Marcellus Drilling News

Belmont County | Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy | Harrison County | Ohio | Utica Shale

New ‘King’ of Utica Wells? Gulfport Shugert Well @ 20 Mmcf/d
October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

Yesterday Gulfport Energy Corporation reported astonishing production results for it’s Utica Shale well Shugert 1-1H (in the town of Kirkwood, Belmont County, Ohio). The well tested at an initial rate of 20 million cubic feet of natural gas per day (Mmcf/d). It also produced an initial 144 barrels of condensate per day, and 2,002 barrels of natural gas liquids per day.

Previously, MDN reported another Gulfport Utica well (the Wagner 1-H) had become the “alpha dog” by overtaking the famed Chesapeake Buell well—and the Wagner well was flowing at “just” 14 Mmcf/d and producing 1,881 barrels of NGLs (see this MDN story). What do we call this new well: The King? (We’re running out of metaphors!) The new Shugert 1-1H well by Gulfport is, to MDN’s knowledge, the single largest producing well in the Utica Shale.

Read More “New ‘King’ of Utica Wells? Gulfport Shugert Well @ 20 Mmcf/d”
Broome County | DTE Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Susquehanna County

Bluestone Gathering Pipeline Gets NY Approval
October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

MDN friend Andy Leahy, intrepid writer of the NY Shale Gas Now blog site, has returned! Yeah! Andy’s first post since being back from a several month hiatus is an important one—one that somehow slipped by the MDN radar. The Bluestone Pipeline, a 37-mile gathering line that runs through Susquehanna County, PA and into Broome County, NY (Town of Sanford) connecting to both the Millennium and the Tennessee interstate pipelines received approval from New York State. (See this MDN story for background on the Bluestone Pipeline.)

Andy reports the developer plans to break ground in New York as early as October 20. For a full analysis and rundown on the project now that it’s moving forward, see Andy’s post by clicking the link below.

*NY Shale Gas Now (Oct 9, 2012) – Bluestone Pipeline Green-Lighted; Local Press Still Asleep at Keyboards
Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Cabot Responds to Latest Bloomberg Attack over Dimock [Free]
October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

Once again Bloomberg is taking aim at Cabot Oil & Gas over methane in water wells in the Dimock, PA area. Like a dog digging up an stinking, rotting carcass that it previously buried to chew on it some more, Bloomberg just can’t help itself. They’re desperate to prove a connection—any connection—between fracking and “pollution” of water. In this case, methane pollution—something that’s eminently fixable.

The latest hit piece from Bloomberg ran last week and is being endlessly recycled by other media outlets. The piece, titled “Cabot’s Methodology Links Tainted Water Wells to Gas Fracking,” attempts to make a link between data released by an EPA investigation in Dimock and methane from Cabot’s drilling. It cites a Duke University analysis of the data saying in essence that the methane found in two Dimock water wells present a chemical “fingerprint” or signature that matches methane from deep below the surface, not near the surface. The “natural” conclusion is that Cabot must be at fault.

This issue is complex and scientific and the tendency is to try and make it easier than it is. Cabot has taken the time to patiently and accurately respond to this latest attack on their own blog site. MDN is running their post below so you have the full facts.

Read More “Cabot Responds to Latest Bloomberg Attack over Dimock [Free]”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pipelines | Statewide NY

NYC Pipeline Protesters Get Naked, Paint Themselves Green
October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

Oy vey! Just when you think you’ve seen and heard it all (from the loony lefties who oppose shale gas drilling), they outdo themselves once again. A group of protesters who oppose the construction of a new pipeline from New Jersey to New York City, commonly called the Spectra Pipeline after the company building it, got naked (we kid you not) and painted their bodies green, parading themselves up and down the West Side Highway—all in an attempt to call attention to their opposition. Attention they got!

Here’s what The Village Voice reports:

Read More “NYC Pipeline Protesters Get Naked, Paint Themselves Green”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Research

GAO Issues 2 Reports on Fracking, Favors EPA Oversight
October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

Two new reports just released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) seek to give political cover to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to continue it’s expansion of authority over oil and gas drilling in the U.S. (Full copies of both reports are embedded below.)

The two reports say, in essence, that the EPA is having a tough time with inspection and enforcement activities because a) shale gas drilling has expanded so rapidly, and b) states provide information in different forms according to their own schedules. Well duh. The EPA is not charged with regulating oil and gas drilling! Butt out.

Read More “GAO Issues 2 Reports on Fracking, Favors EPA Oversight”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Marathon Oil | Ohio | Processing Plants | Statewide OH | Trucking | Utica Shale

Marathon to Move Utica NGLs to Refineries by Truck & Barge
October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

Marathon Petroleum Corp. (MPC) and Harvest Pipeline Company announced yesterday they’re working together to build a system to bring natural gas liquids (NGLs) from the Utica Shale in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania to Marathon’s refineries by truck and barge along the Ohio River. The joint project will be completed by the end of 2013.

