Marcellus Drilling News

Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Mahoning County | Ohio | Pipelines | Supply Chain | V&M Star Steel | Vallourec

French Company Christens New Pipe Facility/350 Jobs in Youngstown
June 13, 2013June 13, 2013

French pipe manufacturer Vallourec cut the ribbon yesterday on a new facility at their Youngstown, OH location. The former V&M Star facility (now renamed to Vallourec Star) manufacturers pipe for the oil and gas industry–in particular the rapidly expanding Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling industry. The pipe manufactured at the new plant will not only service the northeast but will be shipped around the world.

Vallourec invested $1.5 billion in the new plant where there are now 350 employees, many of them formerly out of work pipe workers from the Mahoning and Shenango Valley area. In addition to 350 employees at the pipe plant, Vallourec employs another 350 at their adjacent steel mill. Coming soon, another 100 jobs at a new threading plant in the same compound…
Read More “French Company Christens New Pipe Facility/350 Jobs in Youngstown”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Jun 13, 2013
June 13, 2013June 13, 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 13, 2013”
Economic Impact | Erie County (NY) | Industrywide Issues | New York

Natural Flame Near Buffalo May Change World Shale Gas Estimates
June 12, 2013June 12, 2013

An “eternal flame,” a naturally occurring flame that burns from a source of underground natural gas just outside of Buffalo, NY (see video below) may have profound implications for energy worldwide. The source of fuel for that flame, not yet fully understood, may mean everything we thought about how much natural gas is available in shale deposits is wrong–grossly wrong. And way, way too low…
Read More “Natural Flame Near Buffalo May Change World Shale Gas Estimates”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Onondaga County | Regulation

Pompey, NY Votes to Ban Drilling, Bullies 2 Board Members
June 12, 2013June 12, 2013

The Town of Pompey (Onondaga County), NY, near Syracuse, voted on June 3 to ban all fracking and shale drilling in the town. We’d like to take this opportunity to once again deliver a brief history lesson of how and why this is nothing short of mob rule and not classic democracy in action.

First, the news from Pompey and how three town board members (Carol Marsh, Greg Herlhy and Victor Lafrenz) bullied two other board members (Carl Dennis and Craig Smithgall) into not voting, and how those three individuals unilaterally snatched away the property rights of 15-20 landowners in the town who already have gas leases, with a single vote…
Read More “Pompey, NY Votes to Ban Drilling, Bullies 2 Board Members”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Bloomberg: NY Dead Last in Business Because of Fracking Moratorium
June 12, 2013June 12, 2013

An article appearing on, of all places, the ultra-liberal Bloomberg news service, compares both California and New York and their neck-and-neck race to be dead last in business friendliness. Although both states have ineffective governors and shoot themselves in the head on a number of issues, the article concludes that New York wins the dubious distinction of being “dead last” for business climate primarily because of one deciding factor: fracking.

California, even with Gov. Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown and its pot-smoking, granola-head legislature has embraced (or at least not rejected) fracking, while New York’s Gov. Andrew “Ditherer” Cuomo, frightened of his loony left, has continued to block fracking. New York is entering a fifth year of a de facto moratorium on drilling and it has killed the upstate economy.

From the article:
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Litigation

The Thorny Issue of Proving Water Contamination from Fracking
June 12, 2013June 12, 2013

Does fracking cause water contamination? Anti-drillers have repeated the claim so often, and the claim has been picked up and repeated and amplified by the mainstream media so often, that it’s now almost an article of faith. Axiomatic. Self-evident. At a minimum, a wide swath of Americans who don’t know much about oil and gas drilling have their suspicions that fracking may indeed contaminate water–primarily because of the negative media coverage they’ve heard.

Keith Hall, director of the Louisiana Mineral Law Institute and an assistant professor of law at Louisiana State University has written an excellent article appearing in the online Ohio State Law Journal Furthermore. The article is titled, “Hydraulic Fracturing Contamination Claims: Problems of Proof” (full copy embedded below). In the article, Hall addresses the problems of landowners in attempting to prove that fracking (or oil and gas drilling) has contaminated their water. He concludes it this way:
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Fracking Moratorium Bill in Senate Still Stalled, TY Repubs
June 12, 2013June 12, 2013

Thank God for the Republicans in the New York State Senate. Because of the leadership (and opposition) of people like Sen. Tom Libous (Binghamton, NY) and Senate Co-Majority Leader Dean Skelos, a bill in the Senate to extend a fracking moratorium statewide until next May is still stalled and likely will not come to a vote. A similar bill has already passed the Democrat-dominated NY Assembly…
Read More “NY Fracking Moratorium Bill in Senate Still Stalled, TY Repubs”
Encana Energy | Energy Companies

Encana Appoints BP’s COO Doug Suttles as their New CEO
June 12, 2013June 12, 2013

Encana, Canada’s largest drilling company and a big driller in the Marcellus Shale, has had a rough 12 months. It was almost one year ago in June 2012 that Encana was accused of colluding with Chesapeake Energy to keep the prices of oil and gas leases being auctioned by Michigan artificially low. Reuters, using pirated emails, said Encana and Chesapeake had some sort of deal not to bid against each other (see Did Reuters Break the Law with Latest Chesapeake Story?). Then in January, Encana CEO Randy Eresman suddenly and unexpectedly resigned and left the company, prompting speculation that the company may be on the market (see Encana Interim CEO Says Company is Not For Sale).

