Marcellus Drilling News

Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Muskingum Watershed District: $77M in Utica Lease Revenue, So Far
August 12, 2013August 12, 2013

There’s no doubt a change has happened at the board of the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD). Last year they self-imposed a moratorium on selling water to Ohio Utica Shale drillers (Muskingum Watershed Reverses Decision to Sell Water to Drillers). This year, they can’t wait to lease MWCD land to Utica Shale drillers and sell them the water to frack it (MWCD to Sell 138M Gallons of Seneca Lake Water for Utica Drilling). Why the change?

An MWCD official talked about the change in thinking for the MWCD board at a meeting last week of the Guernsey (County) Energy Coalition…
Read More “Muskingum Watershed District: $77M in Utica Lease Revenue, So Far”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Broome County | Chemung County | Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY | Steuben County | Tioga County (NY)

Cuomo & DiNapoli: Asleep at Sales Tax Switch in NY Southern Tier
August 12, 2013August 12, 2013

MDN has long chronicled the sad situation for landowners in New York State with a moratorium that is, as of today, 5 years and 20 days old. It has had catastrophic economic consequences for New York, especially for those who live in the Southern Tier of the state–that area along the mid-state “southern” border with Pennsylvania (Broome, Tioga, Chemung, Steuben counties). Gov. Andrew Cuomo is spineless on the fracking issue–that much is clear. He won’t stand up to the shrill and unreasonable voices in his own party. No one will take him seriously on the national stage. Cuomo’s rising star has become a shooting star–straight down.

Thomas DiNapoli, NY State Comptroller, is clearly an avowed anti-driller. We’ve brought you a number of stories that illustrate his disdain for drilling (see MDN stories about DiNapoli here). We find it particularly offensive and hypocritical (although not surprising) that DiNapoli has just issued a report that shows sales tax revenue is up in most of the state’s counties, but down in Southern Tier counties–down a lot. DiNapoli bemoans the fact that the Southern Tier continues to take it in the neck–yet he makes no mention of how shale drilling could instantly reverse the economic misery of Southern Tier residents. Typical politician–identify the problem but offer no solutions…
Read More “Cuomo & DiNapoli: Asleep at Sales Tax Switch in NY Southern Tier”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

SRBC to Get New Executive Director in Sept: Andrew Dehoff
August 12, 2013August 12, 2013

The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), one of two governmental agencies created to oversee rivers and tributaries in the northeast, has just named a new executive director effective Sept. 19. Andrew Dehoff will become the third person to hold that position in the SRBC’s 42-year history.

The SRBC is important to the shale drilling industry in Pennsylvania because it regulates how much–and when/if–water can be taken from rivers and streams for use in fracking. The SRBC announcement:
Read More “SRBC to Get New Executive Director in Sept: Andrew Dehoff”
About MDN | Calendar

Calendar of Events for Aug 12-25, 2013 [Free]
August 12, 2013August 12, 2013

Below are upcoming events for this week and next.
Read More “Calendar of Events for Aug 12-25, 2013 [Free]”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Aug 12, 2013
August 12, 2013August 12, 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, Aug 12, 2013”
Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Tough New Air Standards for PA Marcellus Drillers Start Next Week
August 9, 2013August 9, 2013

Starting next week, Marcellus Shale drillers in PA will face strict new rules on air emissions at drill sites. The new rules (i.e. “technical guidance”) won’t officially be released until Saturday, August 10 when published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. The rules will limit noxious emissions, including nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants. The rules also include an almost-total ban on flaring of wells–only short-term or emergency flaring allowed.

Drillers will be given one of two choices for compliance under the new rules: either get an air quality plan pre-approved by the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for each well drilled–adding a lot of time to the drilling process, or comply with new DEP standards that are even more strict than federal standards issued in April 2012–in essence have your drilling operation certified as complying with super-strict DEP standards. Which option will drillers chose? The Marcellus Shale Coalition says drillers are mulling it over now…
Read More “Tough New Air Standards for PA Marcellus Drillers Start Next Week”
Energy Companies | EnerVest | EV Energy Partners | Guernsey County | Harrison County | Lease & Royalty Payments | Noble County | Ohio | Utica Shale

EVEP/EnerVest Cuts Deal to Sell 22.5K OH Utica Acres for $284M
August 9, 2013August 9, 2013

In September last year, EV Energy Partners/EnerVest put more than a half million acres of Ohio Utica Shale acreage on the market. Near the end of last year, a deal for 104,000 of those acres seemed to be almost done, but in April of this year, the deal fell apart (see EV Energy Partners Deal to Sell 104K Utica Acres Dead, What Now?). EVEP then changed gears and said instead of putting big blocks up for sale, they’ll look at selling off smaller chunks (see EV Energy: Changing from Big Deals to Small for Utica Land Sale). Looks like the change in strategy worked.

