Marcellus Drilling News

Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Sand/Proppant | Trumbull County | Utica Shale

Revamped Trumbull County, OH Rail Yard Coming for Utica Shale
June 3, 2013June 3, 2013

All aboard! The Ohio Commerce Center in Lordstown (Trumbull County), OH, once a World War II train yard, is quickly transforming into a modern rail transloading and warehouse facility to serve the Utica Shale. Using a $2 million grant from Ohio Jobs Ready, the revamped facility is in the process of getting a new 12,000-foot loop track that can handle the longest trains on the tracks today. The upgraded facility will be able to warehouse both sand (for fracking) and oil (from fracking), for shipment along the tracks…
Read More “Revamped Trumbull County, OH Rail Yard Coming for Utica Shale”
Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Conference Speakers Bullish on Utica Shale’s Prospects
June 3, 2013June 3, 2013

Last week the 3rd Annual Utica & Marcellus NGL & Gas Markets 2013 event was held in Columbus, OH. The event was held just a few weeks after what some called disappointing results for Ohio’s 2012 production. However, disappointment was not the mood at the conference–far from it. Greg Davis, vice president of marketing at Range Resources, said the Ohio Utica Shale will be an international play–not just a small liquids play.

Tom Stewart, executive vice president of the Ohio Oil & Gas Association said the Utica is “in its infancy.” He also addressed the issue of Ohio’s oil prospects from the Utica…
Read More “Conference Speakers Bullish on Utica Shale’s Prospects”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Jun 3, 2013
June 3, 2013June 5, 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: Mon, Jun 3, 2013”
Crime | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Minuteman Environmental Services | Northumberland County | Pennsylvania

Shale Environmental Services Company Raided by PA AG’s Office
May 31, 2013May 31, 2013

Natural gas drilling support company Minuteman Environmental Services supplies fracking fluid, drilling mud, and hauls away fracking wastewater for shale drillers in the Marcellus Shale. Minuteman’s corporate headquarters in Milton (Northumerland County), PA was raided on Wednesday by a swarm of agents from the PA Attorney General’s office, along with agents from the PA DEP, FBI and IRS. MDN has no idea why the Minuteman office was raided–the Attorney General’s office won’t say.

Minuteman owner and president Brian Bolus says disgruntled former employees have made baseless accusations. About what, we don’t know. In fact, no one in authority is talking, so we don’t know much. Here’s what we do know:
Read More “Shale Environmental Services Company Raided by PA AG’s Office”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Washington County

How the Mighty Have Fallen: PA Rep White Admits Guilt, Not Sorry
May 31, 2013May 31, 2013

MDN believes in fair and vigorous debate of the drilling issue. We welcome opposing viewpoints and often hear from people who disagree with our views. So we take no pleasure in telling you that the facade, the mask has been totally ripped off who we thought was a worthy opponent on the other side of the drilling issue: PA Representative Jesse White, Democrat from Cecil (Washington County), PA. Yesterday we shared with you the investigative story from Pittsburgh CBS affiliate KDKA Channel 2 which provided overwhelming evidence that White has essentially been cyberbullying pro-drillers, smearing them with vicious comments made using fake online identities (see PA Rep White Accused of Faking Online IDs to Smear Pro-Drillers). KDKA has posted a second very damning story of yet another case of it (see below).

Yesterday, White admitted, grudgingly, that indeed he has used fake online IDs to smear people he views as his opponents on the drilling issue. It’s really quite sad. And angering–because in his so-called apology to two people, he really doesn’t sound at all contrite. No evidence that he believes what he did was wrong. No evidence he would have stopped had he not been found out…
Read More “How the Mighty Have Fallen: PA Rep White Admits Guilt, Not Sorry”
EMG | Energy Services | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Noble County | Ohio | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Utica Shale

MarkWest Announces Third Processing Plant in Noble County, OH
May 31, 2013May 31, 2013

MarkWest Energy is the biggest midstream company (pipelines and processing plants) in the Marcellus Shale. They’ve also set their sights on becoming the biggest midstream player in the Utica Shale, and they’re well on their way. Yesterday, MarkWest announced their joint venture with EMG, called MarkWest Utica, will build a third cryogenic gas processing plant at its Seneca processing complex in Noble County, Ohio. The new plant, which will add an additional 200 million cubic feet per day of capacity (MMcf/d), is scheduled to be completed in about a year and will service wet gas from Antero Resources’ Utica Shale wells. The first two Seneca plants will be online later this year.

