Marcellus Drilling News

Royalty Checks Coming for Landowners in WV Panhandle

August 31, 2012August 31, 2012

Landowners who leased with Chesapeake Energy and who live in Ohio and Marshall counties in West Virginia’s northern panhandle may soon have big smiles on their faces. Chesapeake is turning on the gas to pipelines in those locations, and once the gas starts flowing, so too will royalty checks.

How soon should landowners expect their first checks?

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

PA DEP Releases Draft New Rules for Streamlined Drill Permitting

August 31, 2012August 31, 2012

A couple of weeks ago MDN outlined the smear job being attempted by the AP against PA Gov. Tom Corbett over his executive order to streamline the process used by the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for permitting new gas and oil drilling (see this MDN story). Lord help us if a politician actually tries to reduce the red tape involved in legitimate businesses trying to do business!

The DEP has just submitted a draft for new rules to streamline the permitting process (embedded below). The DEP is now asking for public comments on the revised rules. As part of that process, they’ll hold two webinars for the public in September.

Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues

Is Wet Gas Following Dry Gas Over a Price Cliff?

August 31, 2012August 31, 2012

price over a cliff Since the beginning of 2012, hardly a quarterly earnings/operations report from an energy company, nor a story about natural prices, has failed to point out how drillers are now focused on “wet gas” areas in shale plays. For the Marcellus and Utica region, that means a shift from drilling in northeast PA to southwest PA, northern WV and eastern Ohio, where wet gas deposits are found. Wet gas simply means there are extra hydrocarbons that come out of the bore hole along with “dry gas,” i.e. methane. Wet gas hydrocarbons include propane and ethane.

A story in today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette chronicles the rapid drop in the commodity price for both propane and ethane because of increasing supplies from shale gas drilling. It feels like the dry gas price story all over again. Too much supply, not enough demand.

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Sullivan County

Sullivan County, NY Town of Forestburgh Bans Fracking

August 31, 2012August 31, 2012

Sadly, another township in Sullivan County, NY has voted to ban hydraulic fracturing. Bans are currently illegal according to state law, but two court cases now on appeal will decide the matter.

The latest town in Sullivan to ban fracking is Forestburgh.

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

Bloomberg Says “We Need that Gas” and Fracking Will Get It

August 31, 2012August 31, 2012

The conversion of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg from reticent to ambivalent to full-throated supporter of fracking is certainly welcomed, but also surprising. MDN has connected the dots on his eleventh-hour conversion in this MDN story.

During public appearances this week, Mayor Mike has addressed the fracking issue a number of times. Here are a few of his comments on the topic, in his own words:

Devon Signs Road Repair Agreement with Wayne County, OH

August 31, 2012August 31, 2012

Devon Energy has signed an iron-clad agreement with Wayne County, Ohio to repair any damage caused by heavy trucks to roadways and bridges in the county from their drilling activities. A meeting on Tuesday night in Fredericksburg, OH was standing-room only as officials and local residents assembled to hear about the agreement.

Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Enterprise Looking for More Drillers to Use Ethane Pipeline

August 31, 2012August 31, 2012

Enterprise Products Partners is building a new 1,230-mile ethane pipeline, called the ATEX Express, that will stretch from Washington County, PA all the way to the Gulf Coast (see this MDN story for background). When completed, the pipeline will carry nearly 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of ethane from the Marcellus and Utica Shale region to Texas for processing at ethane cracker plants along the Gulf Coast.

Enterprise already has enough commitments from drillers to build the pipeline. Both Chesapeake Energy and Range Resources have committed to sizable capacity in the pipeline (75,000 bpd for Chesapeake, and 125,000 bpd for Range, see this MDN story). However, Enterprise still has lots of capacity left, so they’ve started a new “open season” or period of time for more drillers to claim capacity in the new pipeline.

Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

Final Numbers for 2011 PA Impact Fee Revenue Due Next Week

August 31, 2012August 31, 2012

As of next week, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) will know just how much money the new Act 13 drilling law will have generated for drilling that was initiated in 2011. The Act 13 law provides for an “impact fee” which is due payable by September 1.

Impact fee revenue will be used for a variety of reasons by local municipalities where drilling has occurred. In addition, 40% of the fees collected (in the spirit of compromise and American socialism) will be “spread around” to all 67 PA counties—the price of getting the legislation passed.

Williams to Invest Additional $1.34B, Create 100 Jobs in WV

August 31, 2012August 31, 2012

At a ceremony yesterday in Marshall County, WV, Williams Partners announced they will spend an additional $1.34 billion between now and 2014 and add an additional 100 long-term jobs to expand processing capacity of a recently acquired natural gas liquids plant. Added with their previous investments, Williams will have spent $3.84 billion on infrastructure projects in the northern panhandle of West Virginia.

From yesterday’s announcement:

Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues

Importance of Off-Shore Gas Decreases with Rise of Shale Gas

August 31, 2012August 31, 2012

The Gulf of Mexico has traditionally been a big source for both oil and natural gas for the U.S. When hurricanes blow through the Gulf and shut down oil and gas rigs, the markets always respond. That is, until now.

Even though Hurricane Isaac took an eerily similar path to Katrina (from 2005), and although nearly 3/4 of natural gas production coming from rigs in the Gulf was “shut-in” (or stopped, in lay terms), how did the markets respond? Gas futures prices went up 2%—hardly a blip. Why? Because of an abundance of shale gas—including (particularly) an abundant supply of shale gas from the Marcellus.

Chimera Energy | Energy Services | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Chimera Energy Continues to Bash Away at Fracking

August 31, 2012August 31, 2012

Chimera Energy Corp is attempting to co-opt the anti-fracking movement to bolster its own new, and according to them, ground-breaking natural gas technology—a technology that does not use fracking (water-based or otherwise) to retrieve natural gas from shale deposits.

Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Aug 31, 2012

August 31, 2012August 31, 2012

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

Bradford County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania

Chesapeake Updates Towanda, PA Landowners on Future Plans

August 30, 2012August 30, 2012

Future sign Chesapeake Energy Landowner Relations Manager Andy Travis held a meeting for landowners in the Towanda, PA (Bradford County) area Tuesday night to update them on Chesapeake’s future drilling plans for the Towanda area. Among his comments:

Athens County | Ohio

Athens County, OH to See First Utica Shale Well Soon

August 30, 2012August 30, 2012

Drilling interest is heating up in Athens County, Ohio. The first of three planned Utica Shale gas wells will be drilled in the next few months. In addition, hundreds of landowners have recently signed leases to allow drilling. Are good things on the way for Athens County landowners? Perhaps!

On the location and timing of the first well to be drilled:

Energy Companies | Equinor/Statoil

Norway’s Statoil Shopping for More Shale Acreage in U.S.

August 30, 2012August 30, 2012

Reuters is reporting that Norwegian energy giant Statoil is on the hunt for more shale acreage in the U.S. Does that mean Statoil is looking to pick up more acreage in the Marcellus or Utica Shale area?

“Way back” in 2008, Statoil purchased a 32.5% interest in Chesapeake Energy’s Marcellus Shale acreage, buying them 600,000 net acres at the time (according to the MDN’s Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook, Vol. 1). But just a few months ago, MDN reported that Statoil was moving away from “dry gas” areas and to “wet gas” and “oily” areas, like the North Dakota’s Bakken Shale (see this MDN story).

Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

BENTEK’s Big Prediction on PA Natural Gas Production

August 30, 2012August 30, 2012

BENTEK Energy, a company started in 1985, has a deep understanding of the natural gas market having chronicled it, studied it and consulted on it for more than 25 years. BENTEK has just made a startling prediction: Pennsylvania’s natural gas production, mainly due to the Marcellus Shale, will increase 78% in the next three years.