Today, EVEP announced they’ve made a new deal to sell 22,535 acres in Guernsey, Harrison and Noble counties in Ohio for $284.3 million to an unnamed buyer. According to EVEP, the deal works out to be a very high $12,900 per acre. We ran the math and came up with $12,616 per acre. Either way, EVEP is getting a LOT of money for unloading Utica Shale acreage they don’t want. This deal is scheduled to close in the third quarter–the next few months. Let’s see if this one actually happens.

The announcement from EVEP/EnerVest (with a map of the acreage sold):
Read More “EVEP/EnerVest Cuts Deal to Sell 22.5K OH Utica Acres for $284M”
Elk County | Energy Companies | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Seneca Resources | Tioga County (PA)

Seneca Resources: Shale Gas Production Up 54% Thx to Marcellus
August 9, 2013August 9, 2013

National Fuel Gas Company, the parent of Marcellus driller Seneca Resources, released its third quarter (everyone else’s second quarter) financial and operational update yesterday. CEO Ronald Tanski called Seneca’s PA Marcellus production in the previous quarter “robust” and was the biggest reason why they saw a 54% increase in production from the same period last year. He also said Seneca’s early results from four new wells in Elk County, PA are promising.

Select portions of the National Fuel Gas report issued yesterday:
Read More “Seneca Resources: Shale Gas Production Up 54% Thx to Marcellus”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH

Ohio’s Abandoned Railroad Lines Become Hot Commodity
August 9, 2013August 9, 2013

Yes, we’re suckers for a good railroad story–always have been, always will be. Especially railroad stories tied to shale drilling.

Here’s a railroad/drilling story with a twist: In Ohio, abandoned right-of-ways from railroads long gone are suddenly a hot commodity. Why? Midstream (pipeline and processing plant) companies are snapping them up to run pipelines along them…
Read More “Ohio’s Abandoned Railroad Lines Become Hot Commodity”
Energy Companies | Energy Services | Hilcorp Energy | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | NiSource | Ohio | Roads

NiSource Wins Friends in Mahoning County with Road Repair Project
August 9, 2013August 9, 2013

Pennant Midstream, an entity created by NiSource and Hilcorp Energy, is developing a $300 million natural gas gathering and processing network in northeastern Ohio that extends from Mercer and Lawrence counties in Pennsylvania, through Mahoning County, and into Columbiana County. The project, called Hickory Bend, will gather natural gas produced from Hilcorp wells exploring the Utica shale and transport the gas to a $150 million cryogenic processing plant under construction in Springfield Township. By all accounts the project is on track to be completed by the end of this year (see OH Hickory Bend Pipeline/Plant Makes Excellent Progress).

NiSource is making new friends with their latest initiative. As part of the Hickory Bend project, NiSource (i.e. Pennant Midstream) will spend $1.5 million to rebuild roads in Mahoning County, OH likely to be damaged from heavy trucks working on the project. According to county officials, the amount of roadways that will be rebuilt, and the way NiSource is doing it (not just repaving but rebuilding from base layers) goes “well above and beyond the minimum that was required”…
Read More “NiSource Wins Friends in Mahoning County with Road Repair Project”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Statewide MD

Anti-Drilling Enviros Gradually Turning Maryland into Dystopia
August 9, 2013August 9, 2013

An excellent column appears today in the Gaithersburg Gazette by Blair Lee, chairman of the board of Lee Development Group in Silver Spring, MD. (BTW, who knew there were such strong voices of reason left in arguably the most liberal state in the union after Rhode Island?) Lee’s thesis in today’s column: The “fanciful”–we’d say harsh–environmental policies of leftists in Maryland state government threaten the state with a predictable economic collapse. It is a cautionary tale of what happens when anti-drilling/anti-fossil fuel/global warming true believers (“warmists”) get their hands on an entire state. Maryland’s policies exemplify the end result of warmists’ extreme views. And it sure ain’t pretty.

