Marcellus Drilling News

Food & Water Watch Pushes for Fracking Ban in Maryland

March 5, 2013March 5, 2013

The anti-drilling group Food & Water Watch believes they have a sympathetic ear with legislators in the State of Maryland—so they’re making an all-out push to get the miracle of fracking banned in the state. Yesterday they released a faux “report” enumerating what they believe are the negatives of fracking. According to FWW, some of the ills fracking will visit upon the pristine state of Maryland include: “air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, light pollution, marred landscapes and caravans of trucks full of toxic waste.” You mean, just like it hasn’t in PA, OH and WV?

The propaganda (i.e. press release) issued by FWW yesterday:

Cumberland County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

The Folly of PA’s Impact Fee/Tax

March 5, 2013March 5, 2013

A number of stories coming from PA for the past several months revolve around how towns and counties will spend a windfall they’ve received from the state since instituting the first-ever shale well impact “fee” last year (for background on the fee-which-is-really-just-a-tax, see: List of PA Impact Fee Disbursements by County/Town). We’ve spared you the boring details. However, we bring you one of those stories to illustrate a point.

Cumberland County, PA has no active shale drilling, yet they will receive $200,000 in “walking around” money from the hard work of energy companies and landowners who are drilling. And what do the wise leaders of Cumberland County intend to do with this new-found pile of cash? Buy a new fire truck or two? Refurbish school classrooms? Refit snowplows with new equipment? Maybe convert some county vehicles to run on natural gas? Nope. They plan to put $149,000 of it into a program to give away (blow) on “green projects.” The squabbling over how to distribute it has already begun…

Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Mar 5, 2013

March 5, 2013March 5, 2013

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

The Andy & Junior Show: Why NY Fracking is Delayed Yet Again

March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

The truth came out over the weekend from, of all places, the Associated Press (see below). New York Gov. Andrew (“Andy”) Cuomo’s former brother-in-law, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (we’ll call him “Junior”), couldn’t resist his “the whole world revolves around me” narcissistic tendencies to let the media know that he, Junior, is the real reason fracking in New York is now dead.

Andy was all set to approve up to 40 test wells for fracking just last month, then Andy (a 1-percenter) talked with Junior (another 1-percenter) and that sealed the fate of 77,000 New York landowners (99-percenters) who want to lease their land for drilling.

Anti-Fracking Andy – The Giant (Jobs) Slayer

March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

The ongoing moratorium against the miracle of fracking in New York State for horizontal wells has had a devastating effect on the state’s conventional (vertical) natural gas drilling. The moratorium is, in effect, killing all drilling in the state, according to the Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York (IOGA of NY). It’s also killing thousands of jobs supported by the conventional drilling industry.

Commenting on the “rumor” (blabbed by ex-brother-in-law RFK “Jr”) that Gov. Cuomo will delay a fracking decision until a health study just begun in PA is completed, IOGA of NY said the following:

Alternative Energy | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Obama to Nominate Moniz for Energy, McCarthy for EPA

March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

Ernest Moniz It’s official: President Obama will nominate MIT physicist Ernest “Hair” Moniz to be the next Secretary of Energy, and Gina McCarthy to head the Environmental Protection Agency. We call Dr. Moniz “Hair” because of his “wavy mop” of gray hair—you’ll know what we mean when you see his picture.

Details on Dr. Moniz:

EnerVest Strategy: Sell Utica, Drill Vertical, Expand Midstream

March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

In September of last year, EV Energy Partners/EnerVest put 539,000 Ohio Utica Shale acres on the auction block, thinking they would get around $6 billion for it (see EnerVest Puts 539,000 Utica Shale Acres on Auction Block). In November, the company said they should complete the sale of the Utica acreage by the end of 2012 (see EV Energy Selling 539K Utica Shale Acres by Dec 31). That turned out to be a tad optimistic. EnerVest still does not have a deal for their Utica acreage.

An update on the company’s strategy from EV Energy Partners Chairman John Walker and EnerVest President Mark Houser, from Friday’s analyst call:

Halcón Resources: Full Speed Ahead in Utica Shale for 2013

March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

Houston-based Halcón Resources Corporation issued their fourth quarter and full year 2012 financials and operational update last week. As MDN has been reporting, Halcón is ramping up in the Utica Shale (see Location of Second Halcon Utica Well in Trumbull County, OH). Their 2012 update further confirms that they are making a big push in the Utica for 2013.

