Calendar of Events for Jun 10-23, 2013 [Free]
Below are upcoming events for this week and next.
Read More “Calendar of Events for Jun 10-23, 2013 [Free]”
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Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Jun 10, 2013
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Meigs County | Ohio | Regulation | Wastewater
GreenHunter Opens Brine Injection Well in Meigs County, OH
GreenHunter Water’s newest brine injection well has begun operation in Meigs County, Ohio. The well is located close to the Ohio River and GreenHunter hopes to, at some point, receive brine wastewater via barge and pump it directly from barges to the well for disposal, reducing truck trips. GreenHunter now has eight active saltwater (brine) injection wells in the Utica/Marcellus region, five of which are located in Ohio.Management says they are excited to “be the first to implement a barging program…” However, as far as we know, the Coast Guard (and the White House and a variety of other agencies) have still not given the green light for barge shipments of fracking wastewater, which includes brine (see The Long (Federal) Road to Approve GreenHunter’s Barge Terminals).
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Boardwalk Pipeline Partners | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Williams
Bluegrass Pipeline – Possible Map & Route Through Ohio ID’d
We’re now narrowing in on the proposed route for the Bluegrass Pipeline–a natural gas liquids pipeline coming from Williams and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners that will repurpose some existing pipelines and build new sections. The pipeline will run from the Marcellus/Utica region all the way to the Gulf Coast–to carry NGLs to the Gulf for processing (see Williams, Boardwalk Announce Marcellus-to-Gulf Coast NGL Pipeline).
Williams and Boardwalk have not released a map of the proposed official route, but using several recent articles and a site set up by lawyers who want to represent landowners whose property the pipeline will cross, we’ve got a map of the proposed route through Ohio and a pretty good idea of where, in certain counties, the pipeline will cross…
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Latest Q Poll Results – NY Support for Fracking Trends Up
It’s been a while since MDN has covered the polls numbers in New York State–how many NYers are for or against shale gas drilling and fracking. The latest Quinnipiac University statewide poll numbers were released yesterday and show that while the state remains fairly evenly divided as a whole (46% in favor, 44% against), if you look at the trend information, you notice the number of those who favor drilling are trending up, and the number against is trending down. Which will no doubt cause more angst among the hippie protester crowd who thought they were winning the debate by using lies and fear tactics.
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OH Gov Kasich Latest Frack Tax Plan – Third Time’s the Charm?
Ohio Gov. John Kasich is trying to make his plan to hike severance taxes on oil and gas drilling in the fledgling Utica Shale a little more palatable with a
bribeplan to kick back 25% of the taxes raised to the eastern Ohio counties most affected by drilling. The other 75% would, of course, be spent on lowering everyone else’s income taxes a tiny fraction–instead of making the tough choices of cutting obscene government spending. Typical political sleaze–and shameful coming from a so-called conservative Republican.This is the third such tax increase plan Kasich has tried to push through. Here’s the details of the latest plan, such that they are, being floated by Kasich’s office:
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EPA to Investigate Itself on Methane Leaks from Pipelines
The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just keeps trying to do what they Constitutionally are not allowed to do: regulate oil and gas drilling. Their latest effort to do so comes from the EPA’s Inspector General office, which announced plans to investigate whether the EPA is taking enough action to reduce methane leaks from natural gas pipelines. Kind of like a person kicking himself in his own rear-end…
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Accidents | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | PVR Midstream | PVR Partners
PA DEP Slaps PVR Gathering with $150K Fine for Illegal Discharges
PVR Marcellus Gas Gathering, a PA-based midstream company, was fined $150,000 this week by the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection for four episodes of “discharge violations” that happened while PVR was constructing the Coal Mountain pipeline in Lycoming County, PA in 2011. The DEP slapped them hard because, says the DEP, the company kept repeating the same violation–discharging bentonite (impure clay) into a local creek. PVR Marcellus Gas Gathering is a subsidiary of PVR Partners (formerly Penn Virginia Resource Partners).
The DEP announcement:
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New Report: NatGas + Renewables = Lower GHG Emissions
The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) has just published a new report titled, “Leveraging Natural Gas To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” The 116-page report (full copy embedded below) looks the recent success of using natural gas and at how it can be used in conjunction with other energy sources to cut the use of greenhouse gases even further. Former Secretary of the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection, John Hanger, is practically orgasmic in his effusive praise of the study, primarily because it mirrors his own philosophy of regulate natural gas drilling a lot more (but still do it), and at the same time work hard to develop renewable sources like wind and solar (see John’s comments here).
