Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Feb 11, 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, Feb 11, 2013”
-
-
Join MDN at FrackNation Screening in Binghamton on Feb. 10 [Free]
A quick reminder that in spite of the impending snow storm which will be cleaned up by sometime Saturday, MDN editor Jim Willis will attend the 2pm Sunday, Feb. 10 screening of Phelim McAleer’s new documentary FrackNation at Regal Cinemas Binghamton 12 on Front Street in Binghamton. Phelim will be there! We’d like you to come along and watch it too (free). Here are the details:Read More “Join MDN at FrackNation Screening in Binghamton on Feb. 10 [Free]”
-
WV Park’s Marcellus Signing Bonus the Highest We’ve Seen
In a story about a natural gas pipeline that will be run under a county-owned trail in Brooke County, WV, MDN spotted a brief mention about the signing bonus and royalty rate received by Brooke Hills Park in 2011 for drilling on 100 acres of park land. It is perhaps the highest per acre signing bonus we’ve seen for land in the Marcellus:
Read More “WV Park’s Marcellus Signing Bonus the Highest We’ve Seen”
-
OH Company Dumping Frack Wastewater in Drain May Appeal Shut-Down
Yesterday MDN told you about the (likely) criminal act by Hardrock Excavating, a Youngstown, OH company owned by D&L Energy, when it dumped up to 50,000 gallons of fracking wastewater down a storm drain (see OH Company Dumps 50K Gal of Fracking Wastewater in Storm Drain). The fallout from that act continues. Yesterday the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) revoked all operating permits—permanently—for both Hardrock Excavating and D&L Energy. Ouch.
D&L says it may appeal the ODNR decision to permanently shut them down…
Read More “OH Company Dumping Frack Wastewater in Drain May Appeal Shut-Down”
-
Energy Companies | Energy Corporation of America | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA
Federal Judge Upholds Split Decision in PA Royalty Case
A group of landowners who signed leases in western Pennsylvania with Energy Corporation of America (ECA) filed a lawsuit in June 2012 (Pollock, et al v Energy Corporation of America) alleging ECA improperly deducted certain expenses, and didn’t include certain revenues, when calculating and paying royalties. At the time, ECA counter-sued asking for summary judgment that the way they calculate royalties and revenues is OK according to accepted practice and previous court rulings.
Last fall Magistrate Judge Robert Mitchell “partially granted and partially denied” the summary judgment request from ECA. It was mostly a victory for ECA because it dismissed all but one of the charges by the landowners. The case was appealed by both sides to federal court and on Jan. 24, Judge Joy Flowers Conti of the Western District of Pennsylvania said Judge Mitchell’s interpretation of the case is correct. She upheld his decision. This is an instructive case for both landowners and drillers, and a caution to be sure the lease you sign spells out in minute detail how royalties will be calculated…
Read More “Federal Judge Upholds Split Decision in PA Royalty Case”
-
NW PA Town Approves Site for Marcellus-powered Electric Plant
North Beaver (Lawrence County), PA supervisors have approved a request from LS Power Development to build a new $750 million electric generating plant at a former manufacturing site along the Mahoning River. The new 900-megawatt plant, when built, will be powered by Marcellus Shale natural gas. Current plans call for the new plant to be online by 2016.
More details:
Read More “NW PA Town Approves Site for Marcellus-powered Electric Plant”
-
Seneca 1Q13: Marcellus Production Up, Marcellus Profits Down
National Fuel Gas Company released their earnings and operations update yesterday for what is their first quarter fiscal year 2013 (but would be fourth quarter 2012 for everyone else)—covering October through December 2012. National Fuel Gas’ exploration and production division is known as Seneca Resources—a major driller in the Marcellus Shale. NFG aka Seneca reports that production in the Marcellus region increased 48% over the same period a year earlier. Seneca continues to operate three drilling rigs in the Marcellus. Even though the company turned in a profit overall, Marcellus earnings were down $1.2 million for the quarter because of the low commodity price of natural gas.
