Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Nov 8, 2012
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Obama Wins – Americans Lose
We pause on this day after the re-election of Barack H. Obama to grieve the national suicide of the United States of America, because that’s what happened yesterday. MDN believes it’s hard to overstate how profoundly another four years of an Obama administration—and an out-of-control EPA—will negatively impact the U.S. energy industry. Look for more irrational hatred of fossil fuels, and the emboldening of radical leftists to try and end all drilling for natural gas and oil in this country. Look for more Solyndras and other failed so-called green tech companies (nothing more than political graft). Look for the miracle of hydraulic fracturing to be in the crosshairs of the Obama EPA. Look for the oil and gas industry to be compared to, denigrated and targeted like the tobacco industry. Frankly, it’s a nightmare we won’t wake up from.So “thank you” to the 50.5% of my fellow citizens who have created this national nightmare. You’ll so richly get what you deserve—the rapid erosion of your freedom, higher taxes, higher fuel prices, fewer choices, and despair. MDN will be here every step of the way to remind you of what you have done—that is, until the Obama censors finally rip up the First Amendment and shut us down.
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Washington County
PA DEP Sec. Krancer Calls Rep. White a Liar re Water Testing
Last week MDN brought you the news that western PA House Rep. Jesse White and an attorney in a lawsuit against Range Resources accused the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) of intentionally withholding well water test results that would show a link between shale gas drilling and contamination of well water (see this MDN story). The allegation was made after two DEP officials were deposed in the lawsuit. Their comments seemed to confirm that the DEP does not, in some cases, test or report certain results available to them. Such a request to “suppress” or not test uses a special code (SAC 942).
Yesterday, DEP Sec. Michael Krancer minced no words in responding to Rep. White (see his letter below). Sec. Krancer essentially said White is ignorant of the facts and a liar. Krancer couched his words it in politically correct language—but the sentiment is definitely there.
Read More “PA DEP Sec. Krancer Calls Rep. White a Liar re Water Testing”
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Antero Resources | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Noble County | Ohio | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide OH
Antero Resources Inks Deal with MarkWest for Ohio Utica Shale
On Monday MDN told you about Antero Resources’ sale of their Piceance Basin assets so they can laser focus on the Marcellus and Utica Shale region (see this MDN story). A day later—yesterday—Antero followed up that big announcement with another big announcement: They’ve signed a deal with MarkWest for pipelines and processing in Noble and Harrison counties (Ohio) to give Antero’s operations in the Ohio Utica Shale a boost. Interestingly, the Harrison County project will yield ethane that MarkWest/Antero will send to the new ATEX ethane pipeline that runs all the way to the Gulf.
Terms of the deal between Antero and MarkWest were not disclosed. Here’s the joint press release announcing the particulars of the deal:
Read More “Antero Resources Inks Deal with MarkWest for Ohio Utica Shale”
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Processing Plants | West Virginia | Wetzel County
MarkWest Announces Third Mobley Processing Facility in WV
MarkWest Energy announced today they are expanding and building a new addition to their Mobley complex in Wetzel County, WV. The new Mobley III processing facility will add another 200 million cubic feet of wet gas processing. EQT is mentioned by name as one of the customers for this added new capacity. Both EQT and Magnum Hunter Resources are customers for the first Mobley facility which is due to come online this month. A second Mobley processing facility will be done and online in 1Q13, and the Mobley III announced today will be built and online sometime in 4Q13, about a year from now.
The MarkWest press release about the Mobley complex in WV:
Read More “MarkWest Announces Third Mobley Processing Facility in WV”
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Does Steuben County, NY Landfill Accept Drilling Wastewater?
The Steuben County landfill in Bath, NY was approved and ready to accept shale cuttings (leftover soil and rock from drilling) at the landfill in early August of this year (see this MDN story). They now are accepting some shale cuttings. Earlier this week a local environmental lawyer raised concerns at a meeting of the county Legislature’s Public Works Committee that the landfill may also be receiving flowback water—water that comes back up out of the bore hole after drilling—in the landfill along with shale cuttings. Flowback has high concentrations of minerals making it salty or “briny.”
County Public Works Commissioner Vince Spagnoletti said the landfill does not accept flowback direct from drillers. However, the landfill does accept some treated wastewater from another landfill. Here’s the details:
Read More “Does Steuben County, NY Landfill Accept Drilling Wastewater?”
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Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Mahoning County | Ohio | Uncategorized | V&M Star Steel
Youngstown Plant Produces Special Steel Pipe for Drilling
More than two and half years ago V&M said they would build a new $650 million steel pipe plant in Youngstown, Ohio and create 350 new jobs (see this MDN story). The new plant would manufacture steel pipes used in Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling. Last week the first pipe to be produced at the promised plant rolled (pun intended) off the production line.
But just what kind of pipe is V&M making for the shale drilling industry? A special kind of pipe called OCTG…
Read More “Youngstown Plant Produces Special Steel Pipe for Drilling”
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Carrizo 3Q12: Record Revenue, Slight Loss, 1 Marcellus Rig
Carrizo Oil & Gas released their third quarter financial and operational update yesterday. The company, with drilling operations in the Marcellus and other shale plays, reported record revenue of $96.2 million in 3Q12 with a net loss of just under $1 million. The update says Carrizo plans to continue operating one drilling rig in the Marcellus, in northeastern PA, during the fourth quarter. They also say the Eagle Ford Shale is their primary focus for new investment.
