Marcellus Drilling News

Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Regulation

Law Firm Launches Study of Legal Trends in Shale Development
February 1, 2013February 1, 2013

Yeah, we know it’s a press release from a law firm (we see them every day!). But this one, MDN reckons, is noteworthy. The 12th largest oil and gas law firm in the country, Steptoe & Johnson (with offices about everywhere in the Marcellus & Utica Shale), is conducting a study of legal trends for businesses working to develop the Marcellus, Utica and other shale plays. The results are due to be released in April and should be interesting.

Here’s the details about the new study (and how you can participate) from Steptoe & Johnson:

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Feb 1, 2013
February 1, 2013February 1, 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: Fri, Feb 1, 2013”
About MDN

MDN on Brief Respite Today, Jan 31
January 31, 2013

Unless it’s a very rare holiday, you know that MDN comes to you Monday through Friday (and Sunday) without fail. Except today. MDN editor Jim Willis is unavoidably detained today (family medical situation). MDN will be back tomorrow—Friday—as usual. Thanks for your understanding.

– Jim Willis
Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies

Breaking: Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon Gets Pink Slip
January 30, 2013January 30, 2013

It’s no secret that Chesapeake Energy had a tough year in 2012. Chesapeake’s stock price tanked by 43%—from too much debt, historically low natural gas prices and vicious, repeated media attacks by the Reuters and Bloomberg “news” agencies. Chesapeake’s troubles reached a tipping point yesterday when Aubrey McClendon, Chesapeake’s “bad boy” CEO, announced he is retiring from the company he built from the ground up 24 years ago. Today, Chesapeake is a multi-billion corporation and the second largest natural gas driller in the United States behind ExxonMobil.

McClendon’s announcement that he is “retiring” from the company on April 1, at age 53, is really big news for MDN readers. Chesapeake is the largest driller in the Utica Shale, and one of the largest in the Marcellus. When Chesapeake sneezes, the Marcellus/Utica catches a cold.

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Accidents | Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NiSource | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Feds Eye Regulating PA Marcellus Gathering Pipelines
January 30, 2013January 30, 2013

In early December, the Columbia Gas Transmission pipeline (owned by Nisource) exploded near Sissonville, WV—10 miles north of Charleston (see Columbia NatGas Pipeline Explodes Near Charleston, WV). The repercussions are still being felt. WV Sen. Jay Rockefeller held a Senate “field hearing” about pipeline safety on Monday in Charleston, WV. The first person to testify was Sissonville resident Sue Bonham who thought the world was literally be blowing up. The fire that burned in Sissonville near her home for more than an hour was so hot it burned the asphalt on I-77 into cinders.

So it’s no surprise that the federal government would start nosing around non-federally regulated (smaller) pipelines. Apparently they’ve set their sites on local gathering lines in the PA Marcellus:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

BLM Sends New Draft Fracking Rules to White House for Review
January 30, 2013January 30, 2013

The Dept. of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposed new fracking rules for shale drilling on federal lands back in May 2012 (see BLM Issues Proposed New Rule for Fracking Federal Lands). The drilling industry was quick to react (negatively) against what they view as largely unnecessary and extremely expensive new regulations (see New Fracking Rules for Federal Lands will Cost $1.5B).

Just a few weeks ago, BLM announced they would delay implementing their new rules until sometime this spring, to give them the opportunity to refine the rules first. Apparently they work pretty fast. Yesterday BLM sent a revised draft of their new proposed fracking rules to the Obama White House for review:

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Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Research | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV DEP Late in Filing Required Marcellus Environmental Studies
January 30, 2013January 30, 2013

In December 2011 the West Virginia legislature pass sweeping new shale drilling regulations in record time. The effort and the end result was heralded by then acting (now sitting) Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin as a “milestone” in addressing concerns about Marcellus Shale drilling in WV.

The 2011 legislation called for three new environmental studies to be completed and delivered to lawmakers. Two of the studies were due within a day of each other: Dec. 31, 2012 and Jan. 1, 2013. Both are late. According the state DEP, one study will be along in mid-February. The other? No estimated date…

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Industrywide Issues | Trucking

Marcellus/Utica Shale Drilling is Good for Trucking Industry
January 30, 2013January 30, 2013

America’s trucking firms are bullish on shale gas drilling, particularly in the Marcellus and Utica Shale. Trucking firms say shale drilling either already has, or will, have a positive impact on the trucking industry according to the results of a nationwide survey of trucking firms.

