Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Jan 30, 2013
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Anadarko | Chevron | CONSOL Energy | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | EXCO Resources | Exxon Mobil | Noble Energy | Range Resources Corp | Southwestern Energy | Talisman Energy | Ultra Petroleum
Who’s a Member of the Marcellus “1 Bcf/d” Club?
At the end of an article about EQT, Seeking Alpha blogger and energy analyst Richard Zeits includes a short list of companies who either already belong, or soon will join, the “1 billion cubic feet per day club” of Marcellus Shale gas production.So far only one driller has achieved 1 Bcf/d of Marcellus production (quick, which one is it?). EQT will likely join the club in 2014. Who else is on the short list to join them? Read on to find out…
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The Real Promised Land: Driller Raises $4.4M for PA Health Clinic
Contrary to the view in Promised Land that big drilling companies are evil and will shaft anyone for a buck, we find a truly amazing story about an oil and gas company’s generosity to a small northeastern Pennsylvania community—a community not unlike the one portrayed in the Matt Damon movie Promised Land.
Last year Cabot Oil & Gas kicked off a major fundraising effort to build a physicians clinic, part of a new hospital project in Montrose (Susquehanna County), PA. Friday marked the one-year anniversary of that very successful effort…
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Zeits Does Deep Dive on EQT’s Marcellus Program
One of our favorite Seeking Alpha bloggers, energy analyst Richard Zeits, recently posted a deep dive on EQT and their drilling program in the Marcellus shale. The analysis is full of details about EQT’ economics—specifically at what natural gas price level does the company continue to be profitable. He also includes a number of EQT charts and graphs (see them below).
Here’s a few highlights from the latest Zeits:
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CONSOL Switching to Dual Fuel Drilling Rigs in Marcellus/Utica
In the near future, drilling and fracking at CONSOL Energy drill sites will be powered by dual fuel technology using LNG (liquefied natural gas) and diesel fuel. You may recall MDN reported on CONSOL’s experimentation with dual fuel technology at two different locations last year (see CONSOL Orders Additional 3 Dual Fuel Generators for 2nd Rig).
Linde, the company providing CONSOL with dual fuel technology to run the generators and other drilling equipment, issued a press announcement yesterday which says, in essence, that CONSOL has decided to go “all in” and start using Linde’s dual fuel solutions throughout all of their drilling operations in the Marcellus and Utica Shale:
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Permit for PA Frack Wastewater Plant Rescinded by DEP
A New Jersey company had plans (and a permit) to build a Marcellus Shale wastewater treatment plant in North Fayette, PA that would process between 1/2 and 1 million gallons of fracking wastewater per day. The plant would use the wastewater to produce road salt, sidewalk de-icer, roadway dust suppression liquids and other products. One small problem: there may be tiny trace amounts of arsenic, lead, mercury and other nasty compounds in the final products.
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection granted Integrated Water Technologies a permit last August to build the plant and sell the salts and liquids manufactured from wastewater for use throughout the state. However, anti-drilling group PennFuture appealed the permit and now the DEP is backpedaling and “quietly” rescinded the permit by publishing a notice in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on Saturday. Will the plant still be built?
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PwC Report: 2012 Marcellus & Utica M&A Deals Down
Each year analysts at powerhouse consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) take a detailed look at mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals in the oil and gas industry worth $50 million or more. Although nationally the deals in the oil and gas sector hit a 10-year high in 2012, the number and value of deals for both the Marcellus and Utica Shale slowed from the previous year. However, looks can be deceiving…
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Marshall County, WV Property Values Double in 6 Years
In the past two years, the assessed value of property in Marshall County, WV has increased by 50%. Since 2007, assessed values in the county have gone up 200%! The reason is, of course, almost entirely due to Marcellus Shale drilling and related infrastructure.
How do local officials describe it? “Extraordinary.” Kind of flies in the face of the anti-drilling argument that property values go down when Marcellus drilling comes to town. Here’s the story…
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Law Firm: PA Drillers/Contractors Paying Taxes They Shouldn’t
According to the law firm Reed Smith, drillers in Pennsylvania may be paying sales tax for equipment used in hydraulic fracturing and drilling that is exempt from PA sales tax. The PA Dept. of Revenue has been issuing tax assessments to drillers that are, according to Reed Smith, in contradiction of existing law.
