Marcellus Drilling News

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Frack Update: Cuomo Dithers, Landowners Mad, Lawyer Explains
February 14, 2013February 14, 2013

It’s painfully obvious the reason New York is not moving forward with hydraulic fracturing is because of its governor, Andrew Cuomo. He’s the man the New York Times says “is becoming Hamlet on the Shale,” meaning he’s dithering and indecisive. Not good qualities to have if you’re a political leader seeking the highest office in the country.

Yesterday, Cuomo continued his pathetic excuses about why there’s an ongoing delay with fracking in New York State. Also yesterday, the group representing 77,000 landowners with more than a million acres of land to lease fired back at the DEC’s latest delay. Plus, we have a bit more insight from a pro-fracking lawyer about Joe Martens’ mysterious statement of moving forward with permits even without new regulations. Read on…

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Butler County | Energy Companies | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Rex Energy | Statewide OH

Rex Energy Plans to Invest $200M on Marcellus/Utica Drilling in 2013
February 14, 2013February 14, 2013

Rex Energy is planning to invest nearly $200 million on shale drilling in the Marcellus and Utica Shale in 2013. Around $107 million of that will be allocated for drilling in the Marcellus, in the Butler County, PA area, and about $85 million will be spent on Utica Shale drilling in Ohio. See a Rex presentation embedded below for full details of their 2013 drilling plans.

Here’s a rundown of their plans for Ohio’s Utica Shale from the Energy in Depth – Ohio website:

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Air Quality | Bradford County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Susquehanna County

Air Pollution Goes Up in Some PA Counties from Marcellus Drilling
February 14, 2013February 14, 2013

Yesterday MDN reported the story that air pollution in Pennsylvania overall has gone done significantly from 2008 to 2011 due to the increased use of Marcellus Shale gas now being mined and used (see “Thank You for Fracking” – Air Pollution Goes Down in PA). The reason air pollution has gone down is mainly due to the switch away from burning coal to burning natural gas.

However, closer analysis of the data (MDN has not been able to get a copy of the full report—yet) shows that in PA counties with a lot of shale drilling, certain kinds of air pollution went up during that period even though the state average went down. Why? Mainly because of (we’re guessing) the increased use of diesel engines used in the equipment operating at drill sites and from the large number of trucks coming and going to drill sites. Compressor plant emissions also contribute to the increase.

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Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Ohio Utica Shale: Permits, Wells & Rig Count
February 14, 2013February 14, 2013

The numbers continue to increase for permits issued and wells drilled in the Ohio Utica Shale. The latest report from the Akron Beacon Journal, including the number of active drilling rigs in the Ohio Utica:

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

Coming to WV: The Little Ethane Cracker that Could
February 14, 2013February 14, 2013

On Monday, MDN reported the outlines of a deal from Appalachian Resins Inc. to bring a “small” ethane cracker plant to a location “south of Wheeling,” in West Virginia (see “Small” Ethane Cracker Plant Coming to Wheeling, WV). Although we don’t know the exact location yet, we do have a few more details on the rapidly-progressing deal, which looks more promising each day:

Read More “Coming to WV: The Little Ethane Cracker that Could”
Energy Companies | New York | Norse Energy | Statewide NY

Norse Energy: We’re Still Here, We Still Need Money & We Have Gas
February 14, 2013February 14, 2013

In a pair of press releases issued yesterday, the now bankrupt Norse Energy Corp. wanted to let the market know “we’re still here, we’re still looking for investors, and we’re still hanging on by a thread hoping that New York allows us to start drilling any time now.” That’s about the sum total of what was said.

If New York does begin to issue shale drilling permits (a really big “if”), Norse is likely to be one of the first companies to receive permission to drill because they are one of the first companies to file permit applications for drilling in the Marcellus/Utica in New York.

Read More “Norse Energy: We’re Still Here, We Still Need Money & We Have Gas”
Anadarko | Athens County | Encore Energy | Energy Companies | Guernsey County | Lease & Royalty Payments | Meigs County | Monroe County | Morgan County | Noble County | Ohio | Utica Shale | Washington County (OH)

Encore Energy to Anadarko: We’ve Got OH Land for You
February 14, 2013February 14, 2013

A for-profit company that pools acreage from both landowners that want to lease their land, and from energy companies with leases who want to re-sell those leases, is trying to get the attention of Anadarko and other drillers in the Ohio Utica Shale. Encore Energy issued a press release yesterday announcing they have land available for lease. They specifically tap Anadarko on the shoulder to tell them they have 1,300 Utica Shale acres “just 3 miles” from land they’re already drilling on in Washington County, OH.

Encore is shopping more than 18,000 acres across a number of Ohio counties, including Morgan, Washington, Noble, Guernsey, Monroe, Athens and Meigs. Here’s their “hey Anadarko, pay attention” press release:

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Accidents | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Soil | West Virginia | Wetzel County

MarkWest Fined for Soil Erosion/Creek Damage Near WV Plant
February 14, 2013February 14, 2013

MarkWest Energy has been slapped with a $306,000 fine by the West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection for polluting a small stream near its new Mobley processing plant in Wetzel County. The plant just went online in December (see MarkWest’s Mobley, WV Wet Gas Processing Plant Goes Online). During construction of the plant, the DEP says MarkWest’s work caused landslides of dirt, trees and other debris into a nearby creek.

