Marcellus Drilling News

Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | PVR Partners | Wyoming County (PA)

New PVR Marcellus Pipeline Comes Online in Northeast PA
October 1, 2012October 1, 2012

The newest Marcellus Shale pipeline became operational today. PVR Partners made an announcement that their Wyoming Pipeline, a 30-mile pipeline running from northern Wyoming County, PA south to Luzerne County where it connects to the Transco interstate pipeline, is now operational. The new pipeline has a 750 million cubic feet per day capacity (MMcfd), of which 255 MMcfd (so far) has been spoken for by producers.

From the announcement:

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Accidents | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | PVR Partners

Emergency Shutdown at Gas Deydration Plant in PA
October 1, 2012October 1, 2012

Around 10:30 am Sunday morning a sound described by one neighbor as “deafening” came from the emergency shutdown of a PVR natural gas dehydration station in Monroe Township, PA (near Wilkes-Barre). What happened?

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About MDN | Calendar

Calendar of Events for Oct 1-14, 2012 [Free]
October 1, 2012October 1, 2012

Below are upcoming events for this week and next.
Read More “Calendar of Events for Oct 1-14, 2012 [Free]”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Oct 1, 2012
October 1, 2012October 1, 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: Mon, Oct 1, 2012”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Prediction: NY Will Release New Drilling Rules by Nov 29
September 28, 2012September 28, 2012

Former Gannett reporter and current book author Tom Wilbur (Shale Gas Review) is making a prediction: Gov. Cuomo and the state Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will either release new shale gas drilling rules by November 29, or file an extension and release them by March 1 of next year. Why? Because that’s exactly one year from the date the DEC held its final public hearing on proposed new fracking rules, and according to a “little-known” and obscure state law, they either have to adopt the rules (within one year) or apply for a 90-day extension.

Tom’s anti-drilling buds are telling him they think the state will move forward this year, by November 29.

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CNX Resources | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Ohio | Trumbull County

CONSOL Stops Work on Trumbull County’s First Utica Well
September 28, 2012September 28, 2012

CONSOL Energy has decided to stop working on the first-ever Utica Shale well in Trumbull County, Ohio saying they are “re-prioritizing” their activity in the county. Does that mean CONSOL is leaving the county?

Here’s what we know:

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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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