If you’re a landowner or peripherally interested in Marcellus drilling, give this article a pass. However, if you’re a driller or a drilling contractor of any kind, you need to pay close attention…
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Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Jan 29, 2013
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Mind-blowing Earnings from a Single Utica Shale Well
Wow! Some truly astonishing numbers (if they hold up) for the earnings power from a single Gulfport well in the Utica Shale of Belmont County, Ohio. According to a WVU professor who tracks these things, the Stutzman well, when brought online, will be earning in the neighborhood of $100,000 per day for Gulfport, and a huge royalty check for the landowner.Here’s the calculations:
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MDN Proposes a New Phrase for Anti-Drillers to Use
“Just stick to the news! (and quit editorializing),” is the refrain we sometimes hear at MDN. We happen to think a little editorializing, and having some fun along the way, is not only a good thing to do—it’s the honest thing to do. We don’t cover up our opinions in our reporting of the news. This story is one of the fun stories to tell (sorry, it’s not “sticking to the news”). This story is about language—specifically the word “frack”—and how anti-drillers like those at Earthworks’ Oil and Gas Accountability Project have made such wonderful hay with that word because it sounds so, well, naughty.
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Is Shale Brine Dumping Coming to OH Landfills?
MDN friend and Akron Beacon Journal reporter, Bob Downing, has just published an excellent piece of investigative journalism about brine dumping in Ohio landfills. Bob has tracked down a change in policy in Ohio that theoretically allows landfills to begin accepting brine from shale drilling. Brine is (mostly) naturally occurring salt water from deep below the earth that comes out of the wellbore after the well is drilled.
Some of the state’s 40 landfills have received permits to accept drill cuttings and other solids from the drilling process, but so far none have received permits to accept liquid brine that’s solidified with fly ash and other materials. That may be about to change…
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Armstrong County | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | MDS Energy | Pennsylvania
MDS Energy’s Fracking Fluid Alternative for 3 PA Marcellus Wells
An interesting short item MDN picked up from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review about driller MDS Energy.
The South Buffalo Township Planning Commission (near Pittsburgh) recently recommended that township supervisors approve a request from MDS Energy to drill three Marcellus Shale wells. The interesting bit is the liquid MDS plans to use in fracking the wells…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Education | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Sullivan County
Ongoing Saga of 4th Graders Brainwashed Against Fracking
A few weeks ago MDN told you about 44 fourth graders at Maple Hill Elementary School in Middletown (Sullivan County), NY who were given an assignment to write an argumentative paper about fracking, and shazam! Every single one of them wrote against the practice (see Middletown 4th Graders Brainwashed by Teachers Against Fracking).
Apparently the teacher who required the assignment, and the reporter who was so impressed (hoodwinked?) that every single student individually and independently came to an anti-fracking conclusion, must have gotten a fair bit of blowback from the original story because the reporter has just penned a new story seeking to justify the assignment and the original story. The new article concludes with an interesting revelation about the teacher…
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Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Statewide PA
Royalty Payments to PA Landowners Create Big Impact
An analysis by AP finds royalty payments to landowners in Pennsylvania are quickly catching up to royalty payments to landowners in other oil and gas states like Alaska and Wyoming. The National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO) said PA is their fastest growing chapter.
How much in royalty payments were PA landowners paid (collectively) for 2012? What’s the average percentage landowners are paid? And which driller has paid more than $1 billion in royalties to PA landowners since 2008? Some answers about royalties in general, and PA in particular…
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At the end of an article about EQT, Seeking Alpha blogger and energy analyst Richard Zeits includes a short list of companies who either already belong, or soon will join, the “1 billion cubic feet per day club” of Marcellus Shale gas production.
Wow! Some truly astonishing numbers (if they hold up) for the earnings power from a single Gulfport well in the Utica Shale of Belmont County, Ohio. According to a WVU professor who tracks these things, the Stutzman well, when brought online, will be earning in the neighborhood of $100,000 per day for Gulfport, and a huge royalty check for the landowner.