Marcellus Drilling News

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Wants Drillers to Use Acid Mine Water in Fracking – Will They?
February 4, 2013February 4, 2013

Pennsylvania has a big problem with water seeping from abandoned coal mines—the water mixes with minerals from the mine and is highly acidic. Some 300 million gallons of it flow—every day—into Pennsylvania’s waterways, killing off fish and plant life in 4,000 miles of rivers and streams. The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently launched a plan to encourage shale drillers in the state to use “mine influenced water” (MIW) for drilling and fracking operations. It kills two birds with one stone: it helps to get rid of MIW and it gives drillers a steady source of water for fracking (see PA DEP Finalizes Procedure for Using Acid Mine Water in Fracking).

Just one problem: Drillers are scared to death of “if you touch it, you own it for evermore.” That is, drillers are rightly concerned about liability in this day and age of litigate everything. Who wants to get sued for doing the right thing? What can PA do to reassure drillers to give MIW a shot?

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Legislation Would Release Untapped Acreage for New Lease
February 4, 2013February 4, 2013

Help may be on the way for Pennsylvania landowners who have leased their land, but not all of their land is part of a “production unit.” PA State Sen. Gene Yaw has introduced legislation what would release the land not in production so it could, theoretically, be leased again, or leased to someone else.

This update from one of our favorite blogs, ShaleEnergyLawBlog:

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues

80,000 Locations Left to Go for Marcellus Drilling
February 4, 2013February 4, 2013

Speaking at the Marcellus-Utica Midstream conference last week in Pittsburgh, ITG Investment Research analyst Manuj Nikhanj said their research shows there are an astounding 80,000 locations still drillable in the Marcellus Shale, and that the Marcellus is “absolutely massive” and dwarfs the next biggest shale play. How long will it take to full drill the Marcellus? “Decades.”

He also had some interesting analysis on the question of what natural gas price is breakeven for drillers to make a profit:

Read More “80,000 Locations Left to Go for Marcellus Drilling”
Energy Companies | Range Resources Corp

Range Revises Unproved Resource Potential Up
February 4, 2013February 4, 2013

Range Resources has revised its unproved resource potential—how much recoverable gas they believe they have in the ground for their leased acreage—by a little bit. At the end of 2011, Range estimated their reserves at 47-66 trillion cubic feet. At the end of 2012, they’ve revised it up to 48-68 Tcf. Not a huge jump, but hey, 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas will heat 1 million homes for 15 years, just to give you some perspective.

Here’s the announcement from Range:

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Feb 4, 2013
February 4, 2013February 4, 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: Mon, Feb 4, 2013”
Devon Energy | Energy Companies | Utica Shale

Devon Energy Puts 240K Acres of Utica Shale Leases Up for Sale
February 1, 2013February 1, 2013

On Wednesday Devon Energy Corp. confirmed it’s selling off all of its holdings in both the Ohio Utica and Louisiana Tuscaloosa Marine Shale. Between the two shale plays, the company is hoping to raise about $3 billion. Devon’s Utica Shale holdings include 244,000 gross acres (195,000 net) in eastern Ohio in the liquids-rich portion of the play. Devon has hired Scotiabank’s Scotia Waterous (USA) Inc. M&A division to handle the sale. A map of Devon’s eastern Ohio Utica property is embedded below.

Read More “Devon Energy Puts 240K Acres of Utica Shale Leases Up for Sale”
Energy Companies | Hess

Corporate Raider Paul Singer Tries to Force Hess Out of Shale
February 1, 2013February 1, 2013

Corporate raider Paul Singer is pushing Hess Corp. to get out of shale drilling. Singer’s company, Elliott Management Corp., is one of Hess’ largest investors owning 4% of company stock. On Jan. 25, Elliott Management gave notice it’s buying another $800 million of company stock and would make a play to replace some board members in order shake up management at the company.

Hess announced earlier this week it’s selling off it’s last refinery and getting out of the refining business and will become an exploration and production company. As for selling off their operations in the Utica, Bakken or Eagle Ford Shale plays and getting out of shale? Hess CEO John Hess tells Singer, no thanks buddy…

Read More “Corporate Raider Paul Singer Tries to Force Hess Out of Shale”
Atlas Energy | Chevron | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Statewide PA

Top 5 Drillers in SW Pennsylvania by Number of Wells Drilled
February 1, 2013February 1, 2013

Each year the Pittsburgh Business Times ranks the “top 25” drillers in southwestern PA according to the total number of wells they’ve drilled to date in the Marcellus Shale. The 2013 list was published today.

