Marcellus Drilling News

Commodity Price | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Research

EIA Report Predicts Short-Term NatGas Prices/Usage
October 11, 2012October 11, 2012

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released their Short-Term Energy and Winter Fuels Outlook report yesterday (a copy of full report is embedded below). Even though natural gas inventories are above last year’s levels and the price for natural gas is at historic lows, based on long-range weather forecasts by NOAA, the EIA predicts households will spend more money to heat this winter because it’s going to be a lot colder this winter than it was last.

Here’s the main highlights from the report with respect to natural gas:

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Bradford County | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

PA DEP Approves 1st New Electric Plant to Use Marcellus Gas
October 11, 2012October 11, 2012

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) yesterday issued a permit for the first new electrical power generating plant to be built in the state that uses clean burning Marcellus Shale gas. The new plant will be built in Bradford County over the next 2-3 years. During construction the project will employ up to 500 people.

The details from the DEP:

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Energy Companies | Range Resources Corp

Range Resources Release Q312 Production Numbers
October 11, 2012October 11, 2012

Range Resources, the original driller of the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, announced its third quarter production results today. All of the numbers that should be up are up. Year over year, Range’s natural gas production is up 52%, natural gas liquids production is up 30%, and oil production is up 36%.

From the Range announcement:

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics | Westmoreland County

Meeting about Western PA NGL Pipeline Turns Contentious
October 11, 2012October 11, 2012

Sunoco Logistics held a meeting with landowners in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania last night to discuss plans for a new 45-mile pipeline they will build to carry natural gas liquids (NGLs). The new pipeline is part of the Mariner East project that will carry NGLs from western PA to southeastern PA—to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia (see this MDN story).

The meeting with landowners about the new pipeline construction turned contentious when landowners demanded to know whether or not Sunoco would invoke eminent domain and “take” the property, even if they don’t want it running across their land. A few of those present said Sunoco had already broken faith by surveying their land without informing the landowners first.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Wyoming County (PA)

PA P&G Plant: 100% Energy Self-Sufficient from Marcellus Gas
October 11, 2012October 11, 2012

By February 2013, the Proctor & Gamble manufacturing plant in Wyoming County, PA will provide 100% of its own energy needs—thanks to the Marcellus Shale beneath plant property. Shale gas under P&G and surrounding properties in Wyoming County is reported to be some of the most prolific in the Marcellus Shale.

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Beaver County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania

Landowners Settle with Chesapeake, O&G in Western PA Case
October 11, 2012October 11, 2012

A lawsuit initiated by seven families in Beaver County, PA in March against Chesapeake Energy and O&G Investments of Wooster, Ohio has been settled. The landowners originally signed leases with O&G seven years ago, weren’t paid anything during those seven years, weren’t drilled on, and then O&G sold the leases to Chesapeake who tried to drill in order to hold the leases before they were set to expire. The families were rightly outraged by the treatment they received and sued to dissolve the leases (see this MDN story for background).

Yesterday, the judge in the case issued a closure order after being notified of a settlement:

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Energy Companies | Norse Energy

Norse Energy: We’re Still Here, Still Hanging On in NY
October 11, 2012October 11, 2012

Good ol’ Norse Energy—the Norwegian-based driller who rolled the dice on New York State and (so far) lost the bet. You have to admire Norse. They signed a lot of acreage in Upstate New York—some 130,000 acres. Their intent was to frack the shale—but something happened on the way to the fracking dance. NY slapped a moratorium on shale gas drilling that’s now gone on for 4 1/2 long years.

Norse has done what it can to stay solvent ahead of NY’s release of permits to drill. They hope to be among the first to receive said permits when NY finally moves forward (they have already filed for permits). Every now and again Norse issues a press release to essentially say, “We’re still here and still hanging on.” This is the latest such release:

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Industrywide Issues | NG Vehicles | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | York County

Republic Spends $21M to Convert PA Garbage Trucks to CNG
October 11, 2012October 11, 2012

Republic Services is investing $21 million to convert the majority of its garbage truck fleet from diesel to running on compressed natural gas (CNG) in York, PA. Nationwide, Republic is doubling it’s fleet of CNG-powered vehicles this year to 1,100.

The details on the York, PA project:

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Westmoreland County

Another 200 New Jobs in PA – Thanks to the Marcellus Shale
October 11, 2012October 11, 2012

More jobs on the way in greater Pittsburgh area, courtesy of the Marcellus and Utica Shale. The latest example is a concrete company’s expansion, which will contribute another 200 jobs to the area:

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Oct 11, 2012
October 11, 2012October 11, 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: Thu, Oct 11, 2012”
Belmont County | Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy | Harrison County | Ohio | Utica Shale

New ‘King’ of Utica Wells? Gulfport Shugert Well @ 20 Mmcf/d
October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

Yesterday Gulfport Energy Corporation reported astonishing production results for it’s Utica Shale well Shugert 1-1H (in the town of Kirkwood, Belmont County, Ohio). The well tested at an initial rate of 20 million cubic feet of natural gas per day (Mmcf/d). It also produced an initial 144 barrels of condensate per day, and 2,002 barrels of natural gas liquids per day.

