Marcellus Drilling News

Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Marshall County | Processing Plants | West Virginia | Williams

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:

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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.

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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.

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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:

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Bradford County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania

Chesapeake Updates Towanda, PA Landowners on Future Plans
August 30, 2012August 30, 2012

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:

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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:

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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).

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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.

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Earthquakes | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Questerre Energy | Utica Shale

Canadian Questerre Energy Says Fracking Causes Tiny Earthquakes
August 30, 2012August 30, 2012

It seems that every month or two someone resurrects a very dead issue: fracking causes earthquakes. MDN has covered the issue extensively over time (just do a quick MDN search on the word earthquake). In a nutshell, the only known instance when the process of fracking a shale gas well has caused an earthquake detectable on the surface was in England, and it was a unique situation where the drilling was shallow and near a geologic fault (see this MDN story).

Canadian energy company Questerre Energy Corporation is working to develop Utica Shale acreage in the St. Lawrence Lowlands area of Quebec province. Must be they’re getting push-back from environmentalists and investors because they’ve just issued what they call a “fact sheet” on the topic of fracking and earthquakes. According to Questerre, fracking does cause earthquakes—but they’re teeny tiny and not detectable on the surface.

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

The Evolving Position of PSATS on PA’s Act 13 Law
August 30, 2012August 30, 2012

The Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors (PSATS) is an organization representing 1,455 local municipalities across PA—some 44% of the entire population. PSATS has appeared to some as wishy-washy when it comes to its support, or lack thereof, for PA’s new Act 13 drilling law. Initially they supported it as “the best deal” they could get from the PA legislature (something Gov. Corbett still refers to in his statements).

Later on, when seven of its member towns sued the state to overturn the zoning portion of Act 13, PSATS sort of supported them, eventually filing a brief in their support. Now they’re offering full-throated support to the effort to overturn the zoning provisions in Act 13 as it goes before PA Supreme Court.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

Yoko Ono on Fracking: All We Need is … Logic?
August 30, 2012August 30, 2012

Yoko Ono and her son Sean Lennon launched the group Artists Against Fracking yesterday at a presser in New York City. Mark Ruffalo (“The Hulk” in the Avengers movie) joined them. The group, with supposedly over 180 artists as members, is targeting one person: Gov. Andrew Cuomo. They are attempting to pressure Cuomo into banning the miracle of hydraulic fracturing in New York State. Ono and Lennon sent him a letter on Monday with their artist buddies as signatories, requesting him to “just say no” (apparently there are some chemicals they do oppose).

The Ono/Lennon letter must be super secret because there are no public copies to be found, but somehow good ‘ole AP got their hands on a copy. Here’s the AP’s very few quotes and comments on the letter to Cuomo:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Meetings | New York | Schuyler County

Free Wine for Anti-Frackers at Finger Lakes Event
August 30, 2012August 30, 2012

Seeking to soften their image (as extremists) and win over a few more people with free wine, anti-frackers are holding another hippie-fest Big Splash event this Sunday along the shores of beautiful Seneca Lake, in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York.

According to the organizer, wine and music will make the dreary anti-fracking speeches they’ll have to endure go down just a little bit easier:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

France’s Fracking Ban Remains…Peut-être
August 30, 2012August 30, 2012

MDN has previously reported on the fracking ban in the country of France (see this MDN story). French leaders don’t seem to speak with each other about the question of “Will they or won’t they?” allow fracking someday. They do seem to be agreed that water-based fracking is banned and will remain so, but as for other kinds of fracking (or non-fracking) of shale gas, they tend to talk past each other.

Case in point: Here’s what the newly elected Prime Minister of France, Jean-Marc Ayrault, said last week about shale gas extraction and fracking:

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Aug 30, 2012
August 30, 2012August 31, 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: Thu, Aug 30, 2012”
About MDN | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | MDN Resources | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

MDN Map of NY Counties Likely to See Initial Fracking [Free]
August 29, 2012September 11, 2012

MDN is excited to release an important new resource—a free map—to help you understand the situation in New York State with fracking. A copy of the map is embedded below.

In a nutshell, everyone is waiting (holding our collective breath) for the New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to issue a final final final final version of new drilling rules (called the SGEIS) they’ve been working on for more than four years. Previous versions of the SGEIS were introduced but didn’t make the grade. This time, it’s really the final word.

Where will the first permits be issued? That’s what our map will help you figure out. And we tell you why.

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Broome County | Chemung County | Chenango County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY | Steuben County | Tioga County (NY)

NY Fracking Fight Heads to Townships – Rest of the Story
August 29, 2012August 29, 2012

An article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal focuses on an issue MDN has covered for some time: how the fight over hydraulic fracturing in New York State has “gone local,” meaning it’s largely going to be decided town by town throughout the state.

The article notes a few statistics—about 100 or so towns have voted for either a short-term moratorium on fracking, or an outright ban. And about 60 or so towns have voted to “support” drilling. (Shameless self-promotion: MDN’s Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook Vol. 2 has the complete list of which towns have voted which way on the issue.)

But the pure numbers of “100 against, 60 for” does not come anywhere close to telling the whole story…

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