Marcellus Drilling News

Energy Companies | PDC Energy | Utica Shale

PDC Nearly Doubles Utica Shale Drilling Budget for 2013
March 18, 2013March 18, 2013

PDC Energy announced today they are nearly doubling their drilling investment in the Utica Shale—this year—from $53 million to $96 million. They plan to keep one drilling rig busy at all times in the Utica this year and drill a total of 11 Utica Shale wells. Their plans also include a deal with MarkWest Energy to provide midstream services for the wells they drill. PDC also plans to use a small amount—$9 million—for drilling in the Marcellus Shale.

PDC’s announcement today:

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Appalachian Resins | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Cracker Talk: WV Says Small/Regional Ethane Cracker on the Way
March 18, 2013March 18, 2013

The Marcellus 2 Manufacturing (or M2M) Conference convenes this week in Charleston, WV (see this MDN calendar announcement). One of the main topics of conversation for the event? You guessed it—West Virginia will soon get its own ethane cracker plant. The talk now is that WV will get a “baby cracker” online long before Shell builds a full-sized cracker in Monaca, PA.

Joe Eddy, chairman of the West Virginia Manufacturers Association (chief sponsor of the M2M conference), is president and CEO of Eagle Manufacturing in Wellsburg, WV. Here’s what he said about a small/regional ethane cracker recently announced for WV:

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Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies

Overview of Magnum Hunter’s Operations in Marcellus/Utica
March 18, 2013March 18, 2013

An article on the Seeking Alpha website takes a close look at Magnum Hunter Resources and offers the author’s opinion on where the company should focus in 2013 (the author believes Kentucky and Tennessee should be the focus). As part of the article, we get this overview of how much acreage Magnum Hunter holds in the Marcellus and Utica, how many wells they’ve drilled thus far (hint: not many), and a map of their acreage position in Appalachia:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research | Statewide WV | Wastewater | West Virginia

WVU Study Finds Potential Problems with Frack Wastewater Pits
March 18, 2013March 18, 2013

As part of the West Virginia Natural Gas Horizontal Well Control Act passed and signed into law in December 2011, the state legislature directed the WV Dept. of Environment Protection to conduct several studies. One of those studies, due by Dec. 31, 2012, was the Impoundment and Pit Safety Study. The study was done on Dec. 17, but only recently released to the public (February 15, 2013).

Details are now emerging from the study (full copy of the study is embedded below), including a warning there may be problems with the way oil and gas drillers are building waste pits for shale drilling, and with how state inspectors are checking them:

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Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Seneca Resources | Statewide PA

PA Enviro Groups Oppose Using Acid Mine Water for Fracking
March 18, 2013March 18, 2013

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection and elected officials want Marcellus drillers to help them with a big problem in the state: acid mine drainage. To solve two “problems” at once—lessen the amount of acid mine water that drains into PA waterways and supply water for fracking—PA encourages drillers to use acid mine water with the Environmental Good Samaritan Act and with a Consent Order and Agreement (see PA Wants Drillers to Use Acid Mine Water in Fracking – Will They?). PA’s efforts have started to pay off. Seneca Resources and at least 10 other drillers have started to use acid mine water for fracking.

However, just like a bad Western movie, extremist environmental organizations have ridden in to ruin the day. Legislation to encourage more use of acid mine water for fracking was recently introduced by a Democrat (!) Senate member. PennEnvironment and other “environmental activists” have sidelined the legislation…

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Are Celebrities Breaking NY Law in Anti-Fracking Activities?
March 18, 2013March 18, 2013

Are anti-drilling one-percenters like Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon and Susan Sarandon breaking the law because they haven’t registered as lobbyists in New York State? According to the AP, maybe…

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Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County | Wastewater

Range Gets Violation Notice for Wastewater Spill in SW PA
March 18, 2013March 18, 2013

A very small spill (about 40 barrels, or 1,680 gallons) of recycled fracking water with no chemical additives in it was spilled in Cross Creek County Park (Washington County), PA on Feb. 12 by Range Resources. The state Dept. of Environmental Protection has issued Range a notice of violation and is investigating…

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Economic Impact | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Statewide OH

OH Congressmen Form LNG Working Group to Encourage Exports
March 18, 2013March 18, 2013

Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan announced last week that he and Ohio Congressman Bill Johnson have founded the “Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Export Working Group” for the 113th Congress. The purpose of the group is to encourage the Obama administration (specifically the Dept. of Energy) to get off it’s collective rear-end and start approving some of the many requests for permits to export natural gas.

