Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Feb 22, 2013
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crime | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Trucking | Washington County (OH) | Wastewater
Protesters Get Violent, Shut Down OH Frack Water Plant
GreenHunter Energy operates a bulk storage and shipping facility near New Matamoras (Washington County), Ohio for salt water (“brine”) that comes from shale wells long after they are drilled and fracked. Brine is naturally occurring water from deep below the ground—water without chemicals from fracking—it just contains a lot of minerals. That fact doesn’t seem to matter to some obtuse protesters.Yesterday, a group of 100 or so protesters, organized by an extremist group called Appalachia Resist!, stormed the New Matamoras brine facility and shut it down. They engaged in criminal acts by plugging the toilets, stealing keys and in general terrorizing the employees at the facility. Ten of the protesters were arrested (their names, ages and home cities are listed below). More will be charged once police are done reviewing video tapes of the incident.
You may be interested to know that almost all of the people arrested were from other states—not even Ohio residents. GreenHunter is pressing charges, which includes felony counts and possibly charges under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Read More “Protesters Get Violent, Shut Down OH Frack Water Plant”
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Chesapeake Probe Clears McClendon of Any Financial Misconduct
Chesapeake Energy’s board of directors issued a statement yesterday stating their independent internal probe into the financial dealings of current and soon-to-be-former CEO Aubrey McClendon is now complete. The verdict? He’s not guilty of any financial misconduct. The board also says the company is not guilty of antitrust violations in the case of Michigan’s auction of oil and gas leases in 2010.
This is good news for McClendon. However, he’s not out the woods just yet. There are still Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigations in progress.
Read More “Chesapeake Probe Clears McClendon of Any Financial Misconduct”
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NY Landowner Group Asks Members to Flood Cuomo with Letters/Calls
The Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY) is putting out the word to its 77,000 members to contact Gov. Andrew Cuomo and let him know that a) they vote, and b) they won’t forget if he doesn’t allow fracking to move forward now, by the end of February. They’re encouraging members to print out and send him a couple of form letters (see them below), as well as call the governor’s office—repeatedly. This is a “numbers game” now according the JLCNY. They want to roar so Gov. Ditherer hears it loud and clear.
Here’s the email MDN received from the JLCNY announcing their latest initiative:
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NW PA Frack Wastewater Injection Well Begins Operation
A new fracking wastewater injection well in northwest Pennsylvania has just opened for business. Bear Lake Properties in Warren County (near the New York border) is now accepting Marcellus Shale wastewater, although for now they’re only accepting the wastewater produced from their own drilling activities.
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EXCO Resources 2012 Update: Marcellus Production Up 73%
EXCO Resources reported their fourth quarter and full 2012 numbers yesterday. As part of the update, they also included the following brief update on their Marcellus Shale drilling activities for last year:
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Southwestern Energy’s 2012 Report: Marcellus Production Up 130%
Southwestern Energy, a major Marcellus Shale driller, issued its 2012 financial and operational update yesterday. Among the highlights: Southwestern spent $507 million on their Marcellus drilling program in 2012, which included drilling and putting into operation 92 wells. Gross production from the company’s operated wells in the Marcellus increased from 133 MMcf per day at the beginning of 2012 to approximately 300 MMcf per day by year-end, and total net production was 53.6 Bcf in 2012, up 130% from 23.4 Bcf in 2011. It’s full speed ahead for Southwestern in the Marcellus Shale.
Here’s portions from yesterday’s update that are relevant to Southwestern’s Marcellus operations:
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Gastar’s 2012 Update: 38 WV Marcellus Wells Now in Production
Today Gastar released 2012 numbers and an operational update for their drilling activities in the Marcellus Shale. Among the highlights: Gastar’s proved reserves increased 51% in 2012. By the end of last year, Gastar was operating 38 Marcellus Shale wells—all of them in the wet gas region of Marshall County, WV.
Here’s the rundown on the numbers, including an operational update, for Gastar’s Marcellus activities in 2012:
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Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Feb 21, 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, Feb 21, 2013”
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About MDN | MDN Resources | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia
MDN Calls It: PA Hits 2 Trillion in NatGas Production in 2012
Last month MDN released Volume 3 of the Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook. We predicted something in the ‘Drilling Update’ section that Databook readers have now known for a month—that Pennsylvania would hit the 2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas production milestone for 2012. The exact quote from the Databook, published at the end of January: “Pennsylvania, which just passed 1 trillion cubic feet of shale natural gas production in 2011, will double that and hit 2 trillion cubic feet of production for 2012. In addition, we believe Ohio’s Utica Shale will achieve 67 billion cubic feet of production for 2012.” We also predicted: “WV will likely double production again, so we’re estimating they will show an increase to 455 bcf for 2012.” (Databook Volume 3, page 10)We don’t yet have 2012 final numbers for OH and WV, but our prediction for PA was spot on and is now verified by the latest reports just released by the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection:
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Allegheny County | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania
$50M Check in the Mail: Pittsburgh Airport Lease a Done Deal
The deal by CONSOL Energy to lease 9,000 acres owned by Pittsburgh International Airport for shale gas drilling is a done deal. Yesterday the Allegheny County Council voted to accept the deal. A few nut job protesters turned up in gas masks (as is their way). The vote was 9-4 in favor of the deal. Once County Executive Rich Fitzgerald signs it, the Airport Authority will receive a check for $50 million.
