Marcellus Drilling News

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”
Beaver County | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell | Statewide PA

Corbett Story Changes: Decision on PA Cracker Plant Delayed Again
April 29, 2013April 29, 2013

In what looks to be like more backpedaling, PA Gov. Tom Corbett told the Pittsburgh Business Times on Friday he now doesn’t expect a final decision on whether Shell will build a new $2 billion ethane cracker plant in Monaca, PA until 2014. Last December he said Shell needed another six months (until the end of June) for lawyers “dotting I’s and crossing T’s” (see Gov Tom Corbett: Shell Cracker Plant in PA Not “Off the Rails”). Now the story is, “I’ve always thought it would be early next year,” meaning 2014. Hmmm. Then why didn’t he say that last December?

From the Pittsburgh Business Times:

Read More “Corbett Story Changes: Decision on PA Cracker Plant Delayed Again”
Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH

Ohio Force Pooling Requests: 4 Granted, 5 Pending, 2 Other
April 29, 2013April 29, 2013

An extensive article on “unitization” (what MDN calls “forced pooling”) in Ohio appeared in the Sunday Youngstown Vindicator. The article gives a good overview of the history of unitization in Ohio, along with current requests pending with the ODNR.

The article begins this way:

Read More “Ohio Force Pooling Requests: 4 Granted, 5 Pending, 2 Other”
Antero Resources | Belmont County | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Utica Shale

OH School District Gets $400K Lease Bonus from Antero Resources
April 29, 2013April 29, 2013

The Barnesville Exempted Village School District in Belmont County, OH has just signed a lease with Antero Resources for $5,700 per acre plus 20% royalties. Antero also kicked in an extra gift of $37,500 making the grand total for the lease bonus just over $400,000 for the school district. The school’s superintendent Randy Lucas said Antero plans to start drilling “sometime over the next two years”…

Read More “OH School District Gets $400K Lease Bonus from Antero Resources”
Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Ohio | Processing Plants | Tuscarawas County

New Processing/Fractionation Plant Coming to Tuscarawas County OH
April 29, 2013April 29, 2013

MDN first told you about a new natural gas processing and fractionation plant that may be coming to Tuscarawas County, OH back in early March (see Kinder Morgan to Build Processing & Fractionation Plants in OH?). Good news for Ohioans—Kinder Morgan has confirmed that the necessary EPA permits have been secured and once they have customers lined up, they plan to move forward with construction…

Read More “New Processing/Fractionation Plant Coming to Tuscarawas County OH”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH

Ohio Moves One Step Closer to Quarterly O&G Production Reports
April 29, 2013April 29, 2013

It looks like Ohio may finally move from reporting oil and gas production every 12 months to every three months. A provision in the state budget (passed by the Ohio House nearly two weeks ago) will require drillers in Ohio to provide production numbers every three months. According to the head of Ohio’s Oil and Gas Resources division at the Dept. of Natural Resources, Rick Simmers, drillers have dropped their opposition to more frequent reporting…

Read More “Ohio Moves One Step Closer to Quarterly O&G Production Reports”
Crime | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines

Fired Pipeliner Sentenced to Year in Prison, Fined for Vandalism
April 29, 2013April 29, 2013

Henry Benton, a fired pipeline worker used a backhoe to intentionally damaged a buried pipeline in northern Lycoming County, PA on three separate occasions in June 2011. He recently plead guilty and has just been sentenced. Benton was ordered to pay $150,000 to the company installing the pipeline ($50K in damages from what he did). He’s also been sentenced to a year in prison:

Read More “Fired Pipeliner Sentenced to Year in Prison, Fined for Vandalism”
CNX Resources | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies

CONSOL 1Q13 Update: Transition from Coal to NatGas Continues
April 29, 2013April 29, 2013

CONSOL Energy is one of the largest drillers in the Marcellus Shale. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, CONSOL is also one of the country’s largest coal producers–and the coal portion of the company weighs down its financial performance, as evidenced by their most recent financial update. Last week, CONSOL released its first quarter 2013 financial and operational update and although earnings were disappointing, Marcellus Shale gas production was up a very healthy 60% over the same period in 2012. CONSOL is transforming itself from coal company to natural gas company that concentrates on the Marcellus and Utica Shale region.

Portions of the 1Q13 update, including a very interesting breakdown of the costs to extract gas, which shows in that CONSOL sold gas for an average $4.30 per thousand cubic feet in 1Q13, of which $0.77 per Mcf was profit:

Read More “CONSOL 1Q13 Update: Transition from Coal to NatGas Continues”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Research

House Members to EPA: More Details on Fracking Research or No $$
April 29, 2013April 29, 2013

On Friday, House Republicans at a hearing of the Energy and Environment subcommittee focusing on fracking raked the EPA representative over the coals because of the agency’s so-called research that has “misled the public” on the environmental and health risks of fracking. The House spent $45 million last year on said research, and the EPA is requesting another $38 million this year. House Republicans want to know more about that research before they’ll spend another dime on it…

Read More “House Members to EPA: More Details on Fracking Research or No $$”
Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

EPA Says Oops, Methane Leaks Much Less than We Thought
April 29, 2013April 29, 2013

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has “dramatically lowered” its estimate of just how much methane leaks into the atmosphere during the drilling/extracting process. The EPA considers methane a potent so-called greenhouse gas with the power to elevate the earth’s temperature.

The EPA data is “kind of an earthquake” in the drilling debate according to the Breakthrough Institute. Of course the unreasonable anti-drilling nutters like 350.org refuse to believe it, calling natural gas the energy equivalent of a “fad diet”…

Read More “EPA Says Oops, Methane Leaks Much Less than We Thought”
Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation

Feds Win Court Case for Pipeline Agency to Inspect NGL Plants
April 29, 2013April 29, 2013

A recent U.S. District Court case has decided that the U.S. Dept. of Transporation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has the right not only to inspect pipelines, but also natural gas liquids (NGL) plants as well. ONEOK Partners argued that PHMSA does not have the right to inspect the pipes and equipment inside NGL plant boundaries at its facility in Bushton, Kansas. However, the District Court said “yes they do.” And so just like that, a new law is born (forget about going through proper legislative channels) and the feds now have the right to inspect NGL plants when they want to…

Read More “Feds Win Court Case for Pipeline Agency to Inspect NGL Plants”