Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Jul 9, 2013
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Accidents | Antero Resources | Doddridge County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | West Virginia
Well Explosion in Doddridge County, WV Injures 8 People
Shale drilling is an industrial process and accidents happen–it’s inevitable. Still, it’s sad when it does happen. Early Sunday morning there was an explosion at an Antero Resources drilling site in Doddridge County, WV injuring eight people–four of whom were airlifted to West Penn Hospital’s burn center in Pittsburgh.The very scant details as we now them right now:
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BP’s Utica Shale Drilling in Trumbull County, OH Heats Up
An article in the Warren, OH Tribune Chronicle is interesting for two reasons: The first is that it highlights how when a local business (VEC Inc.) gets plugged in to the shale supply chain with just a single driller, it can radically change the fortunes of that company; and second, the article indicates the driller in question (BP) has just handed out contracts for their first four well sites with plans to drill up to 2,000 Utica Shale wells–all in Trumbull County, OH.
It seems like it took BP a long time to get going (see Better Late than Never: BP Gets First Permit for OH Utica), but now that they’ve started…watch out! Business in the gas fields of Trumbull County is about to get real busy…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Portage County | Research | Utica Shale | Wastewater
OH Village’s Extensive Water Tests Show No Impacts from Drilling
Good news for residents of Garrettsville (Portage County), OH residents: Your drinking water has been and continues to be just fine. The village board commissioned an extensive water testing program to keep an eye on private water wells on the outskirts of Garretsville as a way of spotting any water contamination problems that may happen before they reach the village’s drinking water supplies.
Village leaders were concerned that nearby Utica Shale drilling and a plethora of frack wastewater injection wells in Portage County may lead to contamination of the village’s water aquifer. Nope. Nothing of the sort has happened, once again proving that shale drilling and injection wells are safe for water, contrary to the bleating of fictional movies like Gasland 2 and anti-drilling protesters like Yoko Ono…
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Chesapeake Production Results for 2 Wells in Ohio County, WV
As part of a story about Chesapeake Energy selling off yet another $1 billion worth of assets (in Texas and Louisiana), we get this brief production update for two Chesapeake Marcellus “wet gas” wells in Ohio County, WV:
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Road Damage from Drillers a Problem in Marshall County, WV Town
One of the downsides to drilling–something that’s eminently fixable–is road damage from heavy trucks. A small town in southeastern Marshall County, WV is experiencing the problem first-hand. The drilling industry needs to take note, step up, and fix the problem…
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PA Report Card: 6,200 Shale Wells Drilled, 3,550 in Production
A quick report card on Pennsylvania’s amazing Marcellus Shale drilling: “Across the state, 6,200 shale gas wells have been drilled, though only 3,550 are currently producing. Even with just that production, Pennsylvania rose to the third largest producer in the United States in 2012, behind only Texas and Louisiana. In 2010, the Commonwealth ranked 14th.” In 2012, PA produced 2.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, mostly from shale. That was more than double the previous year’s production. No wonder it went from 14th to 3rd in U.S. production in just two years.
The quote above comes from an article discussing the PA Marcellus Shale delivered at a bi-monthly talk in Potter County, PA. Here’s more insights from that talk, including the observation that 2013 will be “the year of the pipeline” in PA:
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Hilcorp Energy | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | NGLs | NiSource | Ohio | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Utica Shale
Slight Delay for Hickory Bend Processing Plant, Permit Appealed
A small and frankly inconsequential wrinkle has developed in the building of a new cryogenic gas processing plant–a joint venture planned between Hilcorp and NiSource called Hickory Bend (see Mahoning Utica Pipeline/Processing Plant “Moving Forward”).