Apparently that speculation was wrong. Yesterday, Encana’s board of directors appointed a new CEO, Doug Suttles, formerly COO of BP. Suttles and the board are now in the honeymoon stage…
Read More “Encana Appoints BP’s COO Doug Suttles as their New CEO”
Fayette County | Industrywide Issues | Wastewater | West Virginia

Possible Problem at WV Frack Wastewater Injection Well
June 12, 2013June 12, 2013

West Virginia regulators are investigating whether or not an injection well in Fayette County used for fracking wastewater is discharging some of that wastewater into Wolf Creek. Apparently there have been past issues with the well…
Read More “Possible Problem at WV Frack Wastewater Injection Well”
Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Equinor/Statoil | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Marshall County | West Virginia

WV Landowners Settle with Chesapeake Out of Court
June 12, 2013June 12, 2013

A lawsuit in Marshall County, WV that previously escaped our notice has just been settled. Landowners David and Sharon Hall, owners of 116 acres, sued Chesapeake Energy and Statoil alleging damage to their surface property. The lawsuit also says Chesapeake did sloppy work on the drill pad, destroyed crops and destroyed timber on seven acres of the Hall’s land.

Last Friday the judge dismissed the case because it was settled out of court…
Read More “WV Landowners Settle with Chesapeake Out of Court”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Jun 12, 2013
June 12, 2013June 13, 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 12, 2013”
Antero Resources | Chevron | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Fayette County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Williams

6 Western PA Families Sue Chevron, Williams over Drilling Activity
June 11, 2013June 11, 2013

Six families in Fayette County, PA have filed a “nuisance” lawsuit against Chevron, Williams and WPX Energy claiming nearby gas drilling activities have “diminished their ability to make use of their property” and have ruined the “quite use and enjoyment” of their homes. The families claim they’ve suffered from the effects of “toxic chemicals” due to the drilling activities in the area.

The AP story with details (slightly edited to remove some of the anti-drilling commentary AP adds to such stories):
Read More “6 Western PA Families Sue Chevron, Williams over Drilling Activity”
Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Regulation

13 States Send Letter to EPA, Draws a Fracking Line in the Sand
June 11, 2013June 11, 2013

We’re not quite sure how this one slipped by our radar, but a month ago the attorneys general from 13 brave states–1/4 of all states–sent a letter (copy embedded below) to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drawing a line in the sand and saying, “Don’t step over that line” when it comes to regulating fracking. To which we say, “Horray!” Finally, someone with backbone to push back against a rogue, out-of-control EPA desirous of regulating anything and everything–in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

New York, of course, was not one of the 13 signatories. However, West Virginia (with a Democrat governor), was. Ohio signed it too. Sadly, even though Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett is pro-drilling, the new Democrat attorney general in PA, Kathleen Kane, is anti-drilling and she refused to participate in signing the letter–even though her state is reaping huge rewards from shale drilling and stands to lose big-time under an activist EPA.

Here’s what prompted the letter…
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Centre County | Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pipelines

Columbia Gas Sues State College, PA for Blocking NatGas Pipeline
June 11, 2013June 11, 2013

Unbelievable. The main campus of Penn State University, located in State College, PA, wants to convert an electrical-generating steam plant from burning coal to burn clean natural gas–and the Borough of State College refuses to let Columbia Gas run a pipeline underneath an uppity neighborhood (appropriately named “the Highlands”) to provide said clean-burning natural gas to Penn State. So Columbia has filed a lawsuit against State College, calling their action just what it is: “arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable and against applicable law …”

The lawsuit, however, is on temporary hold for a month while Columbia and Penn State attempt to see if they can concoct a new pretzel-like route to reach the university, avoiding any uppity neighborhoods…
Read More “Columbia Gas Sues State College, PA for Blocking NatGas Pipeline”
Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

New Report: PA Marcellus Royalty Payments Rising Rapidly
June 11, 2013June 11, 2013

A new report analyzing the rapid rise and impact of Marcellus Shale royalties in Pennsylvania was recently released by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. Among the startling facts in the “policy brief” are: The Institute estimates that $731 million in Marcellus Shale royalties were paid to Pennsylvanians in 2012. In rural northeastern Susquehanna County, PA, residents received $133 million in royalty payments–in 2010. That number will be higher for 2012. Can you imagine the profound impact that money has in the farming communities across Susquehanna County?

Here’s the full policy brief/analysis from the Allegheny Institute:
Read More “New Report: PA Marcellus Royalty Payments Rising Rapidly”
Energy Companies | Halcon Resources | Utica Shale

Halcón Resources Issues Mid-Quarter Update on Utica Drilling
June 11, 2013June 11, 2013

Yesterday, Halcón Resources Corporation provided a mid-quarter operational update for the shale plays they are actively drilling. One of those plays, the one with the most detail in the update, is the Utica Shale. Halcón has drilled eight and is in the process of drilling its ninth Utica Shale well on their 140,000 acres of leases. Even though some analysts responded with disappointment to Halcón’s early test results from Utica wells drilled in Pennsylvania a few weeks ago (see Halcón Resources Issues Utica Shale Well Production Update), to their credit, Halcón continues to be transparent, not holding back any information on their Utica drilling program.

Here’s Halcón’s latest Utica Shale update:
Read More “Halcón Resources Issues Mid-Quarter Update on Utica Drilling”