Marcellus Drilling News

Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Eureka Midstream | Ohio | Washington County (OH) | West Virginia | Wetzel County

Magnum Hunter 2Q13: 1st Utica Well Drilled, WV Marcellus Continues
July 10, 2013July 9, 2013

Magnum Hunter Resources Corporation, both a driller and a midstream (pipeline) company with operations in the Marcellus and Utica Shale region, released their company wide operational update yesterday for the second quarter of 2013. Among the highlights: Magnum Hunter has just completed drilling its first Utica Shale well (Washington County, OH) and the well will be fracked in late July; the company continues to actively drill Marcellus wells in Wetzel County, WV in a 50/50 joint venture with Stone Energy; and Eureka Hunter is active across both the Marcellus and Utica with new pipeline and compressor station construction projects.

Relevant portions of the update below…
Read More “Magnum Hunter 2Q13: 1st Utica Well Drilled, WV Marcellus Continues”
Carroll County | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Ohio

New NatGas Powered Electric Plant Coming to Carroll County, OH
July 10, 2013July 9, 2013

Carroll County Energy in Carroll County, OH–a subsidiary of Advanced Power Services–announced Monday they plan to spend $800 million to build a new 700-megawatt natural gas electric generating plant in the county. The new plant will create 500 temporary construction jobs and 25-30 permanent jobs when completed. It will supply electricity to 700,000 homes by using low-cost Utica (and Marcellus) Shale gas to generate electricity–made necessary because some 5,800 megawatts of coal-fired plants are due to retire in Ohio by end of 2015. Look for more announcements like this one to come along in the near future…
Read More “New NatGas Powered Electric Plant Coming to Carroll County, OH”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Processing Plants | Statewide MD

Enviro Groups Once Again Ask FERC to Refuse Cove Point LNG Plant
July 10, 2013July 9, 2013

A small group of individuals pretending to be large groups of many people yesterday sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) asking them to reject the Cove Point, Maryland LNG (liquefied natural gas) export facility Dominion is planning to build because they, said groups, believe in scary climate change fairy tales (oceans rising, tornadoes swirling, hurricanes churning), and so, because they believe these fairy tales, FERC should refuse a permit to Dominion. Uh, right.

Bonus observation from the press release below from said so-called “environmental groups”: any time you see the word “Riverkeeper” in a group name, run the other way. Any time you see “Sierra Club” in the name, run the other way. They are radicals and frankly, off their collective rocker. Here’s the letter they sent yesterday:
Read More “Enviro Groups Once Again Ask FERC to Refuse Cove Point LNG Plant”
Crude Oil | Industrywide Issues

“Peak Oil” Website Hits its Own Peak – Closing Down
July 10, 2013July 9, 2013

This one is kind of funny. The Oil Drum website–founded and devoted to the concept that the world had reached “peak oil,” that there are no more major oil plays to be found and economically mined and that each year oil production would decline–reached its own peak and is closing. Apparently they can’t find enough true believers in peak oil to keep it going. It’s funny because the naysayers are now saying the same thing about natural gas…
Read More ““Peak Oil” Website Hits its Own Peak – Closing Down”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Jul 10, 2013
July 10, 2013July 9, 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 10, 2013”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crime | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Protesters Try to Shut Down NC Frack Chemical Plant
July 9, 2013

This story, while technically not an event happening in the Marcellus/Utica Shale region, is geographically close (North Carolina) and involves a manufacturer of fracking chemicals–chemicals likely used in the Marcellus/Utica. This story is illustrative of what MDN calls FDS–Fracking Derangement Syndrome–a condition found in more ardent anti-drillers who willing put themselves in harm’s way in the mistaken belief that they’re somehow helping Mother Earth and actually doing something to prevent fracking. “Deranged” is an apt label for them.

A group of some 100 or so FDS-infected protesters laid down in the middle of the road in front of the Momentive resin plant in Morganton, NC (about 60 miles northwest of Charlotte) to stop trucks carrying chemicals from leaving the facility. A few of the protesters set up 20-foot-tall wooden structures and climbed up on top. If police try to make them come down forceably, the structures will topple and the protesters will get injured (gee, too bad). So the chemical company, Momentive (owned by the same parent that owns Hardees) just let them hang around and make horses rear-ends of themselves. Hey, pass the ketchup! Wanna up-size those Hardees fries? We’re gonna be here for a while watching these loons…
Read More “Protesters Try to Shut Down NC Frack Chemical Plant”
Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies

The House Aubrey Built Transitions from Exploration to Production
July 9, 2013July 9, 2013

An excellent article published by NGI’s Shale Daily reports that Chesapeake Energy is transitioning from a risk-taking exploration company to a profit-making production company.

Chronicling the journey–where they are now and how much Chessy plans to raise this year by selling even more assets–here’s NGI’s expert take on the mighty house built by Aubrey, and stolen by corporate raiders Carl Icahn and others (euphemistically referred to as “activist investors”):
Read More “The House Aubrey Built Transitions from Exploration to Production”
Accidents | Antero Resources | Doddridge County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | West Virginia

Update on Antero Well Explosion in Doddridge County, WV
July 9, 2013July 9, 2013

Yesterday, MDN told you about the well site explosion in Doddridge County, WV (see Well Explosion in Doddridge County, WV Injures 8 People). Depending on the news source, the number of people injured is anywhere from five to eight, and we still don’t know exactly what happened. But we do know (or suspect) a bit more: there was no fracking going on at the time of the explosion, and the explosion did not involve the drilling rig. It appears it had to do with a malfunctioning water pump being used to pump well logging tools out the borehole.

