Marcellus Drilling News

Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Statewide NY

Anti-Fracking Group Sues NY Gov. Cuomo & DEC over FOIL Request
September 19, 2012September 19, 2012

Talk about an ill-advised strategy… Even though New York Gov. Cuomo’s office and the state Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has been holding secret meetings with anti-drillers, asking for their opinions and advice on how to proceed with fracking in New York State, some of those same groups have turned around and sued Gov. Cuomo and the state claiming a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request they made earlier this year for the records about meetings between the governor, the DEC and the drilling industry have not been fully disclosed.

Hello anti-drillers! This is not how you win friends and influence people (like Andy) to your cause. The topper? The group suing isn’t even from New York.

Read More “Anti-Fracking Group Sues NY Gov. Cuomo & DEC over FOIL Request”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Environmental Groups Ask Cuomo to Ban Fracking Permanently
September 19, 2012September 19, 2012

Yesterday, a group of the usual suspects of radical “environmentalist” groups, including 350.org, Catskill Mountainkeeper, Delaware Riverkeeper, et al, sent a letter to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo urging him to permanently ban fracking and instead pursue the fantasy of alternative energy for the state (letter embedded below). The signatories claim that clean-burning natural gas is not a bridge to their so-called clean energy nirvana future. Different day, same old stuff.

Read More “Environmental Groups Ask Cuomo to Ban Fracking Permanently”
Crawford County | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp

Crawford County, PA Sees First Utica Shale Well Drilled
September 19, 2012September 19, 2012

Although there’s plenty of conventional, shallow gas wells in Crawford County (in the northwestern corner of Pennsylvania), the very first unconventional, horizontal well has just been drilled in the Utica Shale in Crawford County. Starting as soon as today, it will be fracked.

Here’s the details:

Read More “Crawford County, PA Sees First Utica Shale Well Drilled”
Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Cowardly “Me Too” Towns Support Act 13 Lawsuit in 11th Hour
September 19, 2012September 19, 2012

Pennsylvania’s Act 13 shale drilling law, passed earlier this year, is facing a stiff legal challenge to a key provision in the law. The only part of the law challenged in court is the part replacing the ability of local municipalities to enact zoning ordinances to control where, and if, drilling happens within their borders. Act 13 substitutes a common set of zoning restrictions—drilling must be at least X feet from water wells, schools, etc. Seven brave townships in PA sued to have that provision overturned. MDN says “brave” not because we necessarily support their effort, but in contrast to the cowardly towns and cities and organizations who haven’t put up their own money and time but instead have issued press releases to support the seven who have.

Who are the cowardly towns and organizations? Let’s name some names, shall we?

Read More “Cowardly “Me Too” Towns Support Act 13 Lawsuit in 11th Hour”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Sep 19, 2012
September 19, 2012September 19, 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: Wed, Sep 19, 2012”
Energy Companies | Hilcorp Energy

Spotlight: Hilcorp Energy’s Sole (Billionaire) Shareholder
September 18, 2012September 18, 2012

Hilcorp Energy has been on the radar screen a number of times recently. The energy company is heavily involved with both drilling and midstream activity in the Ohio Utica Shale. The first mention of Hilcorp on MDN was in July 2012 when NiSource announced they were forming a joint venture with Hilcorp by combining Utica Shale acreage allowing Hilcorp to do the drilling (see this MDN story). A pipeline being built by NiSource and Hilcorp is about to start construction in Ohio (see this MDN story). And just yesterday, MDN told you about the latest developments in the Brinker Storage Field area of Ohio, involving Columbia Gas and Hilcorp (see this MDN story).

Just who and what is Hilcorp? Surprisingly, Hilcorp, a privately-owned company, is owned by a single shareholder: Jeffrey Hildebrand. According to a new article in Forbes magazine, Hildebrand is “uber-private” and very wealthy. The article shares a few other bits of information about the company and Mr. Hildebrand that MDN thought you would find interesting:

Read More “Spotlight: Hilcorp Energy’s Sole (Billionaire) Shareholder”
Coshocton County | Guernsey County | Ohio | Statewide OH

8 New Utica Shale Permits Issued Last Week in Ohio
September 18, 2012September 18, 2012

The latest information (for last week) shows eight new drilling permits issued for Ohio’s Utica Shale, including one permit in Coshocton County, and four permits in Guernsey County:

Read More “8 New Utica Shale Permits Issued Last Week in Ohio”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Former Gov. Rendell Changes Position on DRBC Moratorium
September 18, 2012September 18, 2012

Ed Rendell, former governor of Pennsylvania, is a prominent Democrat and a supporter of natural gas drilling. While in office, he opposed the ongoing moratorium for drilling in the Delaware River Basin. Now that he’s out of office, he still supports drilling, but he’s changed his tune on the Delaware River Basin Commission’s (DRBC) de facto moratorium. He now supports it.

Rendell points out, however, that if you say “no” to fracking and natural gas, you say “yes” to burning more oil. At least he’s a realist.