From the Marathon press release:

Read More “Marathon to Move Utica NGLs to Refineries by Truck & Barge”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Tennessee Regulator Calls Anti-Frackers (Gasp) “Stupid”
October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

Is it OK to call anti-drillers’ arguments about fracking “stupid”? Apparently not in Tennessee, where the head regulator for oil and gas in the state made the enormous mistake of being honest and expressing his opinion in handwriting:

Read More “Tennessee Regulator Calls Anti-Frackers (Gasp) “Stupid””
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Daily News Says it’s Time to Frack
October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

The parade of mainstream media outlets offering NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo “permission” to make a pro-fracking decision continues. On Monday we told you about an editorial by the Washington Post and an article by the AP. Today? The New York Daily News. An editorial by the Daily News (presumably written by Mort Zuckerman) says this, in part:

Read More “NY Daily News Says it’s Time to Frack”
Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues

PwC Report: Shale Gas Impacts on U.S. Chemical Industry
October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

A new report just released by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) takes a detailed look at how shale gas is changing the chemical industry in the U.S. (a full copy of the report is embedded below).

From the PwC overview:

Read More “PwC Report: Shale Gas Impacts on U.S. Chemical Industry”
Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Questerre Energy | Regulation | Utica Shale

Questerre Energy Hopeful Quebec will Lift Fracking Moratorium
October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

An ongoing story of interest to MDN is the fracking moratorium in Quebec, Canada. It’s interesting to MDN because part of the Utica Shale underlies Quebec province. As we’ve previously reported, Quebec has a moratorium in place similar to New York State. It seemed for a time like the moratorium would become more or less permanent after statements by representatives of the newly elected government in Quebec, a fact bemoaned by Canadian driller Questerre Energy (see this MDN story).

Questerre issued another press release today on a more encouraging note, pointing out the Premier of Quebec, Pauline Marois, says she will make the final decision about lifting the moratorium and that she’ll use the results of the study under way to make her decision. Questerre takes her comments as a positive sign that science, and not politics, will determine a favorable (pro-fracking) outcome.

Read More “Questerre Energy Hopeful Quebec will Lift Fracking Moratorium”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Oct 10, 2012
October 10, 2012October 10, 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, Oct 10, 2012”
Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation

Broome County Republicans to Cuomo: Drill Now or Move On
October 9, 2012October 9, 2012

An article published last weekend by Gannett tackles the tricky middle ground NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo is trying to navigate when it comes to fracking. MDN has gone on record with our disappointment in Cuomo and Dept. of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens. The Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY) is on record expressing their disappointment too (see this MDN story).

The Gannett article doesn’t add much in the way of news to the fracking-in-New-York issue, but it is noteworthy for one reason: Two prominent Upstate New York Republican politicians, both from Broome County, are quoted essentially telling Cuomo to make a decision and be done with it. To wit:

Read More “Broome County Republicans to Cuomo: Drill Now or Move On”
Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues

Marcellus has Largest Recoverable Gas Deposit in Lower 48
October 9, 2012October 9, 2012

Investment research company ITG has just released a new 64-page report analyzing the recoverable onshore oil and gas deposits in the Lower 48 United States. Among their findings: The Marcellus Shale holds the largest remaining recoverable resources of natural gas at 330 trillion cubic feet.

Here’s a few more interesting statistics from the study, via the ITG press release:

Read More “Marcellus has Largest Recoverable Gas Deposit in Lower 48”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Livingston County | New York | Regulation

York, NY Votes Down Fracking Moratorium
October 9, 2012October 9, 2012

Town council members for York, NY (Livingston County) recently voted against a proposed fracking moratorium for the town. Unlike their unwise neighbors in Avon, NY (see this MDN story), York town board members took the time to carefully review the situation and instead of making a hasty political statement, they voted to remain neutral, saving the town a lot of money in legal fees to defend an illegal moratorium (the City of Binghamton’s moratorium was recently overturned).

Read More “York, NY Votes Down Fracking Moratorium”
Broome County | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pipelines | Taxation

NY Town’s Taxes Decrease Thanks to Marcellus Activity in PA
October 9, 2012October 9, 2012

Even though New York has not allowed high volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing (yet), some communities along the border with Pennsylvania, like MDN’s own community—the Town of Windsor (Broome County, NY)—are seeing tangible benefits. Those benefits are for every single resident, not just landowners who have leased or energy companies who drill. Windsor’s school tax bill for residents just went down! When’s the last time you heard anyone in NY say that?

MDN doesn’t know for sure, but we’d wager a large sum Windsor is the only school district in the entire state where taxes have gone down this year. Why?

Read More “NY Town’s Taxes Decrease Thanks to Marcellus Activity in PA”
Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York

Binghamton Mayor Ryan’s New Folly: Water Testing
October 9, 2012October 9, 2012

The failed mayor of Binghamton, Matt Ryan, is going on a fishing trip—but it’s no ordinary fishing trip. He wants to see if he can’t persuade Binghamton water technicians, who constantly test water quality of the Susquehanna River, to see if drilling in Pennsylvania has in any teeny tiny way impacted the quality of the river water Binghamton uses. So far, it’s a big, fat zero. No impact. None.

But that won’t dissuade the hard-headed, way out there left-leaning Democrat Ryan. He’s now asked for “special tests.” Yeah, that’ll do the trick! We need “special” (i.e. expensive) tests:

Read More “Binghamton Mayor Ryan’s New Folly: Water Testing”