Here’s the update form NFG/Seneca:
Read More “Seneca 1Q13: Marcellus Production Up, Marcellus Profits Down”
-
CONSOL 2012 Wrap-Up: Added Nearly 1 Tcf of New Reserves
CONSOL Energy delivered an update on 2012 Marcellus Shale drilling activity yesterday—an update full of useful and interesting factoids. Among them: Due to extensions and discoveries, CONSOL added nearly 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to its proven reserves in 2012; they spent $440.7 million on drilling and completion in 2012; and their “drill bit finding and development cost” is 46 cents per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) of gas—among the lowest in the industry.
CONSOL continues to transition from being one of the country’s largest coal producers to one of the country’s major shale energy producers. Just a few weeks ago CONSOL announced their plans for 2013 (see CONSOL Energy’s 2013 Plan: Spend Lots on Marcellus & Utica Shale). Below is the 2012 shale drilling wrap-up CONSOL issued yesterday, which includes numbers for the average daily output from their wells in 2012, and the average cost to drill a well:
Read More “CONSOL 2012 Wrap-Up: Added Nearly 1 Tcf of New Reserves”
-
Noble Energy 2012 Wrap-Up: Marcellus Production, Profits Go Up
Houston-based Noble Energy, one of the big drillers in the Marcellus Shale, turned a tidy profit of $1 billion in 2012 according to their year-end financial report issued yesterday. That’s double what they earned in 2011 ($453 million). They also report Marcellus Shale production was up 19% in the 4Q12 from 3Q12—to a new high of 121 million cubic feet per day (MMcfe/d). Noble has a joint venture with CONSOL Energy in the Marcellus and the JV produced 280 MMcfe/d in 2012 (see Who’s a Member of the Marcellus “1 Bcf/d” Club?).
Noble operated three drilling rigs in the Marcellus during 2012. Here’s the year-in-review update issued yesterday:
Read More “Noble Energy 2012 Wrap-Up: Marcellus Production, Profits Go Up”
-
Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Feb 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: Fri, Feb 8, 2013”
-
Beck Energy | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Regulation | Summit County
OH Appeals Court Strikes Down Home Rule for Drilling
In 2012, Beck Energy Corp. got a permit from the OH Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) to drill on property located in the City of Munroe Falls (Summit County), OH. Beck started drilling and the city slapped a Stop Work Order on them and took them to court, saying Beck was not in compliance with a number of local ordinances and necessary permits. The local trial court supported Munroe Falls’ position and ruled in their favor.Beck appealed the trial court decision to the Ohio Court of Appeals (Ninth District) and in a decision handed down yesterday, the appellate court sided with Beck and against so-called “home rule” when it comes to oil and gas drilling. The Ninth District instructed the lower court to reverse its opinion. This decision (full copy embedded below) has major consequences for both Utica Shale drillers and municipalities throughout the state…
Read More “OH Appeals Court Strikes Down Home Rule for Drilling”
-
OH Company Dumps 50K Gal of Fracking Wastewater in Storm Drain
The Youngstown Vindicator is reporting that a Youngstown company, Hardrock Excavating, intentionally dumped 40,000-50,000 gallons of fracking wastewater down a storm drain and eventually ended up in the Mahoning River.
To say people are “outraged” doesn’t even begin to capture the emotion over this incident:
Read More “OH Company Dumps 50K Gal of Fracking Wastewater in Storm Drain”
-
Antero Offers Barnesville, OH Residents $5,700/Acre 20% Royalties
Normally drillers eschew drilling under cities or villages as a practical matter. Where do you put a drilling rig? What about traffic clogging up local streets? What if you can’t get everyone (or almost everyone) to sign? And why work to sign several hundred leases for a one square mile drilling unit with all of the deed research, negotiations, etc. that come with it, when you can sign leases with three or four people (farmers with lots of acreage) in a single unit?
The prospect of dealing with hundreds of landowners is not stopping Antero Resources (see Antero Resources Goes “All In” on Marcellus/Utica) from offering the residents of Barnesville (Belmont County), OH the same deal they struck last year to lease village-owned land: $5,700 per acre as a signing bonus, and 20% royalties on production.
