utica well by the end of this year.

According to MDN’s Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook 2013, Volume 1, for the period Jan-Apr 2013, Carrizo had 8 permits issued for drilling in Pennsylvania, and 2 permits for drilling in Ohio. Relevant portions of yesterday’s Carrizo update:
Read More “Carrizo Focuses on Eagle Ford, Keeps Toe Dipped in Marcellus/Utica”
Allegheny County | Pennsylvania

Shale Drilling Under (Gasp!) Allegheny County, PA Parks?
June 18, 2013June 18, 2013

Is shale drilling coming to an Allegheny County, PA (Pittsburgh area) park near you? Maybe. Drilling likely won’t involve putting a rig in a park, but instead on land situated near a park–where a number of rigs are already located.

Allegheny County Chief Executive Rich Fitzgerald is investigating the possibility of leasing the land under county parks for shale drilling, to help with $100 million in deferred park maintenance and improve the “deplorable conditions” at some of the parks…
Read More “Shale Drilling Under (Gasp!) Allegheny County, PA Parks?”