Here’s the top five from that list—with driller name and the number of wells drilled:

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Beaver County | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell | Statewide PA

Gov Tom Corbett: Shell Cracker Plant in PA Not “Off the Rails”
February 1, 2013February 1, 2013

Shell was supposed to purchase land in Monaca (Beaver County), PA to build a new $2 billion ethane cracker plant (a multi-year project) by Dec. 31, 2012, but instead Shell and the owner of the site signed a six-month extension to (according to a Shell spokesperson) give Shell more time to assess the site’s suitability and time to crunch the numbers to provide Shell “confirmation that the project is economically robust and competitive” (see Shell Ethane Cracker in PA Still Not a Done Deal).

The six-month delay has led to rumors that the deal for Monaca may be in doubt. Wednesday after a speech at the Marcellus Midstream Conference in Pittsburgh, PA Gov. Tom Corbett said contrary to those pesky rumors, Shell is not checking out other states to build the ethane cracker plant and that the delay in purchasing the land is due to lawyers “dotting I’s and crossing T’s.” Here’s how it played out:

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Ohio County | Supply Chain | West Virginia

Strange/Interesting Things Companies Sell to the Shale Industry
February 1, 2013February 1, 2013

It never ceases to amaze MDN the kinds of businesses that benefit from Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling. Here’s yet another one we bet you didn’t know about: The West Virginia manufacturer sells a 6,000-pound “cattle stop” to the Marcellus and Utica drilling industry.

Er, what is a cattle stop, and who does this manufacturer sell them to? Read on…

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Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues

What’s the Break-Even Price of Marcellus NatGas for Drillers?
February 1, 2013February 6, 2013

Another stellar column from Seeking Alpha blogger and energy analyst Richard Zeits—this one delving into the thorny topic of, “At what natural gas commodity price is it profitable for a driller to continue drilling?” In particular, at what price in the Marcellus Shale.

His column begins this way:

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Antero Resources | Energy Companies | Harrison County | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Antero Says 2013 Plans for WV Drilling are “Aggressive”
February 1, 2013February 1, 2013

Drilling company Antero Resources continues to grow its presence and commitment to the state of West Virginia. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin issued is 2013 annual doing business in WV report (called the West Virginia Edge Business Report) yesterday. In the report we found this interesting brief statement about Antero building a new office complex in Bridgeport:

Read More “Antero Says 2013 Plans for WV Drilling are “Aggressive””
Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Statewide OH

Chesapeake Wins Permit Case Before OH Supreme Court
February 1, 2013February 1, 2013

Chesapeake Energy has won an important appeal before the Ohio Supreme Court that ruled the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission did not have jurisdiction to hear an appeals case from a landowner over a permit issued to Chesapeake from the OH Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management to drill on the property. It was a case of the wrong agency sitting in judgment—the wrong “referee” if you will:

Read More “Chesapeake Wins Permit Case Before OH Supreme Court”
Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Stark County | Utica Shale

Stark County, OH Labor & Business on Same Page: Frack Here
February 1, 2013February 1, 2013

When was the last time local governments, labor unions, businesses, chambers of commerce and construction contractors were all on the same page? Yeah, we can’t remember that time either. Except it’s here—now. And it’s happening in Stark County, Ohio were all of those groups have come together to kick off a new initiative they call Choose Stark—an outreach to encourage Utica Shale drilling and fracking in Stark County.

We say that’s pretty cool and a lesson for other regions to consider:

Read More “Stark County, OH Labor & Business on Same Page: Frack Here”
Cambria County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Greene County (PA) | Hilcorp Energy | Lawrence County | Lease & Royalty Payments | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania General Energy | Washington County

PA Game Commission Gets Big Royalties on New State Land Leases
February 1, 2013February 1, 2013

The Pennsylvania Game Commission voted on Wednesday to approve oil and gas drilling agreements on state land in five PA counties—some of the deals are new and some are extensions/renewals of existing deals. That’s newsworthy in and of itself (and sure to drive anti-drillers bonkers).

The news for landowners in this story, however, is the royalty percentages for the new land deals. Some impressive numbers:

Read More “PA Game Commission Gets Big Royalties on New State Land Leases”
Dominion Energy | Energy Services

Dominion 2012: Profits Tumble, Marcellus/Utica Midstream Expand
February 1, 2013February 1, 2013

Yesterday Dominion, a large utility and midstream (pipeline/processing plant) company headquartered in the “Old Dominion” state of Virginia, yesterday announced full year 2012 earnings. Dominion made a profit of $581 million in 2012. Which is impressive! But not so impressive when you consider they made a profit of $1.41 billion in 2011. Why the tumble? Investments in major projects during 2012, accounting this and that—the usual.

As always, MDN is interested in what they say about their projects in the Marcellus and Utica Shale. From the entire (lengthy) press release from yesterday, we have one paragraph that touches on Marcellus & Utica:

Read More “Dominion 2012: Profits Tumble, Marcellus/Utica Midstream Expand”