Drilling company Antero Resources continues to grow its presence and commitment to the state of West Virginia. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin issued is 2013 annual doing business in WV report (called the West Virginia Edge Business Report) yesterday. In the report we found this interesting brief statement about Antero building a new office complex in Bridgeport:
Read More “Antero Says 2013 Plans for WV Drilling are “Aggressive””
Chesapeake Energy has won an important appeal before the Ohio Supreme Court that ruled the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission did not have jurisdiction to hear an appeals case from a landowner over a permit issued to Chesapeake from the OH Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management to drill on the property. It was a case of the wrong agency sitting in judgment—the wrong “referee” if you will:
Read More “Chesapeake Wins Permit Case Before OH Supreme Court”
When was the last time local governments, labor unions, businesses, chambers of commerce and construction contractors were all on the same page? Yeah, we can’t remember that time either. Except it’s here—now. And it’s happening in Stark County, Ohio were all of those groups have come together to kick off a new initiative they call Choose Stark—an outreach to encourage Utica Shale drilling and fracking in Stark County.
We say that’s pretty cool and a lesson for other regions to consider:
Read More “Stark County, OH Labor & Business on Same Page: Frack Here”
The Pennsylvania Game Commission voted on Wednesday to approve oil and gas drilling agreements on state land in five PA counties—some of the deals are new and some are extensions/renewals of existing deals. That’s newsworthy in and of itself (and sure to drive anti-drillers bonkers).
The news for landowners in this story, however, is the royalty percentages for the new land deals. Some impressive numbers:
Read More “PA Game Commission Gets Big Royalties on New State Land Leases”
Yesterday Dominion, a large utility and midstream (pipeline/processing plant) company headquartered in the “Old Dominion” state of Virginia, yesterday announced full year 2012 earnings. Dominion made a profit of $581 million in 2012. Which is impressive! But not so impressive when you consider they made a profit of $1.41 billion in 2011. Why the tumble? Investments in major projects during 2012, accounting this and that—the usual.
As always, MDN is interested in what they say about their projects in the Marcellus and Utica Shale. From the entire (lengthy) press release from yesterday, we have one paragraph that touches on Marcellus & Utica:
Read More “Dominion 2012: Profits Tumble, Marcellus/Utica Midstream Expand”
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) yesterday announced final revisions to the “general permit” (GP-5) that governs air emissions for pipeline compressor stations and for drill sites. The new allowable limits, endorsed by the PA drilling industry, are “75 to 90 percent stricter than current limits” and go beyond federal rules according to the DEP.
The new DEP rules will allow the industry to install and use more engines at compressor stations and on the drill pad (engines powered by the natural gas being produced) to encourage the overall reduction in pollution. Here’s the announcement from the DEP:
Read More “PA DEP Finalizes Air Pollution Rules for Drillers & Compressors”
Yeah, we know it’s a press release from a law firm (we see them every day!). But this one, MDN reckons, is noteworthy. The 12th largest oil and gas law firm in the country, Steptoe & Johnson (with offices about everywhere in the Marcellus & Utica Shale), is conducting a study of legal trends for businesses working to develop the Marcellus, Utica and other shale plays. The results are due to be released in April and should be interesting.
Here’s the details about the new study (and how you can participate) from Steptoe & Johnson:
Read More “Law Firm Launches Study of Legal Trends in Shale Development”
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, Feb 1, 2013”
It’s no secret that Chesapeake Energy had a tough year in 2012. Chesapeake’s stock price tanked by 43%—from too much debt, historically low natural gas prices and vicious, repeated media attacks by the Reuters and Bloomberg “news” agencies. Chesapeake’s troubles reached a tipping point yesterday when Aubrey McClendon, Chesapeake’s “bad boy” CEO, announced he is retiring from the company he built from the ground up 24 years ago. Today, Chesapeake is a multi-billion corporation and the second largest natural gas driller in the United States behind ExxonMobil.