The C2ES posts this helpful overview and summary of the study on their website:
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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA
PA Landowner Says Chesapeake Trespassed, Court Decides for Chessy
In yet another case of “be careful how you word your lease,” the Valley Rod & Gun Club (in Pennsylvania) leased land to Chesapeake Energy for drilling. The two disagreed over where the drill pad should be located and Chesapeake moved forward with a site they wanted against the wishes of the landowner. The landowner sued saying Chesapeake trespassed in building the pad. Earlier this week U.S. District Court in PA ruled…
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Broome County | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Laser Northeast Gathering | New York | Pipelines | Taxation | Williams
More Good News for Windsor, NY Taxpayers from Shale Gas Pipeline
Last October, MDN told you about the Town of Windsor (where we write from!) in Broome County, NY, along the border of Pennsylvania. Windsor saw a new 9-mile section of natural gas pipeline and a compressor station go online, and the tax revenue from that small project was enough to lower the property and school taxes for everyone in the town. We asked/continue to ask the question–when was the last time you heard about school and property taxes in any NY community going down? Yeah, we’ve never heard of it either.
Well, more good news for those of us fortunate enough to live in the Town of Windsor: A regional gas distribution company is building smaller pipelines locally and by 2014, the local high school, one of the local elementary schools and the town hall will all be hooked up and heating with natural gas. Estimated savings to taxpayers: $350,000 per year. Thank you Marcellus Shale and the miracle of hydraulic fracturing. And thank you pipelines and compressor plants…
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Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Jun 7, 2013
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Chesapeake Sells Utica Leases in Columbiana County, OH to Hilcorp
A great piece of investigative journalism from the Youngstown Business Journal has found that Chesapeake Energy, the largest leaseholder in the Utica Shale, transferred nearly 1,100 leases (representing tens of thousands of acres) in Columbiana County, OH to Hilcorp earlier this year. No announcements of any kind from either Chesapeake or Hilcorp about the deal. Which is interesting, because not long after the deal was signed, sealed and delivered, Chesapeake on an earnings call singled out Columbiana as one of two Utica counties that they are committed to (see Chesapeake Earnings Call Highlights Utica Results in 2 OH Counties).
Read More “Chesapeake Sells Utica Leases in Columbiana County, OH to Hilcorp” -
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Oneida County | Regulation
Utica, NY Bans Shale Drilling in the Utica (and Marcellus)
It seems life in New York State is full of irony. The Marcellus Shale is named after the town of Marcellus, NY, where there is an outcropping of shale at ground level and the reason that particular shale layer was so-named. A while back the Town of Marcellus banned shale drilling. In like manner, the Utica Shale is named for Utica, NY. Tuesday night, the City of Utica Common Council banned drilling and fracking within city limits. Not that it would happen there anyway–but still, Et tu, Brute?
We find this brief reference on the blog site of the local Utica newspaper:
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Belmont County | Carroll County | Columbiana County | Harrison County | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale | Washington County (OH)
Latest OH Utica Permit Numbers, Rig Count Discrepancy
As of June 1, Ohio has issued 693 Utica Shale drilling permits. Of the permits now issued, 339 (about half) of the wells have been drilled. Of the half now drilled, Utica has 102 wells (almost one-third) now online and producing natural gas, gas liquids and oil. According to the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR), there are currently 37 drilling rigs operating in the Utica Shale. That number is different from the Baker Hughes weekly tracking number which reports for the last week of May there were 32 active rotary rigs in Ohio. Why the difference? We don’t know. (We’ve included the Baker Hughes monthly averages in a handy chart below for OH, PA and WV.)
During the week of May 26 – June 1, the ODNR issued 18 new permits, most of them to the usual suspects. Here’s where the permits were issued, and the companies that received them:
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Doddridge County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Pipelines | Summit Midstream | West Virginia
MarkWest Sells Doddridge County, WV Pipeline System to Raise Cash
From the “hmm, that’s interesting” department: MarkWest Energy Partners yesterday announced they have sold their pipeline gathering system (but not their gas processing plant) in Doddridge County, WV to Summit Midstream Partners for $210 million in cash. MarkWest is the largest midstream company in the Marcellus and is quickly becoming the largest in the Utica as well. MDN previously reported on funding shortages for some of MarkWest’s projects in the Utica, a situation which we thought had been resolved in February (see MarkWest: We Just Banked $450M from EMG, Another $2.8B Available). Perhaps it was not resolved. This latest sale sure seems like MarkWest is trying to raise more money to keep some of their new projects afloat…
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