In the extract below discussing Halcón’s Utica plans for 2013, we learn they have 130,000 acres, plan to drill 20-25 new wells and will spend $200 million on their Utica drilling program for the year. Interestingly, both of their completed Utica wells are located in the Pennsylvania Utica—not in Ohio…

Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Lawsuit: WV Landowners Want Out of $5/Acre Leases

March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

About 120 West Virginia landowners are suing Magnum Land Services and Belmont Resources with the claim the company’s representatives hoodwinked them into signing leases to allow shale drilling for as little as $5 per acre when, at the time (in 2007), other West Virginian’s were getting as much as $5,000 per acre. The case is headed to federal court.

The (few) details as we know them:

Energy Companies | Lawrence County | Pennsylvania | Shell

Lawrence County, PA: Shell Continues Marcellus Drilling

March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

A pair of Marcellus Shale wells drilled by Shell are the first two horizontal wells in Lawrence County, PA to be hooked up to pipelines and selling gas commercially, according a spokesman for Shell.

Details on which two wells are now in production, along with Shell’s 2013 plans for Lawrence County…

Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Richland County

Richland County, OH: No Permits to Drill, but Lots of Leasing

March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

Although Richland County, Ohio is near the outer edge of the Utica Shale and has had no permits issued for Utica Shale drilling, and although drilling close to Richland (in Ashland County) has had “disappointing” results for companies like Devon Energy, the Ohio Farm Bureau reports there’s still a lot of leasing activity in Richland County, with some really nice signing bonuses…

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | New York | Research | Statewide NY

Park Foundation Funds Army of Water Testing Volunteers in NY

March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

The anti-drilling Park Foundation—the organization that funds such luminaries as the husband and wife lawyer team David and Helen Slottje (see Slottje Alert: Lebanon, NY About to be Fleeced)—is hedging their bets just in case Gov. Cuomo suddenly grows a spine and allows safe fracking to go forward. How? They’re funding 100 volunteers to test New York waterways on a regular basis with the thought the testing could be used in court to prove fracking is causing damage to groundwater supplies—when and if fracking ever comes to New York.

The misleadingly-named Community Science Institute provides so-called “volunteers” to do the testing:

Education | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Supply Chain

Penn State Launches 2 More Marcellus Initiatives for Businesses

March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

Penn State University loves the Marcellus Shale. In addition to operating the Marcellus Center for Outreach & Research and the Shale Education and Training Center (ShaleTEC), Penn State is offering two new Marcellus-related services: a shale energy seminar and supply chain services for businesses:

About MDN | Calendar

Calendar of Events for Mar 4-17, 2013 [Free]

March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

Below are upcoming events for this week and next.

New York

Ohio

Pennsylvania

Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Mar 4, 2013

March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

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

Cabot O&G: Giant Marcellus Shale Wells in NE PA

March 1, 2013March 1, 2013

off the charts Last week energy analyst Richard Zeits posted a terrific piece on Cabot Oil & Gas on the Seeking Alpha website (see Cabot’s Drilling in Susquehanna County Moves Needle on U.S. Supplies). Zeits turns in a “part 2” on the Cabot story yesterday—and if anything, it’s even better. In his latest post, Zeits talks about the uber-productive wells Cabot has drilled in Susquehanna County, PA. Cabot had 30 wells in the fourth quarter of last year that turned in initial 24-hour flow rates of 20 million cubic feet of natural gas, settling back to a 30-day average rate of 16.6 Mmcf/d.

Even more astonishing? One well they drilled—with 35 frack stages—had a 24-hour initial rate of 41.4 Mmcf/d and settled back to a 30-day average of 35.9 Mmcf/d. Superlatives are not enough to express how big this news is. These are the highest numbers we’ve ever seen—higher than the Gulfport wells in the Ohio Utica Shale (although this is dry gas only, so it’s not a true apples to apples comparison). This is big news not only for Cabot and Pennsylvania…these wells are relatively close to the border of New York State. Hello Gov. Ditherer!