Marcellus Drilling News

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Newly Elected PA Auditor General Targets DEP First Day on Job
January 16, 2013January 16, 2013

Keeping a campaign pledge—because it’s always good to keep a pledge if you’re an anti-drilling Democrat, but it’s OK to conveniently forget all the other pledges you made—the newly sworn-in Auditor General for Pennsylvania, Eugene DePasquale, has targeted the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) in what can only be described as a political attack in his very first day on the job:

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Antero Resources | Chesapeake Energy | CNX Resources | Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy | Hess | Hilcorp Energy | Ohio | Statewide OH

ODNR Issues 17 New Permits for Utica Drilling…Last Week
January 16, 2013January 16, 2013

The permits to allow Utica Shale drilling in eastern Ohio continue to roll out from the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR). Here are the details on the 17 new permits issued in Ohio last week:

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Energy Companies | Range Resources Corp

Range Resources 4Q12 Results: NatGas up 35%, NGLs up 41%
January 16, 2013January 16, 2013

Range Resources today issued an update stating the company’s natural gas production for the fourth quarter of 2012 was an average 844 million cubic feet per day—an increase of 35% over the same period in 2011 and 7% higher than the third quarter of 2012. Natural gas liquids production rose an astonishing 41% over the same period in 2011.

Range is one of the largest drillers in the Marcellus Shale and much of their production comes from the Marcellus—particularly southwestern PA. Today’s Range announcement:

Read More “Range Resources 4Q12 Results: NatGas up 35%, NGLs up 41%”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar Leaving in March
January 16, 2013January 16, 2013

An interesting twist…MDN has followed, with some interest, the future of three federal officials (besides Lord Obama Himself) who potentially have the most influence over oil and gas drilling in the U.S. In case you don’t know, regulation and oversight for oil and gas drilling is specifically left to the individual states under the U.S. Constitution—something the lefties in this country are desperately trying to circumvent by claiming aspects of it come under federal laws like the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act.

The three federal officials who have been complicit in attempting to overthrow states’ rights in regulating oil and gas drilling are…

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Accidents | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Marion County | Omni Energy Services | West Virginia

Accident Kills Marcellus Shale Rig Worker in Fairview, WV
January 16, 2013January 16, 2013

Monday night, an Omni Energy Services Corp. worker died when a rig being used to drill shallow exploratory holes for Marcellus Shale seismic testing overturned and crushed him. The accident happened at the Loveridge Mine preparation plant property owned by CONSOL Energy in Fairview (Marion County), WV. The accident was not related to CONSOL’s coal mining operations at the property.

The few details that we know thus far:

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Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jobs

Study Says NE States with Fracking Have Better Credit Ratings
January 16, 2013January 16, 2013

The Kroll Bond Rating Agency has just released an update to a report they originally authored in January of last year titled, Fracking the Marcellus and Utica Basins: Potential Credit Implications. While not taking a position on whether or not fracking in the Marcellus and Utica Shale is good or bad per se, they do say their analysis shows fracking in the Marcellus and Utica Shale is very good for the credit ratings of municipal and state governments where fracking is allowed. Fracking is also jobs-creating engine according to the independent report.

From the Kroll announcement:

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Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Man Bites Dog: Pittsburgh Law Firm Opens Operation in Houston
January 16, 2013January 16, 2013

In the news business, no one wants to run a story along the lines of “dog bites man”—that’s not news. But when the story is “man bites dog,” that’s news. This is one of those stories. Hardly a week goes by that MDN does not read about a law office expanding it’s practice somewhere in the Marcellus or Utica Shale region, many times it’s a branch office of a large Houston, TX law firm opening up in the Marcellus region. Such announcements are (let us be honest) self-serving advertisements to try and get business. Nothing wrong with that! But it’s not something MDN readers will be interested in reading about.

This time, however, a law office expansion is news. Why? Because it’s not a big Houston energy law firm setting up shop in Pittsburgh, but the other way around. For MDN, the story points out how the Marcellus Shale has changed the energy game in the U.S. and is, ever so gradually, shifting the center of power in the energy universe from Houston to Pittsburgh…

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Jan 16, 2013
January 16, 2013January 16, 2013

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

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Was PA Gov. Tom Corbett Bribed by Fracking Waste Hauler?
January 15, 2013January 15, 2013

In typical fashion, anti-drillers have brought out the long knives for pro-drilling PA Gov. Tom Corbett. The latest attempt to try and influence next year’s election cycle is brought to you by the Philadelphia Inquirer.