McClendon’s announcement that he is “retiring” from the company on April 1, at age 53, is really big news for MDN readers. Chesapeake is the largest driller in the Utica Shale, and one of the largest in the Marcellus. When Chesapeake sneezes, the Marcellus/Utica catches a cold.
Read More “Breaking: Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon Gets Pink Slip”
In early December, the Columbia Gas Transmission pipeline (owned by Nisource) exploded near Sissonville, WV—10 miles north of Charleston (see Columbia NatGas Pipeline Explodes Near Charleston, WV). The repercussions are still being felt. WV Sen. Jay Rockefeller held a Senate “field hearing” about pipeline safety on Monday in Charleston, WV. The first person to testify was Sissonville resident Sue Bonham who thought the world was literally be blowing up. The fire that burned in Sissonville near her home for more than an hour was so hot it burned the asphalt on I-77 into cinders.
So it’s no surprise that the federal government would start nosing around non-federally regulated (smaller) pipelines. Apparently they’ve set their sites on local gathering lines in the PA Marcellus:
Read More “Feds Eye Regulating PA Marcellus Gathering Pipelines”
The Dept. of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposed new fracking rules for shale drilling on federal lands back in May 2012 (see BLM Issues Proposed New Rule for Fracking Federal Lands). The drilling industry was quick to react (negatively) against what they view as largely unnecessary and extremely expensive new regulations (see New Fracking Rules for Federal Lands will Cost $1.5B).
Just a few weeks ago, BLM announced they would delay implementing their new rules until sometime this spring, to give them the opportunity to refine the rules first. Apparently they work pretty fast. Yesterday BLM sent a revised draft of their new proposed fracking rules to the Obama White House for review:
Read More “BLM Sends New Draft Fracking Rules to White House for Review”
In December 2011 the West Virginia legislature pass sweeping new shale drilling regulations in record time. The effort and the end result was heralded by then acting (now sitting) Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin as a “milestone” in addressing concerns about Marcellus Shale drilling in WV.
The 2011 legislation called for three new environmental studies to be completed and delivered to lawmakers. Two of the studies were due within a day of each other: Dec. 31, 2012 and Jan. 1, 2013. Both are late. According the state DEP, one study will be along in mid-February. The other? No estimated date…
Read More “WV DEP Late in Filing Required Marcellus Environmental Studies”
America’s trucking firms are bullish on shale gas drilling, particularly in the Marcellus and Utica Shale. Trucking firms say shale drilling either already has, or will, have a positive impact on the trucking industry according to the results of a nationwide survey of trucking firms.
Benesch, a large law firm with offices in Ohio, Pennsylvania and other oil and gas states, collaborated with the National Tank Truck Carriers association and the Ohio Trucking Association to conduct the survey. Some of the survey results:
Read More “Marcellus/Utica Shale Drilling is Good for Trucking Industry”
Another New York township has voted (unanimously) to strip away the Constitutional rights of some of its citizens. Westmoreland (Oneida County), NY is the latest township to decide that a board of five people know what’s best for everyone else, in contradiction of New York State law:
In the latest dustup over “home rule,” city council members in Brunswick (Medina County), Ohio don’t like the state telling them they can’t regulate oil and gas drilling in their own borders. Unfortunately those same city council members don’t seem to know a thing about the miracle of hydraulic fracturing and they’re certainly not qualified to regulate it—but we digress.
Brunswick city council members were set to vote on a non-binding resolution on Monday telling Columbus to go take a hike, but Brunswick Mayor Gary Werner was the calmer head who prevailed. He talked council members into postponing a vote until the Feb. 11 meeting. Werner’s clear-headed reasoning: Why tell the drilling industry that’s transforming the economic landscape in Ohio that Brunswick isn’t interested in jobs or money from drilling?
Read More “Brunswick, OH (Almost) Thumbs Nose at State over Home Rule”