Marcellus Drilling News

Industrywide Issues | NG Vehicles | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Wastewater

Envelope Please: Winners of Shale Gas Innovation Contest are…
May 8, 2013May 8, 2013

For the second year running, the Ben Franklin Technology Partners’ Shale Gas Innovation & Commercialization Center selects three winners from a field of 12 entrants to award a $25,000 prize in its Shale Gas Innovation Contest–a contest that recognizes startups and small businesses and gives them visibility and encouragement for their efforts.

MDN previously highlighted this year’s entrants, particularly because we’re acquainted with one of them (see REV LNG, 11 Others Finalists in Shale Gas Innovation Contest for the entire list of this year’s entrants). We won’t keep you waiting any longer. The envelope please! This year’s three winners are…
Read More “Envelope Please: Winners of Shale Gas Innovation Contest are…”
Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Utica Shale

Alpha Hunter Takes Delivery of ‘Robotic Drilling Rig’ for Utica
May 8, 2013May 8, 2013

Magnum Hunter Resources’ subsidiary Alpha Resources has just taken possession of a “robotic drilling rig” that it plans to use to drill Utica Shale wells for the next three years. The robotic rig can, by itself, lift the entire drilling rig six inches off the ground and rotate it and move it to a new position and location.

According to Magnum Hunter CEO Gary Evans, the rig is “state of the art” and Magnum has worked with the manufacturer, Schramm, over the past six months to develop it.
Read More “Alpha Hunter Takes Delivery of ‘Robotic Drilling Rig’ for Utica”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

PA County Official Calls Local Anti-Driller “Stupid” at Meeting
May 8, 2013May 8, 2013

Sometimes anti-drillers become unhinged and behave very badly. Case in point: Susquehanna County’s most famous anti-driller Vera Scroggins, who used her potty mouth on FrackNation filmmaker Phelim McAleer in January when Phelim tagged along to ask Yoko Ono and Susan Sarandon about fracking when they came to Susquehanna County (in a Mercedes bus) to promote Artists Against Fracking. Scroggins didn’t like McAleer posing tough questions to the goddesses she worships, so she made it her mission to use every foul word and anti-Irish, prejudiced comment she could think of to insult McAleer, making a video of it and posting it on Youtube (see “The Final Ploy of the Desperate” Natural Gas Opponents).

You can appreciate that the normally patient folks of rural Susquehanna County grow tired of Vera’s antics. At a recent county commissioners meeting, a Susquehanna County official had had enough of Vera’s tiresome antics and actually called her “stupid” before the assembled audience. Cool! Wish we had been there to video it and put it on Youtube. Here is what prompted the outburst:
Read More “PA County Official Calls Local Anti-Driller “Stupid” at Meeting”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

When We Get Behind Closed Doors…Range Resources & Cecil Twp
May 8, 2013May 8, 2013

There’s certainly no love lost between Range Resources and the supervisors of Cecil Township in Washington County, PA. Range has repeatedly requested the supervisors consider granting a conditional use permit to drill a new well, the supervisors say Range has not provided “full information” on the application, and the whole matter eventually ended up in court–before a judge whose wife is anti-drilling (see Court Fight: Range Resources v Robinson, PA Twp).

But what’s this…are Cecil officials finally willing to call a truce? The supervisors voted on Monday night to schedule a private “behind closed doors” meeting with Range to “discuss their relationship.” Sounds more like marriage counseling than governing to us, but hey, if getting behind closed doors is what it takes…
Read More “When We Get Behind Closed Doors…Range Resources & Cecil Twp”
Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Tioga County (PA) | Wastewater

NY Company Sells Frack Wastewater Technology to PA Site
May 8, 2013May 8, 2013

Even though New York State is an economic and jobs-creating disaster area with no prospect of shale drilling to lift it from the economic basement any time soon, some New York-based companies are still profiting from the shale boom–that is the shale boom happening across the border in Pennsylvania. One such company is R3 Fusion, Inc. in Troy, NY. R3 makes technology that recycles fracking wastewater for reuse, and they’ve just sold an installation of their technology to Hydro Recovery in Blossburg, PA.

The R3 announcement:
Read More “NY Company Sells Frack Wastewater Technology to PA Site”
Blair County | Chevron | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

Altoona, PA Plans to Sell Water to Chevron for Fracking
May 8, 2013May 8, 2013

The Altoona (PA) Water Authority is hoping to sell water for Marcellus Shale drilling to Chevron for drilling they have planned in the Coupon, PA area. There is no agreement yet, but the signs are there: Chevron is in talks with the City of Altoona to arrange a highway maintenance agreement…
Read More “Altoona, PA Plans to Sell Water to Chevron for Fracking”
Health Impacts | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Senator Proposes Panel to Study Health Impacts from Drilling
May 8, 2013May 8, 2013

The main architect of Pennsylvania’s Act 13 legislation that was passed last year was Republican state Senator Joe Scarnati. Act 13 was PA’s most sweeping revision of oil and natural gas drilling in decades, providing for (among other things) the collection of an “impact fee” (or tax) that resulted in $204 million in revenue in 2012.

