Marcellus Drilling News

Berks County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Inergy | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | UGI Energy Services | WGL Holdings

Berks County Officials Think Commonwealth Pipeline Will Rise Again
May 1, 2013May 1, 2013

The Commonwealth Pipeline, a joint venture between Inergy, UGI and WGL Holdings, was suspended indefinitely just a few weeks ago (see PA’s Commonwealth Pipeline Project Suspended – Indefinitely). However, officials from Berks County, PA, in the southeastern part of the state and a county through which the Commonwealth Pipeline was slated to pass through, don’t buy it. They believe the project will come back to life and pass through their county, eventually…
Read More “Berks County Officials Think Commonwealth Pipeline Will Rise Again”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Athens County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Wastewater

Athens Politicians Support Injection Well Ban for Frack Wastewater
May 1, 2013May 1, 2013

Although no Utica Shale permits have been issued for drilling in southeastern Ohio Athens County so far, the potential does exist (see Athens County, OH Upgraded to “Good” on ODNR Utica Map). Along with drilling comes wastewater. Many drillers recycle it, but some dispose of it via deep injection wells throughout Ohio. Athens County commissioners have voted to support a ban on all fracking wastewater disposal by injection wells.

Are the Athens commissioners trying to send a message to the drilling industry to stay away?…
Read More “Athens Politicians Support Injection Well Ban for Frack Wastewater”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

EPA Extends Deadline for Public Input on Fracking
May 1, 2013May 1, 2013

Yesterday, Apr. 30, was to be the final day for the general public to “submit data and scientific literature” to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to assist the EPA with their multi-year study of fracking. However, the EPA posted a notice in yesterday’s Federal Register (see it embedded below) extending the deadline to Nov. 15. A final report from the EPA is due in 2014–no word if this extension will prompt a slippage in that date too.

Why the change in deadline?…
Read More “EPA Extends Deadline for Public Input on Fracking”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Anti-Fracking Group Ramps up the Propaganda Machine
May 1, 2013May 1, 2013

A highly misleading brochure full of half-truths and outright lies is being mailed to 84,000 households in the Southern Tier area of New York State by a small group called Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy, in an attempt to scare residents and apply pressure to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The Southern Tier area includes counties like Broome, Chenango, Chemung, Tioga and Steuben that are most likely to see fracking if and when Cuomo ever gets off his rear-end.

Here, boys and girls, is a glittering example of anti-fracking, anti-capitalist propaganda:
Read More “NY Anti-Fracking Group Ramps up the Propaganda Machine”
Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

No. of US Shale Wells Up 44% in 2011, Drilling Money Up 88%
May 1, 2013May 1, 2013

How much money was spent, and how many shale oil and gas wells were drilled in the U.S. in 2011 (the latest year with full statistics)? The American Petroleum Institute, the industry’s largest trade association, knows. And the numbers may surprise you…
Read More “No. of US Shale Wells Up 44% in 2011, Drilling Money Up 88%”
Crime | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Mahoning County | Ohio | Wastewater

Alleged New Case of Illegal Shale Waste Dumping in OH
May 1, 2013May 1, 2013

An Ohio company close to the Pennsylvania border has been accused of illegally accepting and disposing of (burying) drilling wastewater and drill cuttings. Since the landfill where the material is buried sits close to the Mahoning River, there is a concern that some nasty substances may have or are leaking into the river.

An alphabet soup of OH state and federal government agencies served Soil Remediation Inc. in Lowellville (Mahoning County), OH with a search warrant early last week…
Read More “Alleged New Case of Illegal Shale Waste Dumping in OH”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, May 1, 2013
May 1, 2013May 1, 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 1, 2013”
Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Southwestern Energy | Statewide PA

Southwestern Energy Buys 162K PA Marcellus Acres from Chesapeake
April 30, 2013April 30, 2013

Southwestern Energy announced yesterday that they’ve picked up 162,000 Marcellus Shale acres in northeastern Pennsylvania from Chesapeake Energy for $93 million. Along with the acreage comes 17 producing (1.2 net) wells with a (very small) 2 million cubic feet of net production per day. The Southwestern purchase nearly doubles the amount of their Marcellus Shale acreage.

The first interesting thing to MDN about the deal is that all of this new acreage–as well as all of Southwestern’s existing Marcellus acreage–is squarely in the “dry gas” area of NE PA. Obviously Southwestern, like Cabot Oil & Gas, believes there is money to be made in the dry gas window of the play. The second interesting thing is that Southwestern got the acreage at the fire sale price of $574 per acre…
Read More “Southwestern Energy Buys 162K PA Marcellus Acres from Chesapeake”
Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County | WPX Energy

PA DEP Says Drilling Did NOT Contaminate Water in Franklin Forks
April 30, 2013April 30, 2013

As Paul Harvey used to say, here is “the rest of the story” about the contaminated well water for three homes in Franklin Forks (Susquehanna County), PA… In December 2011, three families complained to the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) that their well water looked and smelled like it was polluted. Since WPX was drilling natural gas wells nearby at the time, and since two of those wells had been cited by the DEP as having substandard well casings, the assumption was the drilling activity was polluting the water wells (see PA DEP Asks WPX to Help Families with Water/Methane Issues for background).