Read More “PA Former Gov. Rendell Changes Position on DRBC Moratorium”
Alternative Energy | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

Cuomo Announces Green Tech Initiative, Dithers on Fracking
September 18, 2012September 18, 2012

Throwing a little political red meat (and taxpayer money) to his leftist anti-drilling supporters, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo yesterday announced the launch of a new $30 million “green technology” initiative. One of the absurd arguments made by those who oppose drilling is that we can get by, right now, using only alternative sources of energy like wind and solar if we’d only just reduce the amount of energy we use—like by 50% (their estimates). You know, put padlocks on everyone’s thermostats so the furnace doesn’t come on for anything over 60 degrees. Rolling blackouts—“Today’s Tuesday, so we have electricity, horray!” That sort of thing.

Cuomo’s new green energy “initiative” with an emphasis on figuring out how to use energy more efficiently (sans rolling blackouts) will be music to anti-drillers’ ears. Meanwhile, Cuomo continues to dither on the one clean energy alternative that would make an immediate and profound difference for all New Yorkers: drilling for clean-burning natural gas.

Read More “Cuomo Announces Green Tech Initiative, Dithers on Fracking”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Oneida County | Statewide NY

Even Without Fracking, Some NY Water Wells are Flammable
September 18, 2012September 18, 2012

A recent study released by the U.S. Geological Survey looks at water well contamination in New York State. The study sampled 239 wells, 12 of them located in the Mohawk Valley area of the state (Utica, NY area). At least one of the Mohawk Valley water wells has enough methane in it (28 milligrams per liter) to be flammable. Just like the faucet in the fictional movie Gasland! Just one thing: There’s no fracked natural gas wells anywhere close to that well (high volume fracking has never been allowed in the state—ever). It’s naturally-occurring methane.

Read More “Even Without Fracking, Some NY Water Wells are Flammable”
Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues

Analyst Predicts NatGas Price Will be $4 MCF by Year’s End
September 18, 2012September 18, 2012

Forbes has an article saying the commodity price for natural gas, which was at historic lows earlier this year, will go above $4 per thousand cubic feet (mcf) by the end of this year. The current price as of this writing is $2.87 mcf.

Here’s their argument (based on analysis by Canaccord) in favor of a big upswing in natural gas prices:

Read More “Analyst Predicts NatGas Price Will be $4 MCF by Year’s End”
Energy Companies | Hess | Ohio | Statewide OH

Hess Buys NatGas Contracts Division of Delta Energy
September 18, 2012September 18, 2012

Energy giant Hess Corp. announced yesterday it is buying the natural gas marketing division of Delta Energy. Delta is based in Dublin, Ohio. What Hess is buying are energy contracts—the right to sell natural gas to a certain list of commercial and industrial customers. Hess is a huge company with operations that span upstream (drilling new wells) to midstream (pipelines, processing and terminals) to downstream (selling oil and gas to end user customers). Hess owns leases for 185,000 Utica Shale acres in Ohio and seems to be making moves to increase its presence in the state for all of its operations.

More on the Hess purchase from Delta:

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

NJ Natural Gas Customers Get Rate Cut Thanks to Fracking
September 18, 2012September 18, 2012

In what can only be termed delicious irony, more than 2 million natural gas customers across New Jersey, many of whom oppose hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, will get a cut in their natural gas rates starting October 1st. Why? Because of the abundance of hydraulically fractured Marcellus Shale gas flowing into the state from Pennsylvania.

Read More “NJ Natural Gas Customers Get Rate Cut Thanks to Fracking”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Sep 18, 2012
September 18, 2012September 18, 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: Tue, Sep 18, 2012”
Energy Companies | EnerVest | Ohio | Statewide OH

EnerVest Puts 539,000 Utica Shale Acres on Auction Block
September 17, 2012September 17, 2012

EnerVest has put leases for 539,000 Utica Shale acres in Ohio on the auction block and hopes to get more than $6 billion dollars for it. That would be something north of $11,000 per acre. Pretty optimistic, but hey, you never know!

Apparently EnerVest is the accidental energy company who just happened to amass a 3/4 of a million acres of leases some time ago and now wants to take advantage by selling some of it. From the Wall Street Journal:

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Exporting | Industrywide Issues

Guest Viewpoint: Why the APGA is Wrong on LNG Exports
September 17, 2012April 25, 2017

MDN reader and friend Chris Acker, who splits his time between northeast Pennsylvania and Savannah, Georgia, recently sent MDN a note about the American Public Gas Association (APGA) and their call to ban the export of natural gas from the U.S. The APGA has over 700 members in 36 states and is the only nonprofit trade organization that represents America’s publicly owned natural gas local distribution companies (LDCs).

In February, the APGA sent a letter to Congressman Edward Markey (D) supporting his legislation that would ban the export of domestically produced liquefied natural gas (see the letter here). Chris points out what he perceives are the fallacies in the APGA’s arguments to ban LNG exports. MDN has had mixed emotions on the topic of exporting natural gas, but Chris makes some compelling arguments.

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