Marcellus Drilling News

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…
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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…
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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:
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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?”
Ohio | Statewide OH

Blood and Oil: New “Reality TV” Series about OH Oil Company
June 18, 2013June 18, 2013

You knew it would have to happen sooner or later. Fictionalized television about the oil (and gas) business, like Dallas, has gotten long in the tooth. Enter so-called reality TV. Starting tonight on the Discovery channel, we have the “real life” story of an Ohio family-run oil company, Cutter Oil, and how they face a “life and death” struggle against “big oil” coming in to the state and snatching up all of the Utica Shale leases. At least that’s our interpretation of what this series is about by reading the press release (below).

MDN does not watch live television anymore and hasn’t in years (perhaps explains a lot, right?). We consider most television a wasteland–a vacuum cleaner of the brain. However, we may make an exception for this one. Will you be watching? Starts at 10 pm tonight. Here’s the announcement…
Read More “Blood and Oil: New “Reality TV” Series about OH Oil Company”
Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Statewide OH

OH Court: Landowner Can’t Reclaim Rights for ‘Not Enough’ Drilling
June 18, 2013June 18, 2013

In yet another case of “know what’s in your lease,” an Ohio court (Fifth District Court of Appeals) has upheld the rights of a driller to not develop all portions (or layers) of leased acreage. The case is Bilbaran Farm, Inc. v. Bakerwell, Inc. The plaintiffs, Bilbaran Farm, claimed that the 275 acres they own was not “fully developed” because the driller drilled three wells targeting the Clinton sandstone and then stopped. The landowner alleges after a certain period of time the portions not developed (and obviously won’t be developed by the current driller) should revert back to them so they can re-lease with someone else and have it developed, and that by not doing so they are economically harmed.

The judges of the Fifth District did not agree…
Read More “OH Court: Landowner Can’t Reclaim Rights for ‘Not Enough’ Drilling”
Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH

ODNR Issues Guidelines for Unitization (Forced Pooling) Requests
June 18, 2013June 18, 2013

If you’re a driller in Ohio with leased Utica Shale land, but there’s a holdout or two in some of your leaseholds, you can make an application with the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources’ (ODNR) Division of Oil & Gas for something called “unitization.” MDN calls it “forced pooling,” a term more commonly used. It means (in Ohio) that if you own leases for 65% of the land in a given unit (typically 640 acres) and want to drill on and under that land, you can file an application to request a unitization hearing. We’ve embedded the guidelines you need to follow in your application below.

But be forewarned: There’s a lot of hoops to jump through. The application you file must be complete, including things like a gamma ray-density log, lots of aerial photographs and maps, complete information on all mineral rights owners, and a check for $10,000. Don’t forget the check. And you’d better be sure your ducks are all in a row, because the check is non-refundable…
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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Taxation

OH Republicans Continue to Oppose Gov. Kasich’s High O&G Tax
June 18, 2013June 18, 2013

MDN owes an apology to Ohio Republicans who have told Gov. John Kasich where he can stick his high severance tax proposal. Last December, we thought OH state Republicans were set to cave on higher severance taxes (see OH Republicans Set to Cave on High Drilling Tax). They have not caved and it now appears there will not be a higher oil and gas severance tax in the budget due to be passed and signed by June 30. Caution: It’s still too early to pop the cork on the champagne bottle, but we have a bottle on ice ready to go.

However, the Republican-controlled legislature’s opposition doesn’t mean Gov. Kasich has given up. He’s now offering ~~a bribe~~ 25% of the increased tax money to the counties where drilling actually happens, meaning the other 75% goes to people who had nothing to do with Ohio’s Utica Shale drilling. (In Pennsylvania, drilling communities get 60% of their version of a severance tax, called an Impact Fee.)
Read More “OH Republicans Continue to Oppose Gov. Kasich’s High O&G Tax”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Seismic Testing | Washington County (OH)

Seismic Testing in Marietta, OH Called Off
June 18, 2013June 18, 2013

After much discussion and reconsideration, there will be no seismic testing inside the city limits of Marietta, Ohio, according to city officials. Precision Geophysical was set to test in early July, but that’s now off. However, Geophysical will test around the city in other Washington County locations, and they will set up listening devices in the city to try and capture whatever data they can for lies below the city and just outside of the city.

The details for how and why Marietta testing is now off, and where seismic testing will take place in Washington County in the near future:
Read More “Seismic Testing in Marietta, OH Called Off”
DTE Energy | Enbridge | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Spectra Energy | Stark County | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

NEXUS Pipeline Route Through Stark County, OH
June 18, 2013June 18, 2013

Last week MDN told you about the proposed Ohio route of the planned NEXUS Gas Transmission natural gas pipeline, a $1.5 billion project that will run from Ohio to Michigan and eventually to Canada–delivering Utica Shale gas to Midwestern markets (see OH Route of Proposed NEXUS Gas Pipeline Revealed). Ever so gradually more pieces of the puzzle are falling into place on where, exactly, the pipeline will run. In a Stark County, OH article, for example, we learn the strategy is to use existing power line rights of way and the new pipeline will likely cross through Washington, Nimishillen, Marlboro and Lake townships in Stark on its way from Kensington–where the new M3 Midstream gas processing plant is almost ready to go online.

Here’s the Stark County piece of the NEXUS pipeline route puzzle:
Read More “NEXUS Pipeline Route Through Stark County, OH”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

New Study: Marcellus Fracked Wells are Good for Environment
June 18, 2013June 18, 2013

A new study conducted on Marcellus Shale wells in Pennsylvania and published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology concludes shale wells’ “energy return on investment” (or EROI)–the total amount of energy it takes to produce the energy that will be delivered to end users–is similar to that of coal. Meaning: it takes about the same amount of effort (i.e. energy) to produce equivalent levels of energy from natural gas and coal, but natural gas burns a lot cleaner, which makes it the preferred source of energy. Further meaning: fracking is good for the environment…
Read More “New Study: Marcellus Fracked Wells are Good for Environment”