The rest of the story: After a 16-month thorough investigation, the DEP announced yesterday what residents of Susquehanna County already know–the water in Franklin Forks (and indeed most of Susquehanna County) sucks and has sucked for generations. The DEP found, contrary to the bleating of celebrities, that drilling did NOT pollute the Franklin Forks wells. Those wells are polluted from natural causes, the same natural causes that closed a nearby trailer park more than a decade ago (BGD, before gas drilling)…
Read More “PA DEP Says Drilling Did NOT Contaminate Water in Franklin Forks”
Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Cabot Monster Well in NE PA Yields 8 Bcf in 667 Days
April 30, 2013April 30, 2013

Energy analyst and Seeking Alpha blogger Richard Zeits listened in to the recent Cabot Oil & Gas investor’s conference call and came away with some mind-blowing numbers. The bottom line from the call and from Zeits’ analysis is that Cabot has indeed found a “super-productive” location in Susquehanna County, PA where they own leases on about 200,000 acres. New wells they’ve recently drilled prove that all of their acreage is in this sweet spot.

One startling find by Zeits: A well drilled by Cabot in Susquehanna County has, in just 667 days, produced a cumulative 8 billion cubic feet of natural gas–a single well! That equates to an average of 12 million cubic feet of natural gas per day from that one well. Astonishing. (No wonder Southwestern just picked up an additional 51,000 acres from Chesapeake in Susquehanna County earlier this week, for an average of $574 per acre. Chesapeake was taken to the cleaners).

Here’s some of Zeits’ analysis of the Cabot call, with lots of facts and figures:
Read More “Cabot Monster Well in NE PA Yields 8 Bcf in 667 Days”
Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell | Statewide PA

Did PBT “Badger” PA Gov Corbett on Shell Cracker Plant Date?
April 30, 2013April 30, 2013

Yesterday MDN told you about comments from PA Gov. Tom Corbett that seemed to indicate he’s changed his story about when a final final final decision may come from Shell about whether or not they will move forward with building an ethane cracker plant in Monaca, PA (see Corbett Story Changes: Decision on PA Cracker Plant Delayed Again). However, Corbett’s may not be the only story that got changed. According to a spokesman for the governor, the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Business Times “badgered” Corbett into forecasting the 2014 date when a decision may be made, and then shaded their coverage to make it seem as though Corbett has changed his story…

Read More “Did PBT “Badger” PA Gov Corbett on Shell Cracker Plant Date?”
Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Says Deal for Ethane Cracker Coming This Year
April 30, 2013April 30, 2013

The race to secure an ethane cracker between Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia continues. Last week, WV’s Secretary of Commerce, Keith Burdette, said he is “100% certain” that WV will have a deal for an ethane cracker plant signed sometime this year. Bluster or quiet confidence? We’d bet the later if we were betting…

MDN friends from the excellent Gas Business Briefing attended a conference last week in WV and filed this report:
Read More “WV Says Deal for Ethane Cracker Coming This Year”
Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

OOGA Rep Says Bloomberg Wrong About OH Shale Boom
April 30, 2013April 30, 2013

The executive vice president of the Ohio Oil & Gas Association, Thomas Stewart, isn’t buying the Bloomberg News theory that Ohio’s Shale boom is over before it’s really even begun (see Bloomberg Says Ohio Utica Shale is Gassy, Not Oily). Stewart says the oil is there but may present some challenges in retrieving it–challenges that technology can solve.

Comments from Stewart, including his view on where the Utica “fairway” is located:
Read More “OOGA Rep Says Bloomberg Wrong About OH Shale Boom”
Cambria County | Chevron | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania

Chevron to Start Marcellus Drilling in Cambria County, PA
April 30, 2013April 30, 2013

Chevron is about to ramp up drilling on some of their half million plus Marcellus Shale acres located in Cambria County, PA. Construction will begin this summer and drilling will begin in the fall at the Goldenrod Sportsmen’s Club in Jackson Township:
Read More “Chevron to Start Marcellus Drilling in Cambria County, PA”
Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania General Energy

PA DEP Fines PGE for Spills, Discharges in Lycoming County
April 30, 2013April 30, 2013

The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has fined Pennsylvania General Energy Co. $125,500 for two different sets of violations in Lycoming County, PA that occurred in 2011 and 2012. The fines were for three spills and for excessive sediment discharges into a local creek.

The details from the DEP:
Read More “PA DEP Fines PGE for Spills, Discharges in Lycoming County”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Apr 30, 2013
April 30, 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, Apr 30, 2013”