Marcellus Drilling News

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Permit for PA Frack Wastewater Plant Rescinded by DEP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 However, anti-drilling group PennFuture appealed the permit and now the DEP is backpedaling and “quietly” rescinded the permit by publishing a notice in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on Saturday.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?

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Industrywide Issues | M&A

PwC Report: 2012 Marcellus & Utica M&A Deals Down
January 29, 2013January 29, 2013

Each year analysts at powerhouse consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) take a detailed look at mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals in the oil and gas industry worth $50 million or more. Although nationally the deals in the oil and gas sector hit a 10-year high in 2012, the number and value of deals for both the Marcellus and Utica Shale slowed from the previous year. However, looks can be deceiving…

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Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Property Value | West Virginia

Marshall County, WV Property Values Double in 6 Years
January 29, 2013January 29, 2013

In the past two years, the assessed value of property in Marshall County, WV has increased by 50%. Since 2007, assessed values in the county have gone up 200%! The reason is, of course, almost entirely due to Marcellus Shale drilling and related infrastructure.

How do local officials describe it? “Extraordinary.” Kind of flies in the face of the anti-drilling argument that property values go down when Marcellus drilling comes to town. Here’s the story…

Read More “Marshall County, WV Property Values Double in 6 Years”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

Law Firm: PA Drillers/Contractors Paying Taxes They Shouldn’t
January 29, 2013January 29, 2013

According to the law firm Reed Smith, drillers in Pennsylvania may be paying sales tax for equipment used in hydraulic fracturing and drilling that is exempt from PA sales tax. The PA Dept. of Revenue has been issuing tax assessments to drillers that are, according to Reed Smith, in contradiction of existing law.

If you’re a landowner or peripherally interested in Marcellus drilling, give this article a pass. However, if you’re a driller or a drilling contractor of any kind, you need to pay close attention…

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Jan 29, 2013
January 29, 2013January 29, 2013

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:

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Belmont County | Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Utica Shale

Mind-blowing Earnings from a Single Utica Shale Well
January 28, 2013January 28, 2013

Wow! Some truly astonishing numbers (if they hold up) for the earnings power from a single Gulfport well in the Utica Shale of Belmont County, Ohio. According to a WVU professor who tracks these things, the Stutzman well, when brought online, will be earning in the neighborhood of $100,000 per day for Gulfport, and a huge royalty check for the landowner.

Here’s the calculations:

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

MDN Proposes a New Phrase for Anti-Drillers to Use
January 28, 2013January 28, 2013

“Just stick to the news! (and quit editorializing),” is the refrain we sometimes hear at MDN. We happen to think a little editorializing, and having some fun along the way, is not only a good thing to do—it’s the honest thing to do. We don’t cover up our opinions in our reporting of the news. This story is one of the fun stories to tell (sorry, it’s not “sticking to the news”). This story is about language—specifically the word “frack”—and how anti-drillers like those at Earthworks’ Oil and Gas Accountability Project have made such wonderful hay with that word because it sounds so, well, naughty.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH | Wastewater

Is Shale Brine Dumping Coming to OH Landfills?
January 28, 2013January 28, 2013

MDN friend and Akron Beacon Journal reporter, Bob Downing, has just published an excellent piece of investigative journalism about brine dumping in Ohio landfills. Bob has tracked down a change in policy in Ohio that theoretically allows landfills to begin accepting brine from shale drilling. Brine is (mostly) naturally occurring salt water from deep below the earth that comes out of the wellbore after the well is drilled.

Some of the state’s 40 landfills have received permits to accept drill cuttings and other solids from the drilling process, but so far none have received permits to accept liquid brine that’s solidified with fly ash and other materials. That may be about to change…

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Armstrong County | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | MDS Energy | Pennsylvania

MDS Energy’s Fracking Fluid Alternative for 3 PA Marcellus Wells
January 28, 2013January 28, 2013

An interesting short item MDN picked up from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review about driller MDS Energy.

