Marcellus Drilling News

Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Processing Plants

Chesapeake Sells Mississippi Lime Midstream Operation for $300M
May 2, 2013

Yesterday, SemGroup Corporation announced it had signed an agreement with Chesapeake Energy to purchase all of the assets of Mid-America Midstream Gas Services (a Chessy subsidiary), which owns gas gathering pipelines and processing plants in the Mississippi Lime play. SemGroup is paying Chessy $300 million in cash.

Technically it’s not a Marcellus/Utica deal, but MDN is covering this story because…
Read More “Chesapeake Sells Mississippi Lime Midstream Operation for $300M”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, May 2, 2013
May 2, 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: Thu, May 2, 2013”
Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

OH Utica Permits Now 627 – See Who & Where
May 1, 2013May 1, 2013

The latest numbers from the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) shows that Utica Shale permits have risen to a total of 627, out of which 310 of them have been (or are being) drilled.

Here’s a summary of the latest numbers, along with a table showing all of the permits issued as of April 27, listing the county, town, driller and well name:
Read More “OH Utica Permits Now 627 – See Who & Where”
Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Southwestern Energy | Statewide PA | Susquehanna County

More on Chesapeake’s Fire Sale of PA Acreage to Southwestern
May 1, 2013May 1, 2013

A blogger on the Seeking Alpha website delivers a bit more information about the announcement earlier this week that Chesapeake is selling their leases for 163,000 acres in NE PA to Southwestern Energy for what MDN called the “fire sale” price of $574 per acre (see Southwestern Energy Buys 162K PA Marcellus Acres from Chesapeake).

According to Seeking Alpha, Chesapeake paid an average of $610 per acre to lease that acreage between 2006-2009, so they actually lost money on the deal…
Read More “More on Chesapeake’s Fire Sale of PA Acreage to Southwestern”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH | Wastewater

ODNR Wants Fracking Regs Added Back to Kasich Budget Bill
May 1, 2013May 1, 2013

On Monday, the head of the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources, James Zehringer, asked Ohio Senators to restore a number of non-budget-related oil and gas provisions to the budget bill scrapped by the House in the version they passed. The provisions could be brought back if the Senate includes them and the final version is agreed to in committee.

The provisions Zehringer wants added back?…
Read More “ODNR Wants Fracking Regs Added Back to Kasich Budget Bill”
Energy Companies | Energy Services | Hilcorp Energy | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | NGLs | NiSource | Ohio | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Utica Shale

Location ID’d for Mahoning County, OH Cryo Processing Plant
May 1, 2013May 1, 2013

In December, MDN told you the name of a newly formed joint venture between drilling company Hilcorp and midstream company NiSource would be Hickory Bend. The new joint venture will build a wet gas (natural gas liquids) pipeline and processing plant somewhere in the Youngstown, OH area (see Mahoning Utica Pipeline/Processing Plant “Moving Forward”). At the time, no plans had been announced about where the pipeline or cryogenic gas processing plant will be located.

Although the jv is still mum on a pipeline route (they’re acquiring lease rights to build it), we do know where the processing plant will be built…
Read More “Location ID’d for Mahoning County, OH Cryo Processing Plant”
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”