Marcellus Drilling News

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY AG Schneiderman Threatens New DRBC Lawsuit over Fracking
September 28, 2012September 28, 2012

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman tried to sue the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to force them to delay issuing drilling rules unless/until a comprehensive federal study of fracking was performed first. His frivolous lawsuit was tossed by a federal judge (see this MDN story).

Having his work repudiated by a federal judge apparently won’t stop Schneiderman from filing yet another frivolous lawsuit when and if the DRBC votes to approve Marcellus shale drilling rules. He’s keeping the threat alive:

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Butler County | EdgeMarc Energy | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

EdgeMarc Energy in the Hunt for 15-20K Acres in PA Marcellus
September 28, 2012September 28, 2012

Conventional wisdom says that in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio most (or all!) of the land available to lease for Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling is already leased. If you’re an energy company that wants a piece of the Marcellus action, you’ll have to buy acreage from a competitor.

According to newly formed energy company EdgeMarc Energy, that bit of conventional wisdom is wrong:

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CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Linde Says Early Results from LNG/Diesel Generators Promising
September 28, 2012September 28, 2012

Drilling rigs for shale gas use a lot of electricity to power the equipment—so much electricity each drill site uses enough generators to power an entire town. Drillers make their own electricity rather than draw from the local power grid. Almost all electrical generators at well sites are powered by diesel engines. But a few enterprising companies are offering alternatives to diesel. Hey, why not use natural gas to power those engines, since you’re drilling for natural gas!

Linde North America is one of those enterprising companies. CONSOL Energy’s gas division is experimenting with a dual-fuel technology that combines liquefied natural gas (LNG) with diesel, blending them together, a technology being pioneered by Linde. CONSOL is currently testing it with three generators in the Marcellus, and according to Linde and CONSOL, the early results are promising.

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

Red Hook, NY Considers Discriminatory Fracking Ban
September 28, 2012September 28, 2012

Red Hook, NY (Dutchess County) is considering a ban on fracking. Leading the charge is town Conservation Advisory Council Chairwoman, Laurie Husted, who wants the town to strip away the Constitutional property rights of landowners (disenfranchise them) to ever allow natural gas drilling. She says let’s take away that right now, “when there isn’t pressure from the natural gas industry to explore on local farmland.”

Husted spoke at a town board meeting Wednesday night:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Public Opinion

Bloomberg National Poll: U.S. is Warming up to Fracking
September 28, 2012September 28, 2012

Bloomberg, one of the most anti-drilling of mainstream news organizations, has just completed a new national poll on hydraulic fracturing. Unfortunately they have not released the actual questions and responses to the poll (like other news organizations do and like they themselves have done previously). They’ve only written up their interpretation of the numbers. It’s no wonder why—according to their own interpretation the numbers show fewer people today than earlier this year think fracking should be more regulated than it is now. That is, people in general are more favorable to fracking than they were just six months ago. That’s not the kind of trend Bloomberg likes to report on.

Taken between Sept. 21-24 and polling 1,007 people across the country (and with a margin of error +/- 3.1%), here are the numbers that we can glean from the news story:

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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Former Dimock Landowners Buy New Property…with Gas Lease
September 28, 2012September 28, 2012

Dimock Proud, a group of landowners in the township of Dimock, PA who seek to defend their town’s reputation against unfair media attacks, recently reported that Craig and Julie Sautner, landowners in Dimock and some of the most vocal critics of Cabot Oil & Gas, settled their claim with Cabot, sold their property and left town (see this MDN story). Dimock Proud provided MDN an update on the Sautners yesterday via email.

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Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

NatGas Utility in Susquehanna County, PA Approved by PUC
September 28, 2012September 28, 2012

The first pubic utility to be licensed in Pennsylvania in decades was just approved by the state’s Public Utility Commission (PUC). Leatherstocking Gas Co., a joint venture of Corning Gas Co. and Mirabito Energy Products (both headquartered in New York State) will spend the next five years installing pipelines to carry natural gas to businesses and residences in throughout rural Susquehanna County, PA.

It’s long been an irony that the county producing some of the largest volumes of natural gas in the state did not have its own natural gas utility to benefit local residents by letting them purchase some of the gas they produce—a situation now resolved.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

‘Promised Land’ Movie Funded by Middle Eastern Sheiks
September 28, 2012September 28, 2012

Prepare yourself for the impending release of a Hollywood blockbuster staring Matt Damon that takes direct aim at fracking. The movie, titled Promised Land (releasing just after Christmas), attempts to cast natural gas drillers as money-grubbing villains. Yes, of course it’s fictional and those in the industry, or those of us who cover the industry, know it’s just entertainment and nothing but lies. The problem is, the larger movie-going public doesn’t know it.

You have to ask yourself, who would stand to gain if fracking in the U.S. was shut down? In fact, who would be willing to put up the millions of dollars it takes to film and market a big-budget film like this one? If you guessed the people behind it come from an oil-rich Middle Eastern country that doesn’t want to stop selling us its high-priced oil to us, you would be right.