Although the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has issued an air pollution permit for the plant, an avowed anti-driller has appealed the permit, which will delay things just a bit while the appeal is considered (and subsequently dismissed)…
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Washington County, PA Hotelier Adapts to Serve Drilling Industry
Anyone who lives in shale country can tell you one of the first signs that drilling either is, or is about to, impact an area’s economy, is full restaurants and busy hotels/motels. Shale field workers need a place to eat and a place to sleep. How these businesses–specifically hotels– respond is instructive for all businesses that would like to sell to the industry, i.e., plug in to the supply chain.
A recent story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette does a good job of covering someone MDN has highlighted before: hotel and motel owner Tejas Gosai, in Washington County, PA (see these two MDN stories). From when Gosai’s hotels serve breakfast, to outdoor boot washers, to checking for bed bugs–the way Gosai has responded to and adapted “regular” hotels to serve the Marcellus drilling industry is instructive for other hotels, and for other businesses to follow as an example:
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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Education | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Pennsylvania
PA Teachers: Free Climate Change/Energy Course Courtesy Cabot O&G
Cabot Oil & Gas is serious about helping the local Pennsylvania communities in which they operate. A case in point previously highlighted on MDN: Cabot’s key fundraising role that got a 20 year-old stalled project of building a new hospital in rural Montrose, PA off the ground (see Cabot Effort Raises $4.4 Million for PA Physicians Clinic).
And now, yet another example: Because of Cabot’s generous donation, the normal $300 fee to attend Keystone College’s “summer camp” for 7-12 grade teachers (July 22-26) to study climate change and energy is now free! Continuing education credits available. Here’s the low-down on the program and how teachers (and other interested members of the community) may attend:
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Boardwalk Pipeline Partners | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Williams
Bluegrass NGL Pipeline Recap, Builders Eye LNG Exports Too
An update on the proposed new natural gas liquids (NGL) Bluegrass Pipeline, a joint venture between Williams Partners and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners. As MDN previously reported, the Bluegrass will run from Ohio/Pennsylvania all the way to the Gulf Coast (see Williams, Boardwalk Announce Marcellus-to-Gulf Coast NGL Pipeline).
The update below, courtesy of the Akron Beacon Journal, does a good job of recapping what we do and don’t know about the pipeline project and where it will be built. The update also includes new information: In addition to gas liquids going to the Gulf, Williams and Boardwalk are eyeing LNG export terminals along the Gulf Coast as a market for the methane portion of what they’ll pipeline from the Utica/Marcellus…
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The Changing Picture of America’s Energy Sources – 1776-2012
An interesting look, courtesy the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), at the energy sources used in the United States throughout our history–from 1776 to the present…
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Calendar of Events for Jul 8-21, 2013 [Free]
Below are upcoming events for this week and next.
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Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Jul 8, 2013
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Blue Racer Midstream | Caiman Energy | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | NGLs | Processing Plants | West Virginia
Blue Racer Midstream’s Natrium, WV NGL Plant Now Up & Running
Blue Racer Midstream, a joint venture between Dominion and Caiman Energy, was supposed to have a new $500 million wet gas (natural gas liquids) processing plant online in Natrium, WV last December (see Dominion $500M NGL Processing Plant in WV to Open in December). The date was then changed to “late spring” (see Natrium, WV NGL Plant Behind Schedule, Will Open “Late Spring”). Blue Racer finally stopped predicting when the plant would open, but MDN told you in late May the signs were there for an “imminent” opening (see Natrium, WV NGL Processing Plant Start-up Close).Strike up the band! Even though Blue Racer has decided not to make a public announcement, the Akron Beacon Journal is reporting the plant has been up and “quietly” operating for the past several weeks…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County
AP Presents Anti-Fracking Zealots as Harmless Old Ladies
Attempting to make heroes out of rabid, frothing-at-the-mouth anti-drillers from MDN’s neck of the woods (the Southern Tier of NY and Susquehanna County, PA), an AP article appearing on the USA Today website (and in numerous newspapers) begins this way:
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Blue Racer Midstream, a joint venture between Dominion and Caiman Energy, was supposed to have a new $500 million wet gas (natural gas liquids) processing plant online in Natrium, WV last December (see