The South Buffalo Township Planning Commission (near Pittsburgh) recently recommended that township supervisors approve a request from MDS Energy to drill three Marcellus Shale wells. The interesting bit is the liquid MDS plans to use in fracking the wells…

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Education | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Sullivan County

Ongoing Saga of 4th Graders Brainwashed Against Fracking
January 28, 2013January 28, 2013

A few weeks ago MDN told you about 44 fourth graders at Maple Hill Elementary School in Middletown (Sullivan County), NY who were given an assignment to write an argumentative paper about fracking, and shazam! Every single one of them wrote against the practice (see Middletown 4th Graders Brainwashed by Teachers Against Fracking).

Apparently the teacher who required the assignment, and the reporter who was so impressed (hoodwinked?) that every single student individually and independently came to an anti-fracking conclusion, must have gotten a fair bit of blowback from the original story because the reporter has just penned a new story seeking to justify the assignment and the original story. The new article concludes with an interesting revelation about the teacher…

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Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Statewide PA

Royalty Payments to PA Landowners Create Big Impact
January 28, 2013January 28, 2013

An analysis by AP finds royalty payments to landowners in Pennsylvania are quickly catching up to royalty payments to landowners in other oil and gas states like Alaska and Wyoming. The National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO) said PA is their fastest growing chapter.

How much in royalty payments were PA landowners paid (collectively) for 2012? What’s the average percentage landowners are paid? And which driller has paid more than $1 billion in royalties to PA landowners since 2008? Some answers about royalties in general, and PA in particular…

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Columbiana County | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M3 Midstream | Momentum | Ohio | Processing Plants

Columbiana County NGL Plant Creates Economic Boom
January 28, 2013January 28, 2013

More evidence of just how much the shale drilling industry impacts local businesses (the “supply chain” effect) comes from the new $400 million natural gas liquids processing plant being built in Columbiana County, OH. We reported in December the plant was on track for an “aggressive” May 2013 start date (see Columbiana County NGL Plant On Track for May Opening). The company building the plant, M3 Midstream (also known as Momentum), has revised the start date slightly to June.

Momentum’s construction coordinator Baron John gives an update on progress in building the plant, and offers a few examples of how far and wide the project has already impacted the local economy:

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BP | Energy Companies | Mahoning County | Ohio | Trumbull County | Utica Shale

BP in OH Utica Shale: The Prospectivity of Producibility
January 28, 2013January 28, 2013

The regional president for BP North America Gas, Tim Harrington, say’s it’s early days yet for exploiting the Utica Shale for gas, oil and liquids. In a presser on Friday, Harrington used a few words MDN hasn’t heard before—words like “producibility” and “prospectivity.”

The upshot of Harrington’s talk? BP will figure out what their prospects look like in Ohio’s Utica Shale over the next two years…

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

New PA Emergency Response Planning Reg for Shale Wells Adopted
January 28, 2013January 28, 2013

The Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board (EQB) and Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency on Saturday published final regulations covering Emergency Response Planning at Unconventional (i.e. Marcellus) Well Sites (a copy of the new regulation is embedded below).

The regulation was adopted by the EQB in November following a review by the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection’s Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board last September. The regulation sets requirements for the preparation and implementation of emergency plans at Marcellus Shale drilling sites.

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Allegheny County | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh Airport to Hold Public Hearing on Lease Deal
January 28, 2013January 28, 2013

Since the middle of December MDN has been squawking about the Pittsburgh Airport’s decision to accept the (much) lower bid from CONSOL Energy to drill on 900 acres of airport-owned property (see Inside Job? Pittsburgh Airport Leases Land to CONSOL). Apparently others squawked too because a more recent story reported the airport is negotiating with CONSOL to double the bonus payment they just accepted (see Pittsburgh Airport Wants More $ from CONSOL…After Accepting Bid).

We expect board members from the Allegheny County Council—the people in charge of the airport and approving the deal—are about to get an earful at a public hearing about the deal being held on Feb. 7. Here’s the details for that hearing:

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About MDN | Calendar

Calendar of Events for Jan 28 – Feb 10, 2013 [Free]
January 28, 2013January 28, 2013

Below are upcoming events for this week and next.

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