Benesch, a large law firm with offices in Ohio, Pennsylvania and other oil and gas states, collaborated with the National Tank Truck Carriers association and the Ohio Trucking Association to conduct the survey. Some of the survey results:

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Oneida County | Regulation

Town of Westmoreland, NY Bans Fracking
January 30, 2013January 30, 2013

Another New York township has voted (unanimously) to strip away the Constitutional rights of some of its citizens. Westmoreland (Oneida County), NY is the latest township to decide that a board of five people know what’s best for everyone else, in contradiction of New York State law:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Medina County | Ohio | Regulation

Brunswick, OH (Almost) Thumbs Nose at State over Home Rule
January 30, 2013January 30, 2013

In the latest dustup over “home rule,” city council members in Brunswick (Medina County), Ohio don’t like the state telling them they can’t regulate oil and gas drilling in their own borders. Unfortunately those same city council members don’t seem to know a thing about the miracle of hydraulic fracturing and they’re certainly not qualified to regulate it—but we digress.

Brunswick city council members were set to vote on a non-binding resolution on Monday telling Columbus to go take a hike, but Brunswick Mayor Gary Werner was the calmer head who prevailed. He talked council members into postponing a vote until the Feb. 11 meeting. Werner’s clear-headed reasoning: Why tell the drilling industry that’s transforming the economic landscape in Ohio that Brunswick isn’t interested in jobs or money from drilling?

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Jan 30, 2013
January 30, 2013January 30, 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: Wed, Jan 30, 2013”
Anadarko | Chevron | CONSOL Energy | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | EXCO Resources | Exxon Mobil | Noble Energy | Range Resources Corp | Southwestern Energy | Talisman Energy | Ultra Petroleum

Who’s a Member of the Marcellus “1 Bcf/d” Club?
January 29, 2013January 29, 2013

At the end of an article about EQT, Seeking Alpha blogger and energy analyst Richard Zeits includes a short list of companies who either already belong, or soon will join, the “1 billion cubic feet per day club” of Marcellus Shale gas production.

So far only one driller has achieved 1 Bcf/d of Marcellus production (quick, which one is it?). EQT will likely join the club in 2014. Who else is on the short list to join them? Read on to find out…

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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

The Real Promised Land: Driller Raises $4.4M for PA Health Clinic
January 29, 2013January 29, 2013

Contrary to the view in Promised Land that big drilling companies are evil and will shaft anyone for a buck, we find a truly amazing story about an oil and gas company’s generosity to a small northeastern Pennsylvania community—a community not unlike the one portrayed in the Matt Damon movie Promised Land.

Last year Cabot Oil & Gas kicked off a major fundraising effort to build a physicians clinic, part of a new hospital project in Montrose (Susquehanna County), PA. Friday marked the one-year anniversary of that very successful effort…

Read More “The Real Promised Land: Driller Raises $4.4M for PA Health Clinic”
Energy Companies | EQT Corp

Zeits Does Deep Dive on EQT’s Marcellus Program
January 29, 2013January 29, 2013

One of our favorite Seeking Alpha bloggers, energy analyst Richard Zeits, recently posted a deep dive on EQT and their drilling program in the Marcellus shale. The analysis is full of details about EQT’ economics—specifically at what natural gas price level does the company continue to be profitable. He also includes a number of EQT charts and graphs (see them below).

Here’s a few highlights from the latest Zeits:

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CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

CONSOL Switching to Dual Fuel Drilling Rigs in Marcellus/Utica
January 29, 2013January 29, 2013

In the near future, drilling and fracking at CONSOL Energy drill sites will be powered by dual fuel technology using LNG (liquefied natural gas) and diesel fuel. You may recall MDN reported on CONSOL’s experimentation with dual fuel technology at two different locations last year (see CONSOL Orders Additional 3 Dual Fuel Generators for 2nd Rig).

Linde, the company providing CONSOL with dual fuel technology to run the generators and other drilling equipment, issued a press announcement yesterday which says, in essence, that CONSOL has decided to go “all in” and start using Linde’s dual fuel solutions throughout all of their drilling operations in the Marcellus and Utica Shale:

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Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Wastewater

Permit for PA Frack Wastewater Plant Rescinded by DEP
January 29, 2013January 29, 2013

A New Jersey company had plans (and a permit) to build a Marcellus Shale wastewater treatment plant in North Fayette, PA that would process between 1/2 and 1 million gallons of fracking wastewater per day. The plant would use the wastewater to produce road salt, sidewalk de-icer, roadway dust suppression liquids and other products. One small problem: there may be tiny trace amounts of arsenic, lead, mercury and other nasty compounds in the final products.

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection granted Integrated Water Technologies a permit last August to build the plant and sell the salts and liquids manufactured from wastewater for use throughout the state. However, anti-drilling group PennFuture appealed the permit and now the DEP is backpedaling and “quietly” rescinded the permit by publishing a notice in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on Saturday. Will the plant still be built?

Read More “Permit for PA Frack Wastewater Plant Rescinded by DEP”