Congressman Ryan’s press announcement:

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About MDN | Calendar

Calendar of Events for Mar 18-31, 2013 [Free]
March 18, 2013March 18, 2013

Below are upcoming events for this week and next.

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Mar 18, 2013
March 18, 2013March 18, 2013

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:

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Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

OH Utica’s “Best Oil Window” Boundaries Taking Shape
March 15, 2013March 15, 2013

With more and more wells being drilled in the Ohio Utica Shale, drillers are starting to zero in on the best places to drill for oil.

Where is the “best oil window” in the Utica/Point Pleasant? A recent article describes its boundaries…

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Broome County | Chenango County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Research

USGS: Best Places in NY Southern Tier to Get Water for Fracking
March 15, 2013March 15, 2013

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has identified three large-scale groundwater supply sources along the Susquehanna River in Broome and Chenango counties (New York State) in an announcement about a newly completed study (full copy of the study is embedded below). The USGS says these three potential groundwater supply locations are in areas where there may be future shale gas drilling activities.

Essentially, the USGS has provided the drilling industry and regulators at the DEC and SRBC with a helpful “best places to get water for fracking” guide…

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Carroll County | Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH

2nd Forced Pooling Order in OH Utica, Landowner Gets No Bonus
March 15, 2013March 15, 2013

For the second time since the Utica Shale drilling boom began, the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management (DOGRM) has issued a forced pooling order (in Carroll County). In Ohio it’s called a “unitization order.” No matter what you call it, it means that the driller—Chesapeake Energy—will be allowed to drill under someone’s property that doesn’t want it because a majority of the surrounding property (88% in this case) is leased and the property in question is needed to complete a drilling unit.

Not only is this news because it’s only the second unitization order issued for Utica Shale drilling, it’s news because in this case DOGRM is not forcing Chesapeake to pay a leasing bonus to the reluctant landowner—a change from the first unitization order:

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Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Ohio County | Wastewater | West Virginia

GreenHunter Buys Barge Terminal in Wheeling for Frack Wastewater
March 15, 2013March 15, 2013

Yesterday, GreenHunter Water announced they have purchased a 10.8 acre barge terminal site in Wheeling, WV that sits along the Ohio River. GreenHunter plans to convert the former gasoline storage facility into a shale wastewater handling and storage facility that will recycle wastewater so drillers can reuse it, or ship it by barge to other locations (like injection wells) for disposal. The GreenHunter announcement raises a number of questions and observations. MDN will add its analysis below.

First, the announcement from GreenHunter issued yesterday:

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Commodity Price | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues

NatGas Prices Inching Higher, $4 Mcf This Summer?
March 15, 2013March 15, 2013

This is not a story about the Marcellus/Utica per se, but it has a direct bearing on landowners (how big their royalty checks are) and the drilling industry (whether or not they’re willing to sink a hole) in Appalachia.

The enormous success of the shale drilling industry has been its own worst enemy in one respect: Demand for natural gas as not kept pace with the enormous flood of new supplies, and that has led to a commodity price “collapse” since 2011. Even though domestic supplies of natural gas are now at an all-time high, prices are once again inching up and it’s expected the commodity price will hit $4 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) sometime this year—perhaps this summer. Why? The switch from coal to natgas in electric power generating plants…

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Accidents | Carrizo Oil & Gas | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Wyoming County (PA)

Carrizo Problem Fracking NE PA Well, Evacuates 3 Nearby Families
March 15, 2013March 15, 2013

Carrizo Oil & Gas temporarily lost control of a Marcellus Shale gas well they were fracking in Wyoming County, PA on Wednesday. The company was in the 23rd stage Wednesday about 6:00 pm when wastewater and brine started to flow at a rate of about 800 gallons per minute—too fast to control. The concern was that natural gas (methane) would start pouring out of the hole too, so Carrizo and a specialty well control crew worked through the night and by early Thursday had the problem contained, and by Thursday afternoon they had the well capped. No methane was released into the atmosphere and the wastewater was contained.

During the episode three families that lived within 1,500 feet of the well were evacuated as a precaution. They returned on Thursday. Here’s the details about the accident as we know them:

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