The latest from West Virginia Metro News:
Read More “Update on Antero Well Explosion in Doddridge County, WV”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

John Hanger Publishes Strong Defense of Fracking, in UK Newspaper
July 9, 2013July 9, 2013

Former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection, John Hanger, has an opinion piece published in the online UK Guardian newspaper on Monday, July 8 titled, “If you care about the environment, you should welcome natural gas fracking” (full article below). John has an interesting dilemma. He’s running for the Democrat nomination for governor in PA, for the right to run against someone whom Dems believe is a politically crippled–Gov. Tom Corbett. Corbett has been strongly pro-drilling. John’s opinion piece pretty much reflects his past statements that no energy source is without its negatives, and that natural gas (and fracking) are far better than many of the alternatives. His article is a full-throated defense of fracking. Good for John!

His dilemma, however, is that his party, which stands a good chance of retaking the PA legislature and the governorship, wants to impose a de facto ban on fracking in PA, opposite the position John has taken in his article (see PA Democrat Party Votes to End Marcellus Shale Drilling Statewide). John has refused to call the recent Democrat vote what it patently is: political insanity. Instead, John is attempting a high-wire balancing act made harder by his old boss Gov. Ed Rendell (see Rendell Paints Hanger into Corner on PA Democrat Moratorium Vote).
Read More “John Hanger Publishes Strong Defense of Fracking, in UK Newspaper”
Housing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide OH | Statewide PA

OSU Study of PA Data Shows No Housing Crisis in Shale Country
July 9, 2013July 9, 2013

How many times have we heard (and believed) that when drilling comes to town, higher housing prices, specifically rent, comes along too. A quick influx of people for a relatively fixed inventory of housing and voilà–high rents. In fact, MDN previously highlighted a study in November 2011 by a cabal of PA colleges that issued a 200-page report on how shale drilling was causing a “housing crisis” in northeastern PA (see New Study Claims Housing Crisis in NE PA from Gas Drilling).

But what’s this? Researchers at Ohio State University, understandably concerned that a housing shortage may be on the way in eastern Ohio, studied the PA data for 2007-2011, the first four years of PA’s drilling boom. Using government data (objective and unbiased, from the Dept. of Housing & Urban Development), OSU researchers found, “…in Pennsylvania, counties experiencing the most shale-related development saw little change in fair market rents…housing vacancy rates and median home values.” A full copy of the OSU report debunking the “shale drilling creates a housing crisis” meme is embedded below.
Read More “OSU Study of PA Data Shows No Housing Crisis in Shale Country”
Energy Companies | Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Pennsylvania | Rice Energy | Westmoreland County

Radioactive Cuttings Rejected by Landfill Remain at PA Drill Site
July 9, 2013July 9, 2013

In April, MDN told you about a load of Marcellus Shale drill cuttings from a drill site in Greene County, PA that were due to be dumped at a landfill in Westmoreland County, PA, but the load of cuttings set off the radiation alarms at the landfill (see Marcellus Drill Cuttings Set Off Radiation Alarm at SW PA Landfill). The level of naturally occurring radiation found in the leftover dirt and rock (“shale cuttings”) was a bit too high for disposal at that particular landfill.

So, what happened to that load of radioactive drill cuttings? It was sent back to the well site in Greene County and it has remained there ever since…
Read More “Radioactive Cuttings Rejected by Landfill Remain at PA Drill Site”
Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Phila. Gas Works Goes on Auction Block – Marcellus Key in Sale?
July 9, 2013July 9, 2013

Philadelphia is about to put the 176 year-old Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) natural gas utility company on the auction block with the aim of privatizing it. Although it’s not viewed as a great opportunity (fixed base of around 500,000 customers who are getting more energy-efficient each year), the utility has an ace in the hole: the Marcellus Shale. Specifically, a buyer may consider converting an existing liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility owned and operated by PGW into an export facility for exporting Marcellus Shale gas. If that were to happen, let’s just say the world would be your oyster…
Read More “Phila. Gas Works Goes on Auction Block – Marcellus Key in Sale?”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Jul 9, 2013
July 9, 2013July 9, 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 9, 2013”
Accidents | Antero Resources | Doddridge County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | West Virginia

Well Explosion in Doddridge County, WV Injures 8 People
July 8, 2013July 8, 2013

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:
Read More “Well Explosion in Doddridge County, WV Injures 8 People”
BP | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Supply Chain | Trumbull County | Utica Shale

BP’s Utica Shale Drilling in Trumbull County, OH Heats Up
July 8, 2013July 8, 2013

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…
Read More “BP’s Utica Shale Drilling in Trumbull County, OH Heats Up”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Portage County | Research | Utica Shale | Wastewater

OH Village’s Extensive Water Tests Show No Impacts from Drilling
July 8, 2013July 8, 2013

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…
Read More “OH Village’s Extensive Water Tests Show No Impacts from Drilling”