Read More “Antero Offers Barnesville, OH Residents $5,700/Acre 20% Royalties”
-
Obama Picks REI CEO to Head Dept. of Interior
President Obama has picked Sally Jewell, a “conservation advocate” and the CEO of outdoor retailer Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) to be his next secretary for the Dept. of Interior, filling the post that Ken Salazar is vacating. The DOI and its Bureau of Land Management have developed new rules for hydraulic fracturing on federal lands that Obama “hopes” may serve as a “template” for fracking on private land (see Feds ‘Hope’ States will Use BLM Rules for ALL Fracking). The new BLM rules generated a lot of controversy in 2012 and Salazar and the DOI backed off implementing them until a rewrite is completed.
Jewell, if confirmed, will enter the battle over hydraulic fracturing and whether or not the federal government has a role to play in it (MDN and the U.S. Constitution says the feds don’t have a role). The extremist environmental organization Sierra Club likes Jewell, which is a huge red flag. However, she did once work for Mobil Oil (now Exxon Mobil)—for a few years just out of college.
Read More “Obama Picks REI CEO to Head Dept. of Interior”
-
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Earthquakes | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY
NY’s Anti-Drillers Attempt Smear of Geologists Consulting for DEC
How does one convey the lunacy of the anti-drilling position in New York State? Latest example: The NY Dept. of Environment Conservation (DEC) has hired two geologists as consultants to evaluate earthquake risks associated with fracking (yes we know, there is no earthquake risk, but humor us for a bit). In a coordinated attack, anti-drillers say that because the two geologists have also done consulting assignments for nasty, evil drilling companies, they’re tainted. Damaged goods. Shills and tools of the drilling industry. Not to be trusted. Even though they’ve also done consulting work for environmentalist (anti-drilling) organizations. Doesn’t matter.
Such is how far anti-drillers have sunk in their campaign of smears and lies to try and prevent the miracle of hydraulic fracturing—which is already being done in NY in vertical conventional wells and has been for decades—from happening in the state for horizontal shale wells too.
Read More “NY’s Anti-Drillers Attempt Smear of Geologists Consulting for DEC”
-
Huntingdon County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Supply Chain
Small Business Startup to Furnish PA Drillers with Act 9 Signs
MDN loves small business—we would argue they are the backbone of job creation in this country. Score another victory for a small business that picked up on a supply chain opportunity—an opportunity to provide a product or service to the shale drilling industry. In February 2012, the Pennsylvania legislature passed a new law called Act 9. Similar to Act 13, Act 9 deals with regulating Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling in PA. Act 9’s purpose? Make well pad drill sites safer. Part of Act 9 requires drillers to post new signage with safety information at the entrance of each drill site (example below).
Enter a new small business: Unconventional Well Pad Signs. Located near Altoona, PA, Unconventional Well Pad Signs is a division of another company—HomeWaters Retreats. HomeWaters, which provides vacation retreats and camps, is a business completely unrelated to manufacturing or any of the types of businesses you normally associate with providing products and services to the drilling industry. Gotta love small business entrepreneurs…
Read More “Small Business Startup to Furnish PA Drillers with Act 9 Signs”
A quick reminder that in spite of the impending snow storm which will be cleaned up by sometime Saturday, MDN editor Jim Willis will attend the 2pm Sunday, Feb. 10 screening of Phelim McAleer’s new documentary FrackNation at Regal Cinemas Binghamton 12 on Front Street in Binghamton. Phelim will be there! We’d like you to come along and watch it too (free). Here are the details:
In 2012, Beck Energy Corp. got a permit from the OH Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) to drill on property located in the City of Munroe Falls (Summit County), OH. Beck started drilling and the city slapped a Stop Work Order on them and took them to court, saying Beck was not in compliance with a number of local ordinances and necessary permits. The local trial court supported Munroe Falls’ position and ruled in their favor.