MarkWest has agreed to pay the fine and “accepts responsibility” for the damage, yet they officially admit no wrongdoing under the proposed settlement order. Hmmm.

Read More “MarkWest Fined for Soil Erosion/Creek Damage Near WV Plant”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

MSC Disagrees with MDN’s Take on Obama Speech
February 14, 2013February 14, 2013

Not everyone on the pro-drilling side of the isle agrees with MDN when it comes to the tragedy that is the Obama Administration. We told you our opinion of the president’s State of the Union Speech yesterday (see The Great and Powerful BHOz Threatens Edict on Global Warming).

The Marcellus Shale Coalition—a Pittsburgh-based industry organization that is tops in our book—doesn’t see it the same way. They think there were good things resulting from the speech. Here is their take on what Obama said on Tuesday:

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Feb 14, 2013
February 14, 2013February 14, 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 14, 2013”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Deadline for NY Fracking Regs Slips Again…Or Does It?
February 13, 2013February 13, 2013

This is without a doubt the most difficult article MDN has had to author—on many levels. Yesterday, New York’s Commissioner of the Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Joe Martens, announced he would not release the Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) today, Feb. 13, because of a delay he’s blaming on the state health department. We previously reported that if the SGEIS was not released today, final regulations would not be adopted by Feb. 27 to allow fracking to move forward. In a statement yesterday, Martens seemed to say that’s not necessarily the case. His statement is confusing and contradictory, and frankly no one fully understands it.

MDN will break this all down and tell you what we know, what we don’t know, and what we think will happen. We have statements from State Health Commissioner Shah and DEC Commissioner Martens along with comments from various organizations with their interpretation of what it means. We will take you through the process chapter and verse—so this is a long post. We won’t keep you in suspense: We don’t know exactly what to make of Martens’ comments. It’s muddled, we believe intentionally so. The real person to keep your eye on in this theatre of the absurd is Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who seems to want to have his cake and eat it too…

Read More “Deadline for NY Fracking Regs Slips Again…Or Does It?”
Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

“Thank You for Fracking” – Air Pollution Goes Down in PA
February 13, 2013February 13, 2013

Because of miracle of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) and the natural gas it generates, and because that abundant new source of natural gas burns cleaner than any other fossil fuel, air pollution in Pennsylvania declined—significantly—from 2008 to 2011. So we tip our hat and say a big, “Thank you for fracking.”

Some of the stats recently reported by PA to the federal EPA in a report on air pollution (required every three years):

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York

NRDC & CCSE Sue Sanford, NY over No-Frackspeak Resolution
February 13, 2013February 13, 2013

Not since the Viet Nam protests have hippie and hippie wannabes been so fired up over an issue as they are about fracking. The fracking fight has injected meaning and purpose back in to their pathetic lives. When hippies get fired up, they need an audience to listen to them. What better audience than the local (captive) monthly town board meeting? Hippies attend these meetings as a form of harassment to endlessly recycle the same pabulum that fracking kills, fracking pollutes, fracking yada yada yada—month in and month out.

Council members for the Town of Sanford, NY, tucked in the outer edge of Broome County, had heard enough yammering from a select few local residents on the topic of fracking, so they passed a resolution that there would be no more lecturing on fracking (either for or against) during public comment periods at board meetings. Whoops! That’s like waving a red flag at a bull. You just don’t deny a hippie their three minutes of freak-show time before the microphones…

Read More “NRDC & CCSE Sue Sanford, NY over No-Frackspeak Resolution”
Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Ethane Cracker Plant Question Prompts Smile from WV Gov. Tomblin
February 13, 2013February 13, 2013

MDN has been reporting about West Virginia’s prospects to get an ethane cracker plant, like, forever. Every few months we hear a rumor of “we’re talking with companies about a cracker plant.” But a deal to actually build a cracker plant in WV never seems to materialize. Two days ago we reported on the first really solid, possible cracker deal we’ve heard of in some time (see “Small” Ethane Cracker Plant Coming to Wheeling, WV). As we stated in the article, we’re cautiously optimistic, but still a tad skeptical.

However, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and his big smile may know something we don’t:

Read More “Ethane Cracker Plant Question Prompts Smile from WV Gov. Tomblin”
Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | RETTEW | Roads | Statewide PA

Engineering Firm Receives Award for Road Project in Marcellus
February 13, 2013February 13, 2013

Engineering firm RETTEW, a firm that does a lot of work in the Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling industry, has just received an award for their work on a Chesapeake Energy project to reconstruct more than 400 miles of rural roads in Pennsylvania at no cost to the public while reducing waste by nearly 100 percent. A hearty congratulations to RETTEW for their innovative approach, and to Chesapeake for their proactive program to preserve rural roads in active drilling areas.

From the press announcement:

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Alternative Energy | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues

The Great and Powerful BHOz Threatens Edict on Global Warming
February 13, 2013February 13, 2013

Apologies in advance to MDN subscribers who voted for and/or support our petulant man-child president with tyrannical tendencies, Barack H. Obama. You’re excused from reading this post. It may give you a stroke.

Read More “The Great and Powerful BHOz Threatens Edict on Global Warming”