Apparently MarkWest has cleared up any funding issues for building the new plant. Previously the MarkWest Utica jv ran low on money while building the first two Seneca plants and scrambled to get more cash, which they did in February (see MarkWest: We Just Banked $450M from EMG, Another $2.8B Available). Funding problems seem to be behind them now and it’s full speed ahead. Here’s the MarkWest press release which also gives a quick update on their Cadiz processing plant along with a fairly complete list of their customers for all of their Utica processing plants:
Read More “MarkWest Announces Third Processing Plant in Noble County, OH”
Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Schoharie County | Statewide NY | Statewide PA | Susquehanna County | WGL Holdings | Williams

New Partner Invests in Marcellus Shale Constitution Pipeline
May 31, 2013May 31, 2013

The Constitution Pipeline is a planned natural gas pipeline that will run from the heavily-producing Marcellus Shale gas fields of Susquehanna County, PA all the way up to Schoharie County, NY, where it will connect with two large interstate pipelines: the Iroquois and the Tennessee (see New Marcellus Constitution Pipeline Announces “Final” Route). The pipeline is a joint venture between Williams Partners, Cabot Oil & Gas and Piedmont Natural Gas. Add to those three partners a new fourth one:

WGL Holdings announced yesterday they will invest $68 million in the project. They’ll get a 10% ownership stake in the project in return…
Read More “New Partner Invests in Marcellus Shale Constitution Pipeline”
Energy Companies | Marion County | Marshall County | Trans Energy | Tyler County | West Virginia | Wetzel County

Trans Energy Update: Full Speed Ahead in WV Marcellus
May 31, 2013May 31, 2013

Trans Energy, a Marcellus Shale driller concentrating their efforts in four West Virginia counties, released a comprehensive operational update yesterday. The Trans Energy update names names–wells currently being drilled (and where), with an update on the volume of natural gas existing wells are producing. They’ve upped their natgas production an impressive 79% in the past year.

The Trans Energy update:
Read More “Trans Energy Update: Full Speed Ahead in WV Marcellus”
Albany County | Hydraulic Fracturing | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

JLCNY Meeting Clears Up Myths About Fracking for Albany Officials
May 31, 2013May 31, 2013

Get three or four hippie protesters together with anti-fossil fuel signs and a forest of media cameras magically appears. Assemble a panel of experts to seriously discuss a serious issue, like shale drilling in New York State, invite people who oppose drilling to participate so you can have an honest discussion and you get…crickets. Hardly any media of any kind. Yeah, there’s not media bias in the U.S. Just keep right on telling yourself that.

Yesterday the 77,000-member Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY) responded to Gov. Andy “Ditherer” Cuomo’s challenge to do a little educatin’ out there–to win people to our side of the argument when it comes to shale drilling. The JLCNY hosted a one-day meeting in Albany for legislators, government officials and their staff, to provide real information, real facts, and real data about the drilling issue. A TV station from Binghamton attended. About the only mainstream news reporter to attend was Jon Campbell from Gannett. Here’s his report–published on a blog site (not even in a newspaper):
Read More “JLCNY Meeting Clears Up Myths About Fracking for Albany Officials”
Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Statewide WV | West Virginia

New Report: Leveraging Natural Gas Opportunities in WV
May 31, 2013May 31, 2013

The West Virginia non-profit Vision Shared recently commissioned (paid for) the Marshall University Center for Business and Economic Research to provide a report on the state’s ability to grow investment, jobs, and wealth as a result of the abundant Marcellus and Utica Shale natural gas sitting underneath much of the state. Vision Shared believes there is great potential for all West Virginians to benefit from Marcellus and Utica Shale resources, but also recognizes opportunity does not equal guarantee. Vision Shared thinks it’s in the best interest of the state to understand the full potential of these resources and intentionally strive to maximize the benefits for all residents. This new report (full copy embedded below), takes a stab at providing a blueprint to do just that.