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Sep 28, 2012
September 28, 2012September 28, 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: Fri, Sep 28, 2012”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

3 Things to Know about Pavillion, Fracking & Water Contamination
September 27, 2012September 27, 2012

The Obama EPA has bungled a lot—chief among their bungles was their attempt to prove a connection between fracking and water contamination in Pavillion, Wyoming. The EPA hoped that Pavillion would be the smoking gun—the single, solitary case (any case!) they could use as an excuse to (illegally) start regulating oil and gas drilling through the back door of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. But something happened on the way to the “we’ll take over regulating fracking from the states” ball: The wells the EPA used for their data in Pavillion were drilled by the EPA and the high levels of chemicals in the wells may have come from their own botched drilling job. Oops—maybe they ought to leave drilling to the experts. Lots of backpedaling ensued (see this MDN story).

Pavillion is in the news once again. The U.S. Geological Survey yesterday released a mother load of new data about the test wells (see their two reports embedded below). What do the new reports say? Neither those in favor of drilling nor those against drilling have weighed in yet—they’re now pouring over the data. Here’s three things you need to know about Pavillion and a possible link between fracking and water contamination:

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Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide PA | Sunoco Logistics

Mariner East Pipeline to Philly Refinery 100% Committed
September 27, 2012September 27, 2012

Sunoco Logistics Partners announced yesterday the “open season” (the period of time when companies commit to pipeline capacity) for the Mariner East pipeline to deliver natural gas liquids to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia was a complete success with all existing planned pipeline capacity now spoken for. Mariner East will connect to the currently closed Marcus Hook refinery near Philly which will soon be reopened with a major new investment to convert the plant to refine propane and ethane from the Marcellus Shale in western PA. The processed propane and ethane from Marcus Hook will be sold domestically and exported internationally.

The open season was so successful, Sunoco is considering a second open season (building more pipeline capacity). In a related announcement, Range Resources said they are the anchor shipper for the pipeline (see this MDN story), as well as MarkWest Energy Partners (see this MDN story). From the Sunoco Logistics press release:

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Energy Companies | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Range Resources Corp | Statewide PA | Sunoco Logistics

Range Announces They’re Main Shipper for Mariner East Pipeline
September 27, 2012September 27, 2012

In a follow-on announcement to Sunoco Logistics Partners (see this MDN story), Range Resources says it is the anchor shipper for the Mariner East Pipeline that will connect western Pennsylvania to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia. Range announced they’ve signed a 15-year agreement with Sunoco to ship Marcellus Shale natural gas liquids to the Philly refinery. They also announced they’ve signed a 15-year contract to export and sell ethane to INEOS Europe from the Marcus Hook refinery. Range plans to start selling 10,000 barrels per day beginning in 2015 and eventually double that to 20,000 bpd.

Here is the lengthy press release from Range announcing their deal with Sunoco Logistics and also listing other NGL sales agreements Range has negotiated:

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Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | NGLs | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide PA | Sunoco Logistics

MarkWest Announces Commitment for Mariner East NGL Pipeline
September 27, 2012September 27, 2012

Not only has Range Resources announced they will take capacity on the Mariner East natural gas liquids pipeline (see this MDN story), MarkWest Energy Partners also announced they are another one of the customers for the new pipeline. MarkWest intends to ship ethane and propane from their Houston, PA processing and fractionation plant to the newly revamped Sunoco Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia where it will be re-mixed and sold, both domestically and internationally (exported).

From the MarkWest press release:

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Energy Companies | Marathon Oil | Triana Energy

Is Marathon Oil Exiting the Marcellus Shale?
September 27, 2012September 27, 2012

Rumors are leaking that Marathon Oil Corp. has put 80,000 Marcellus Shale acres in West Virginia and Pennsylvania up for sale in an effort to trim back on “non-core” assets. Here’s what’s being reported:

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Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Washington County

PA Towns Complain about PUC Act 13 Zoning Review
September 27, 2012September 27, 2012

The Pennsylvania townships that sued the state over the newly enacted Act 13 shale drilling law are feeling a little picked on at the moment. The lawsuit brought by seven townships earlier this year is about to go before the PA Supreme Court in a few weeks (see this MDN story). The case revolves around the right of local municipalities to pass and enforce their own zoning laws with respect to oil and gas drilling within their borders. The new Act 13 law provides a consistent set of zoning rules for all townships, replacing and superseding local laws. Some towns in western PA didn’t like it and sued.

Under Act 13, the Public Utility Commission (PUC) is empowered to review and decide whether or not towns are living up to the provisions of Act 13. If they are in violation, the towns won’t receive money from the new impact fee collected under Act 13 (part of a $200 million pot for this year). The current bone of contention is that the PUC is moving forward with reviews of zoning law in select towns, including four of the seven towns that brought the lawsuit. And those towns don’t like it—not one little bit.

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Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

New Marcellus Pipelines May Keep NatGas Prices Low
September 27, 2012September 27, 2012

Is the commodity price of natural gas heading up? Heading down? Depends on who you ask. Lately, it seems the overwhelming consensus is the price will go higher starting early next year, and indeed prices have been up recently from their historic 10-year lows (right now the NYMEX price is $3.25 Mbtus, it was just $1.90 not long ago). Natural gas is a commodity, and like any commodity, price is determined by supply and demand. If there’s more supply with steady demand, that equals lower prices.

A new article by Bloomberg (a perennially anti-drilling news service) predicts prices will go lower again—soon—because new Marcellus pipelines are coming online by the end of this year that will add an additional 30% capacity to supplies in the marketplace. How low will they go? One analyst quoted says prices may head back to the $2 range:

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