Marcellus Drilling News

Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Sullivan County

USGS Tests PA Water Wells Before Drilling, Finds Methane
June 20, 2013June 20, 2013

Thank you U.S. Geological Survey and the scientific method for once again proving what we’ve known all along–there’s a LOT of naturally-occurring methane in Pennsylvania well water. On Tuesday, the USGS released their latest testing survey of 20 water wells in Sullivan County, PA–in the northeastern part of the state (full copy of the report embedded below). What did the survey find? Seven of the 20 water wells contain dissolved methane. Two of the wells (10% of all wells tested) had “elevated concentrations of naturally dissolved methane.”

Oh, and there hasn’t been any Marcellus Shale drilling in those areas. This is a pre-drilling baseline test…
Read More “USGS Tests PA Water Wells Before Drilling, Finds Methane”
Atlas Energy | Chesapeake Energy | Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio

Lease Activity in Columbiana OH Heats Up, Drilling on the Way?
June 20, 2013June 20, 2013

Carroll County, OH has been the epicenter of Utica Shale drilling activity in Ohio. While that’s not expected to change anytime soon, Columbiana County, which borders Carroll County to the northeast, may see its own boom in drilling soon, based on recent lease filings:
Read More “Lease Activity in Columbiana OH Heats Up, Drilling on the Way?”
Health Impacts | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Marcellus Health Study Still No Pulse – Needs Extra $24M
June 20, 2013June 20, 2013

The much-ballyhooed “first ever” study of the health impacts of Marcellus Shale drilling announced in August 2012 by Geisinger Health System and Guthrie Health (later joined by Susquehanna Health) still does not have a pulse (see Health Care Systems Partner to Study Marcellus Impacts). After the study was announced with great fanfare, the organizations performing it (Geisinger et al) stuck their hands out and said “we need money to do it.” Finally, six months later, the Degenstein Foundation of Sunbury, PA stepped up and gave the group $1 million to get the ball rolling.

Problem is, according to a Geisinger spokesperson, the study is still $24 million short…
Read More “PA Marcellus Health Study Still No Pulse – Needs Extra $24M”
Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Statewide OH | Taxation

Youngstown Democrat State Rep Wants to Hike Severance Tax to 7.5%
June 20, 2013June 20, 2013

Here’s a surprise: An Ohio Democrat state representative from Youngstown, Rep. Bob Hagan, wants to raise the severance tax on oil and gas drilling far beyond the rate proposed by Gov. John Kasich–to a nosebleed 7.5%–taking money out of landowners’ pockets and killing the nascent drilling industry in the state…
Read More “Youngstown Democrat State Rep Wants to Hike Severance Tax to 7.5%”
Chesapeake Energy | Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | EV Energy Partners | Industrywide Issues | M3 Midstream | NGLs | Ohio | Processing Plants

M3 Midstream’s Kensington, OH NGL Plant Launch Date Slips
June 20, 2013June 20, 2013

In May 2012, MDN told you about a new $400 million natural gas liquids (NGL) processing plant that would be built in Kensington, about a mile south of Hanoverton, OH, by a joint venture involving M3 Midstream, Chesapeake Energy and EV Energy Partners (see Location for OH NGL Processing Plant Identified). M3 said the Kensington NGL plant was on track for an “aggressive” May 2013 opening as late as December last year (see Columbiana County NGL Plant On Track for May Opening). It’s end of June and the plant is still not running.

We do, however, have a new estimated start date…
Read More “M3 Midstream’s Kensington, OH NGL Plant Launch Date Slips”
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”