Previously, MDN reported another Gulfport Utica well (the Wagner 1-H) had become the “alpha dog” by overtaking the famed Chesapeake Buell well—and the Wagner well was flowing at “just” 14 Mmcf/d and producing 1,881 barrels of NGLs (see this MDN story). What do we call this new well: The King? (We’re running out of metaphors!) The new Shugert 1-1H well by Gulfport is, to MDN’s knowledge, the single largest producing well in the Utica Shale.

Read More “New ‘King’ of Utica Wells? Gulfport Shugert Well @ 20 Mmcf/d”
Broome County | DTE Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Susquehanna County

Bluestone Gathering Pipeline Gets NY Approval
October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

MDN friend Andy Leahy, intrepid writer of the NY Shale Gas Now blog site, has returned! Yeah! Andy’s first post since being back from a several month hiatus is an important one—one that somehow slipped by the MDN radar. The Bluestone Pipeline, a 37-mile gathering line that runs through Susquehanna County, PA and into Broome County, NY (Town of Sanford) connecting to both the Millennium and the Tennessee interstate pipelines received approval from New York State. (See this MDN story for background on the Bluestone Pipeline.)

Andy reports the developer plans to break ground in New York as early as October 20. For a full analysis and rundown on the project now that it’s moving forward, see Andy’s post by clicking the link below.

*NY Shale Gas Now (Oct 9, 2012) – Bluestone Pipeline Green-Lighted; Local Press Still Asleep at Keyboards
Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Cabot Responds to Latest Bloomberg Attack over Dimock [Free]
October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

Once again Bloomberg is taking aim at Cabot Oil & Gas over methane in water wells in the Dimock, PA area. Like a dog digging up an stinking, rotting carcass that it previously buried to chew on it some more, Bloomberg just can’t help itself. They’re desperate to prove a connection—any connection—between fracking and “pollution” of water. In this case, methane pollution—something that’s eminently fixable.

The latest hit piece from Bloomberg ran last week and is being endlessly recycled by other media outlets. The piece, titled “Cabot’s Methodology Links Tainted Water Wells to Gas Fracking,” attempts to make a link between data released by an EPA investigation in Dimock and methane from Cabot’s drilling. It cites a Duke University analysis of the data saying in essence that the methane found in two Dimock water wells present a chemical “fingerprint” or signature that matches methane from deep below the surface, not near the surface. The “natural” conclusion is that Cabot must be at fault.

This issue is complex and scientific and the tendency is to try and make it easier than it is. Cabot has taken the time to patiently and accurately respond to this latest attack on their own blog site. MDN is running their post below so you have the full facts.

Read More “Cabot Responds to Latest Bloomberg Attack over Dimock [Free]”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pipelines | Statewide NY

NYC Pipeline Protesters Get Naked, Paint Themselves Green
October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

Oy vey! Just when you think you’ve seen and heard it all (from the loony lefties who oppose shale gas drilling), they outdo themselves once again. A group of protesters who oppose the construction of a new pipeline from New Jersey to New York City, commonly called the Spectra Pipeline after the company building it, got naked (we kid you not) and painted their bodies green, parading themselves up and down the West Side Highway—all in an attempt to call attention to their opposition. Attention they got!

Here’s what The Village Voice reports:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Research

GAO Issues 2 Reports on Fracking, Favors EPA Oversight
October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

Two new reports just released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) seek to give political cover to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to continue it’s expansion of authority over oil and gas drilling in the U.S. (Full copies of both reports are embedded below.)

The two reports say, in essence, that the EPA is having a tough time with inspection and enforcement activities because a) shale gas drilling has expanded so rapidly, and b) states provide information in different forms according to their own schedules. Well duh. The EPA is not charged with regulating oil and gas drilling! Butt out.

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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Marathon Oil | Ohio | Processing Plants | Statewide OH | Trucking | Utica Shale

Marathon to Move Utica NGLs to Refineries by Truck & Barge
October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

Marathon Petroleum Corp. (MPC) and Harvest Pipeline Company announced yesterday they’re working together to build a system to bring natural gas liquids (NGLs) from the Utica Shale in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania to Marathon’s refineries by truck and barge along the Ohio River. The joint project will be completed by the end of 2013.

From the Marathon press release:

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