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Medina County | Ohio | Regulation
Big OH Company Will Leave Town if Anti-Drilling Resolution Passes
Politicians in Brunswick, OH (near Cleveland) are about to learn a lesson the hard way. The Brunswick City Council intends to pass a resolution that calls shale gas drilling “risky” and asks the state legislature to allow local municipalities to ban it—the implication being they want to ban it in Brunswick. The resolution is outright anti-drilling and hostile to the drilling industry. If it passes, a large local company that’s been located in the city for 100 years says they’ll leave and take a huge chunk of tax revenue with them.
Philpott Rubber held a press conference to discuss their very serious threat. Philpott provides “environmentally friendly” products and services for shale drillers through their subsidiary Philpott Energy & Transportation Company. Philpott is planning a major expansion of their business due to an increase in drilling. If Brunswick persists in passing the resolution, Philpott will build a new wholesale operation outside the city, denying the city a boatload of tax money.
Read More “Big OH Company Will Leave Town if Anti-Drilling Resolution Passes”
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Rice Energy in Hunt for $400M to Develop Utica Shale Acreage
Have an extra $400 million to spare? Rice Energy is looking for investors to help it develop their “significant holdings” in the Utica Shale. Rice Energy was founded by Dan Rice, the single most successful mutual fund manager in the United States over the past 10 years. Because the company he worked for, BlackRock, screwed up and didn’t tell investors about Dan’s extra circular activities with Rice Energy, they fired him last summer (see BlackRock’s Screw-up with Dan Rice & Rice Energy). Nice company.
Here’s the story about Rice Energy’s hunt for new investors for the Utica:
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Washington County
Hearing on PA DEP Water Testing – 2.5 Hour Gripe Session
Pennsylvania State Rep. Jesse White (Democrat from Cecil, PA) held a hearing yesterday in Washington, PA that took aim at practices by the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) over how they test (or don’t test) and report (or don’t report) on water supplies near active shale drilling locations. The DEP was invited to attend their own roasting but declined, calling White’s hearing political theater, unproductive, unprofessional and a waste of time (see PA DEP Not Attending Hearing on Water Testing Near Shale Drilling).
With representatives from anti-drilling organizations like Earthworks and PennFuture scheduled to testify at the hearing, it’s not surprising the DEP declined to show up just to be bullied. The session was apparently a 2 1/2 hour dump-on-the-DEP-fest:
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Kent State University: No Plans to Allow Gas Drilling
In Ohio, whether or not a state university like Kent State wants to allow drilling for natural gas on or under their land is up to the administrators of that university. Kent State owns over one thousand of acres of land. The main campus, in Portage County, OH, is over 900 acres by itself. Kent State owns eight campuses, a golf course and an airport—all in the Utica Shale region.
Although there is no official position (yet) coming from Kent on whether they want to lease their land for gas drilling, the administration has said there are “no plans to initiate drilling” on the Kent State campus.
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NiSource Spending $1.8B over 5 Years on Pipeline Upgrades
NiSource Inc., parent company and operator of the Columbia Gas Transmission pipeline which runs throughout the northeast including Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York and New Jersey, released their 2012 financial and operating statement yesterday. The update and investor phone call (see presentations below) also provides updates on future plans. Among the interesting highlights: NiSource will spend $1.8 billion on pipeline improvements through 2017.
NiSource is not only pipelining natural gas in the Utica and Marcellus, they’re drilling wells too…
Read More “NiSource Spending $1.8B over 5 Years on Pipeline Upgrades”
GreenHunter Energy operates a bulk storage and shipping facility near New Matamoras (Washington County), Ohio for salt water (“brine”) that comes from shale wells long after they are drilled and fracked. Brine is naturally occurring water from deep below the ground—water without chemicals from fracking—it just contains a lot of minerals. That fact doesn’t seem to matter to some obtuse protesters.
Last month MDN released Volume 3 of the