Like all Utopians, the policies of Maryland’s warmists are slowly-but-surely turning the state into a miserable dystopia, free of “evil” things like cars and single-family detached homes:
Read More “Anti-Drilling Enviros Gradually Turning Maryland into Dystopia”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Aug 9, 2013
August 9, 2013August 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: Fri, Aug 9, 2013”
Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

New Twist in PA Act 13 Case: Motion to Re-Hear Oral Arguments
August 8, 2013August 8, 2013

A new twist in the ongoing court battle over Pennsylvania’s still relatively new Act 13 Marcellus Shale drilling law. A court case has been before the PA Supreme Court since last year challenging provisions in the new law to replace local zoning of oil and gas drilling with a uniform, statewide standard. As MDN told you a few weeks ago, it appears the newly sworn-in seventh justice on the PA Supreme Court will not participate in the decision, leaving a split 3-3 decision a likely outcome (see PA Problem: Act 13 Zoning Case to be Decided by 6 Supremes, Not 7). Split decisions are not good for anyone, and a split decision in this case would leave the lower court rulings stand, gutting part of the Act 13 law.

The new twist: On Tuesday, the PA state Public Utility Commission (PUC) and the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) filed a joint request that the entire seven-member court re-hear oral arguments in the case so the entire court can make a decision and finally lay this thing to rest, one way or the other. The towns that brought the lawsuit in the first place are objecting because they think they have a better chance at winning with a six-justice panel–a split decision means they win. Are the towns trying to cheat justice?…
Read More “New Twist in PA Act 13 Case: Motion to Re-Hear Oral Arguments”
Economic Impact | EMG | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | MarkWest Energy | Ohio | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide OH | Tuscarawas County

2 New OH Projects: Cryo Processing Plant & NGL Pipeline to Gulf
August 8, 2013August 8, 2013

Looks like the Williams/Boardwalk Bluegrass NGL pipeline is about to get some competition. Yesterday, Kinder Morgan, MarkWest and The Energy and Minerals Group (EMG) announced a new joint venture on two projects aimed at the Marcellus/Utica Shale region. The first project is a 400 Mmcf/d cryogenic processing plant in Tuscarawas County, OH to separate raw natural gas into methane and natural gas liquids (NGLs). The second project is a new NGL pipeline that will, like the Bluegrass, run from Ohio all the way to the Gulf Coast. There’s no mention of how much the partners will invest in the two projects, but we believe it could easily approach $1 billion of new investment in the northeast.

This announcement is great economic news for Ohio (Tuscarawas County in particular), and great economic news for Marcellus/Utica drillers who need extra takeaway capacity for the NGLs they’re currently producing. The press release from Kinder Morgan with details about the two new projects:
Read More “2 New OH Projects: Cryo Processing Plant & NGL Pipeline to Gulf”
Dominion Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Gulfport Energy | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Gulfport Signs Pipeline Deal to Sell Utica Gas to Midwest Market
August 8, 2013August 8, 2013

Straight off a conference call yesterday comes the news that Gulfport Energy has just signed a 10-year contract with Dominion Transmission to transport the natural gas Gulfport produces in the Ohio Utica Shale to the Midwest–using Dominion’s pipelines. The agreement is to ship 100 million cubic feet per day of gas (100 Mmcf/d), ramping up to 150 Mmcf/d by late 2014. Gulfport’s CEO James Palm made the announcement yesterday.

Palm also said on the conference call that Gulfport continues to lease acreage in Ohio and plans to drill “at least” 70 new wells next year in the Utica. More from yesterday’s call:
Read More “Gulfport Signs Pipeline Deal to Sell Utica Gas to Midwest Market”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Guest Post | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

What if PA Dems Win the Next Election and Ban Drilling Statewide?
August 8, 2013August 8, 2013

MDN reader, friend and contributor Chris Acker provides the insightful commentary below in response to (and building on) our article of a few days ago, titled: 18 PA House Democrats Dissent from Party’s Vote for Frack Moratorium.

Chris delves into the economic apocalypse that would happen should PA Democrats gain power again in the next election and fulfill their promise of enacting a statewide moratorium/ban on drilling. It is, as Chris points out, a true nightmare scenario:
Read More “What if PA Dems Win the Next Election and Ban Drilling Statewide?”