Scarnati is back with a proposal for more legislation that will impact the Marcellus Shale–this time, he wants to create an advisory panel to investigate public health issues related to Marcellus drilling…

Read More “PA Senator Proposes Panel to Study Health Impacts from Drilling”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, May 8, 2013
May 8, 2013May 8, 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, May 8, 2013”
Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | New York | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide NY | Statewide PA

Manhattan Institute Study: Lifting NY Frack Ban Would Mean Billions
May 7, 2013May 6, 2013

$MI fracking study cover$ The New York-based Manhattan Institute, a non-profit think tank with a mission “to develop and disseminate new ideas that foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility,” released a new report yesterday titled, “The Economic Effects of Hydrofracturing on Local Economies: A Comparison of New York and Pennsylvania” (full copy embedded below). The report finds that if New York lifted its moratorium on fracking, it would mean billions of dollars in income for upstate New Yorkers and for the state as a whole.

MI researchers closely examined counties in Pennsylvania and found a) those counties with shale wells did better economically, b) the more wells, the better they did, c) counties with shale wells experienced double-digit rises in per capita income, and d) perhaps most surprisingly, PA counties with no shale wells or fracking saw per capita incomes rise an average 8%! Across the board, fracking has benefited PA enormously and this report proves it. The authors also say NY is screwing itself (our words) if it continues to ban fracking…
Read More “Manhattan Institute Study: Lifting NY Frack Ban Would Mean Billions”
Antero Resources | Energy Companies

Rumor Has It: Antero Resources Will Go Public This Year
May 7, 2013May 6, 2013

Antero Resources is a private drilling company headquartered in Denver, CO with major drilling operations in the Marcellus Shale (311,000 acres). Lately, Antero has made a big move into the Utica Shale (92,000 acres)–particularly in Belmont County, OH where Gulfport has had a lot of success (see Antero Continues to Sign Leases with Barnesville, OH Residents). Rumor has it (cue Adele) that Antero is about to float an initial public offering that will value the company at $10 billion.

Here’s the rumor, as told by Reuters and the Denver Post:
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DTE Energy | Enbridge | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Spectra Energy | Stark County | Summit County

Nexus NatGas Pipeline to Run Through Akron/Canton Area
May 7, 2013May 6, 2013

Last September MDN told you about a newly announced major Utica Shale natural gas pipeline that would run from Ohio through Michigan and into Canada (see New Utica Shale Pipeline to Midwest Announced). The project, called the Nexus Gas Transmission system, is a joint venture between DTE Energy, Spectra Energy and Enbridge. Although details of its planned route have still not been disclosed, the Akron Beacon Journal is reporting the pipeline will run through several communities in the Akron-Canton area.

An update on the project from the Beacon Journal:
Read More “Nexus NatGas Pipeline to Run Through Akron/Canton Area”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

State & Local Frack Bans: Is the Damage Already Done in NY?
May 7, 2013May 6, 2013

Is the damage already done in New York? Will drillers bother to show up if local municipalities can decide on a whim to ban fracking? At least one prominent industry leader has publicly gone on the record with her concerns that the promise of drilling in NY is slipping away with the ongoing statewide moratorium and the recent court case that went against landowners and drillers (see Breaking: NY Court Upholds Local Town Frack Bans).

Karen Moreau, executive director of the New York State Petroleum Council, a division of the American Petroleum Institute (API), spoke to NGI’s Shale Daily on Monday and made these comments:
Read More “State & Local Frack Bans: Is the Damage Already Done in NY?”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Processing Plants | Statewide MD

Sierra Club, Others Trash Talk Cove Point LNG Export Terminal
May 7, 2013May 6, 2013

A group of the same old, tired “we’re against all progress” groups–including the Sierra Club, Earthjustice and a variety of X Riverkeeper groups–keeps making noise (increasingly just ignored by everyone) that, “OMG! the Cove Point LNG terminal in Maryland will kill off life as we know it in the Chesapeake!” Their tone is shrill and their argument (“because we hate fracking and this will cause more it”) is fallacious.

Here’s the latest claptrap to be issued by the Sierra Club, et al:
Read More “Sierra Club, Others Trash Talk Cove Point LNG Export Terminal”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania General Energy | Statewide PA | Wildlife

Marcellus Driller Asked to Replace PA Woodrat Habitat
May 7, 2013May 6, 2013

Once upon a time a little fish not much bigger than a paperclip, called a snail darter, was considered “endangered” and the prospect of disturbing its “habitat” delayed the erection of a major dam. That was in the 1970s. Today? Today we have the endangered Allegheny woodrat–otherwise known as a packrat. Please…try not to laugh! Although the Allegheny woodrat is not on the federal endangered species list, it is on the PA “threatened and protected” list–and therein lies the connection to Marcellus drilling…
Read More “Marcellus Driller Asked to Replace PA Woodrat Habitat”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, May 7, 2013
May 7, 2013May 6, 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: Tue, May 7, 2013”
Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Washington County

Chesapeake Fire Sale Continues – EQT Picks up 99K Acres in SW PA
May 6, 2013May 6, 2013

The Chesapeake Energy fire sale of assets continues. On Friday, EQT Corp. announced they’re picking up 99,000 acres of leases and 10 horizontal wells in the Marcellus Shale from Chessy in southwestern PA for $113 million. Of that number, $60 million is the price for the acreage (and $53 million for the 10 operating wells). If you run the math, that’s $606 per acre ($60M/99K)–i.e. fire sale price.

Below is the EQT announcement (first), and analysis of the deal by Seeking Alpha blogger and energy analyst Richard Zeits (second):
Read More “Chesapeake Fire Sale Continues – EQT Picks up 99K Acres in SW PA”