This story paints the picture that a wealthy political donor whose company hauls drill cuttings got special treatment from the (then) incoming Corbett and the state Dept. of Environmental Protection in early 2011 in return for a $100,000 political donation. That is, the Inquirer says, in so many words, that Corbett was bribed. Was he?

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Albany County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Albany Times Union Goes on Record as Anti-Fracking
January 15, 2013January 15, 2013

We suppose it’s no surprise, really, but the left-leaning Albany Times Union, a newspaper no doubt read by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, ran an editorial yesterday that dredges up all of the hackneyed, debunked, half-thought-out and simply untrue reasons why New York should ban fracking—and the Times Union went on record supporting an ongoing ban.

Let’s apply a little logic to answer the nagging angst experienced by the Times Union editorial writers, since logic seems to escape them. We’ve interspersed MDN’s comments throughout to provide perspective and answers.

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Carrizo Oil & Gas | Energy Companies | Guernsey County | Noble County | Ohio | Tuscarawas County | Utica Shale

Carrizo’s 2013 Plans: Drill in Marcellus, Buy Acreage in Utica
January 15, 2013January 15, 2013

Carrizo Oil & Gas announced their 2013 spending plans today. Drilling activities will see a $500 million investment by Carrizo, with $70 million of that allocated to drilling in the Marcellus Shale. Also, Carrizo announced that yesterday they closed on an option to pick up more acreage from Avista Capital in the Ohio Utica Shale for $63 million.

The Utica deal means Carrizo now owns 14,000 net acres located in Guernsey, Noble and Tuscarawas counties in Ohio—although they’ve not allocated money to drill in the Utica for 2013.

Read More “Carrizo’s 2013 Plans: Drill in Marcellus, Buy Acreage in Utica”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Onondaga County | Regulation

Irony: Marcellus, NY Votes to Ban Marcellus Shale Drilling
January 15, 2013January 15, 2013

It’s a sad and ironic day: The town for which the Marcellus Shale is named, Marcellus, NY (Onondaga County, near Syracuse), has voted to ban the Marcellus—as in no Marcellus Shale drilling will be allowed in the township.

By a 5-0 vote last night, the town board illegally stripped away the Constitutional property rights of all of its citizens in contravention to New York State law…

Read More “Irony: Marcellus, NY Votes to Ban Marcellus Shale Drilling”
Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Potter County | Tenaska Resources | Tioga County (PA) | UGI Energy Services

UGI & Tenaska Sign Deal to Build New Marcellus Pipeline in PA
January 15, 2013January 15, 2013

Pennsylvania electric & gas utility UGI Corporation announced yesterday they’ve cut a deal with driller Tenaska Resources to jointly develop Marcellus Shale projects in both Potter and Tioga counties in north-central PA. Over the next 10 years UGI will invest $65 million to build a new gathering pipeline system in Potter County, and another $25 million investment in return for a 19% interest in Tenaska’s Tioga County acreage/operations.

From the UGI announcement yesterday:

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Encana Energy | Energy Companies

Encana Interim CEO Says Company is Not For Sale
January 15, 2013January 15, 2013

Canadian’s largest natural gas driller and a major player in the Marcellus Shale, Encana Corp, announced on Friday that CEO Randy Eresman and resigned and left the company. The announcement was “out of the blue” and caught investors and industry insiders by surprise.

Encana appointed board of directors member Clayton Woitas (former CEO of Renaissance Energy) as interim CEO, a move which some speculate means the company may be up for sale. That rumor, however, is roundly refuted by Woitas:

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Jan 15, 2013
January 15, 2013January 15, 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: Tue, Jan 15, 2013”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Sullivan County

Middletown 4th Graders Brainwashed by Teachers Against Fracking
January 14, 2013January 14, 2013

What angers MDN editor Jim Willis more than almost any other issue in the fracking debate is when adults contaminate the minds of young people with their own, polluted, distorted opinions—especially on the topic of fracking. Unfortunately it happens down to the youngest grades, including the nine year-old students of fourth grade anti-fracking teachers Mary Hayes and Patricia McGorry in the Maple Hill Elementary School in Middletown (Sullivan County), NY. Shame on them.

Here’s the story and background:

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