Carrizo recently brought online 10 new wells in the Marcellus in Wyoming County, PA. The 10 wells are producing a collective 50 million cubic feet of natural gas per day on average. Highlights from the Carrizo 3Q12 update:
Read More “Carrizo 3Q12: Record Revenue, Slight Loss, 1 Marcellus Rig”
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Stone Energy 3Q12: Income Down, Revenue Up, Marcellus Expands
Stone Energy reported third quarter results yesterday. The company’s 3Q12 net income was down about half of what it was in 3Q11 (to $23.7 million), but overall revenue was higher—$226.7 million in 3Q12 vs. $209.3 million for 3Q11. The company reports drilling a total of 59 horizontal wells in the Marcellus Shale so far, 17 of them this year (in West Virginia). Of the 59 wells, 35 of them are currently producing.
Highlights from the Stone 3Q12 report:
Read More “Stone Energy 3Q12: Income Down, Revenue Up, Marcellus Expands”
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Gulfport Energy 3Q12: Profits Up, Drilled 5 New Utica Wells
Gulfport Energy Corporation, a company that has two of the highest producing natural gas wells in the Ohio Utica Shale, released their third quarter financial and operational update yesterday. Counter to most other large drillers, Gulfport showed a slight profit in 3Q12—of $0.5 million—on $60.5 million in revenue. If not for some income tax expenses their net income for 3Q12 would have been $16 million.
In the 3Q12 update we get production details for a sixth horizontal well drilled by Gulfport in the Utica—the BK Stephens 1-16H well (in Harrison County, OH), which is producing an initial 1,224 barrels of condensate per day, 6.9 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, and 759 barrels of natural gas liquids per day.
Read More “Gulfport Energy 3Q12: Profits Up, Drilled 5 New Utica Wells”
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Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Nov 7, 2012
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: Wed, Nov 7, 2012”
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WPX 3Q12: $64M Net Loss, But Production in Marcellus up 333%
WPX Energy, a company formed in January 2011 by Williams (created by spinning off the Williams exploration and production division) released their third quarter financial and operational update last week. The report losing $64 million in 3Q12. Most of WPX’s operations and focus has been in plays other than the Marcellus, including a big focus on the Bakken Shale, where they drill for oil, and the Piceance Basin in northwestern Colorado where they drill for wet natural gas.In comparison, the Marcellus (where they drill for dry natural gas) is much smaller. However, the Marcellus was the only natural gas play in which WPX has production where the numbers went up in 3Q12. Production in the Piceance, Powder River Basin and San Juan Basin all went down between 7% and 16%. The Marcellus? Up an astonishing 333% from 3Q11 (although the overall numbers are still pretty small, see below). WPX reports they have drilled and completed 28 wells in the Marcellus so far in 2012—all of them in Susquehanna County, PA. They have two rigs operating in the Marcellus.
Read More “WPX 3Q12: $64M Net Loss, But Production in Marcellus up 333%”
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Town of Onondaga, NY Votes to Extend Fracking Ban 1 Month
The Town of Onondaga, a bedroom community for Syracuse, NY, voted on Monday night to extend the fracking moratorium they previously enacted. The vote continues the moratorium for another month until board members meet again Dec. 3 and will presumably vote at that meeting to either further extend the moratorium or let it die.
From the Syracuse Post-Standard:
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NYT: Where Did Power/Heat Remain on in NYC After Sandy?
In an unusual reversal, the New York Times tells the story of how some areas in New York City stayed online—lights burning and warm heat blowing—in the midst of power failures all around the city from Hurricane/Storm Sandy. How did these little islands of energy do it? You guessed it: because they were burning natural gas—using it for both heat and to generate their own electricity.
Of course the “article” was posted in the opinion section of the NYT site (they can’t be seen running a positive story about natgas in the news section, ya know). Still, it’s a startling turnabout for the bash-natgas newspaper of record. The article starts this way:
Read More “NYT: Where Did Power/Heat Remain on in NYC After Sandy?”
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FERC Approves Transco Northeast Supply Link Pipeline in NJ
Good news: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved Transco’s Northeast Supply Link project Friday afternoon. The Sierra Club and other anti-drillers opposed the northern New Jersey pipeline expansion project that will bring more Marcellus Shale gas to the metro NYC market—but cooler FERC heads have prevailed.
Here’s how the news was reported by an anti-drilling local New Jersey newspaper:
Read More “FERC Approves Transco Northeast Supply Link Pipeline in NJ”
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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Supply Chain | Washington County
Hotel in Rural Western PA Makes it Big from Marcellus/Utica
Another feel good story about a small hotel that made it big because of the Marcellus and Utica Shale. This story comes from rural Bentleyville, PA, not far from West Virginia and Ohio:
Read More “Hotel in Rural Western PA Makes it Big from Marcellus/Utica”
We pause on this day after the re-election of Barack H. Obama to grieve the national suicide of the United States of America, because that’s what happened yesterday. MDN believes it’s hard to overstate how profoundly another four years of an Obama administration—and an out-of-control EPA—will negatively impact the U.S. energy industry. Look for more irrational hatred of fossil fuels, and the emboldening of radical leftists to try and end all drilling for natural gas and oil in this country. Look for more Solyndras and other failed so-called green tech companies (nothing more than political graft). Look for the miracle of hydraulic fracturing to be in the crosshairs of the Obama EPA. Look for the oil and gas industry to be compared to, denigrated and targeted like the tobacco industry. Frankly, it’s a nightmare we won’t wake up from.
WPX Energy, a company formed in January 2011 by Williams (created by spinning off the Williams exploration and production division) released their third quarter financial and operational update last week. The report losing $64 million in 3Q12. Most of WPX’s operations and focus has been in plays other than the Marcellus, including a big focus on the Bakken Shale, where they drill for oil, and the Piceance Basin in northwestern Colorado where they drill for wet natural gas.