More jobs on the way in greater Pittsburgh area, courtesy of the Marcellus and Utica Shale. The latest example is a concrete company’s expansion, which will contribute another 200 jobs to the area:
Read More “Another 200 New Jobs in PA – Thanks to the Marcellus Shale”
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: Thu, Oct 11, 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”
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
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]”
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”
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”
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”
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””
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:
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”
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”
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”
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”
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”
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).