Here’s a description of the report and its raison d’être, from the Vision Shared website:
Read More “New Report: Leveraging Natural Gas Opportunities in WV”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, May 31, 2013
May 31, 2013May 31, 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: Fri, May 31, 2013”
About MDN | MDN Resources

MDN Launches Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook 2013
May 30, 2013June 11, 2013

MDN editor Jim Willis is pleased to announce a new Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook series–for 2013. The first of three volumes, Volume 1, is ready as of today. Databook 2012 was a huge success for Marcellus Drilling News, and we believe Databook 2013 will follow in the same footsteps. Each volume of the Databook shows detail maps for every county in the Marcellus and Utica region where permits have been issued over a specified period. For Volume 1 2013, that period is from January-April 2013. Plus, there’s a whole lot more crammed in each volume.

Check it out now at: //marcellusdrilling.com/databook.
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Washington County

PA Rep White Accused of Faking Online IDs to Smear Pro-Drillers
May 30, 2013May 30, 2013

Pennsylvania State Rep. Jesse White, Democrat from Cecil, PA (near Pittsburgh), has created an image as a minor celebrity in PA’s shale story. MDN has chronicled, in a number of stories, White’s ongoing kerfuffles with both Range Resources and with the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (latest example: Tag Team Grudge Match: Jesse White/Patch v Range Resources/DEP). On several occasions when MDN has written about Mr. White, he’s contacted us to say he definitely is not “anti-drilling,” but instead only wants drillers, and government agencies, to follow the law. He presents himself as a “man of the people,” out to protect their interests. Fair enough–we’ve always reported his comments. We’re not out to personally attack Mr. White.

However, White’s carefully crafted “man of the people” image is now in doubt. An investigation by Pittsburgh CBS affiliate KDKA Channel 2 indicates White has been creating false online identities and using them to attack individual landowners–his own constituents–who support drilling. If true, it means that White is not only anti-drilling, but small-minded and vindictive as well. Here’s part of the KDKA story, from investigative reporter Andy Sheehan:
Read More “PA Rep White Accused of Faking Online IDs to Smear Pro-Drillers”
Chesapeake Energy | Devon Energy | Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Gulfport Does Best Job of Locating Utica Shale’s Oil Window
May 30, 2013May 30, 2013

The old real estate bromide “location, location, location” is never more relevant than in the oil patch. An article on The Motley Fool website makes the following observation about the prospects for oil production in the Ohio Utica Shale for Devon Energy, Chesapeake Energy and Gulfport Energy:
Read More “Gulfport Does Best Job of Locating Utica Shale’s Oil Window”
Energy Companies | Halcon Resources | Mercer County | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Trumbull County | Utica Shale | Venango County

Will Halcon Get So-So Results on OH Side of the Utica?
May 30, 2013June 11, 2013

Although some analysts have given Halcón Resources a drubbing the past few weeks over lackluster production performance for some of their initial Utica Shale wells in Pennsylvania, that’s not slowing the company down. It’s full speed ahead of Halcón–especially in Trumbull County, OH where the first-ever Utica well for Trumbull was drilled (last year) by Halcón will soon go online. Crews are busy at work laying pipeline that will run from several Halcón wells in Trumbull…
Read More “Will Halcon Get So-So Results on OH Side of the Utica?”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York

NYRAD: NY Gov Cuomo “Dares” Show His Face in Binghamton
May 30, 2013May 30, 2013

Interesting. New York Residents Against Drilling (NYRAD), a way-out-there anti-fossil fuel group headed by Ithaca resident Walter Hang, sent out an URGENT ALERT! URGENT ALERT! email last night. The gist of the email is that Gov. Andrew Cuomo is speaking today (Thursday) at Binghamton University–and apparently his very presence in Binghamton, the “epicenter of New York’s shale fracking battle” is an offense to Walt & co. He claims Gov. Andy Ditherer is “testing our political determination by daring to show his face” here in Bingo.

We’re not quite sure what Walt is all lathered up about. Fracking is going nowhere fast in New York–unless he knows something we don’t. Anywho, here’s the alert (purely for your entertainment pleasure) encouraging the anti-fossil fuel faithful to turn out and shout down the governor today:
Read More “NYRAD: NY Gov Cuomo “Dares” Show His Face in Binghamton”