Marcellus Drilling News

NYS Comptroller DiNapoli Letter: Chesapeake Needs New Board

May 30, 2012May 30, 2012

Anti-drilling New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is once again going after Chesapeake Energy. Like many Democrats, he’s not one to waste a good crisis. You may recall that DiNapoli previously scolded Chesapeake over its Founders Well Participation Program (FWPP) that allowed CEO Aubrey McClendon, the guy who founded the company, to participate in each well drilled, with up to 2.5 percent ownership (see this MDN story).

Now that the board has rescinded the FWPP program after next year, DiNapoli needs something else to target, so he’s lobbying to have a new board of directors installed and sent an open letter to shareholders calling for just that (see the letter embedded below).

PA Political Left Believes Marcellus Compact is DOA

May 30, 2012May 30, 2012

Lest you think that MDN is just so much right-wing, Tea Party-spouting bilge when we make quips about the politics of drilling, we offer the following into evidence that our views and opinions are dead-on accurate.

Yesterday MDN wrote an article about the so-called Marcellus Compact, a set of six bills that have been introduced by left-wing PA Democrats in what MDN considers an attempt to have an issue to run on in the next election (see this MDN story). MDN pointed out the bills have no chance of passage.

It seems the left shares the same view as MDN about the Marcellus Compact. To wit:

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Bill Makes Using Acid Mine Water More Likely

May 30, 2012May 30, 2012

One of the more intriguing developments over the past year or so is that drillers in Pennsylvania have considered using acid mine drainage as a source of water for hydraulic fracturing. Water that flows from abandoned coal mines creates acidic water, some 300 million gallons of it per day, destroying plants and fish in some 5,000 miles of Pennsylvania’s waterways. If drillers were to use it, it would address two issues: cleaning up acid mine drainage, and reducing the need for fresh water needed for fracking. Everyone wins, right? Life is never that easy.

Rex Energy Drills First Utica Well, Sells Keystone Midstream

May 30, 2012May 30, 2012

Rex Energy announced yesterday that it has closed on a previously announced deal to sell its subsidiary Keystone Midstream to MarkWest Energy for $512 million (see this MDN story for the original announcement). Rex also announced that their Bluestone cryogenic processing plant, part of the sale, has just gone online and will begin selling gas by June 1st.

But perhaps the biggest news yesterday from Rex, at least for landowners, is that Rex has completed drilling its first Ohio Utica well, in Carroll County. Fracking of the well begins in June, and Rex is now moving the rig back to PA where they will drill their second Utica well—in Lawrence County.

Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, May 30, 2012

May 30, 2012May 30, 2012

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:

Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies

Corporate Raider Carl Icahn Sets His Sights on Chesapeake

May 29, 2012May 29, 2012

Late last Friday, corporate raider Carl Icahn filed what’s known as a 13D with the Securities and Exchange Commission to disclose he has taken a rather large stake in Chesapeake Energy. Friday morning MDN posted a story outlining who owns how much of Chesapeake’s stock (at least for outside shareholders)—see this MDN story. At the time it was rumored that Icahn’s stake was around 4 percent.

We now know his stake is much higher than that.

Brooke County WV Schools Get $661K in Lease Payments

May 29, 2012May 29, 2012

Brooke County Schools in West Virginia are eager to have Chesapeake Energy drill under school-owned property. But Ohio County Schools, also in WV, don’t want Chesapeake drilling near their schools. What’s the difference? One is getting a boatload of money in lease (and eventually royalty) payments. The other isn’t.

UB Backs Away from Own Shale Institute’s New Study

May 29, 2012May 29, 2012

A few weeks ago the new natural gas institute at SUNY University at Buffalo (UB) released a 52-page study that found environmental problems caused by Marcellus Shale gas drilling in Pennsylvania were isolated, mostly minor and on the decline (see this MDN story for a copy of the study). The high priests of the enviro-left could not let a study favorable to the drilling industry stand, so a fast and furious mud-slinging contest began to see if they could besmirch, ridicule, criticize and otherwise try to blunt the effect of such a study. Their concerted (and coordinated?) campaign is having an effect.

The University at Buffalo is now distancing itself from the study, even though the study was rigorous and academically sound. Such are the vagaries (and lack of intestinal fortitude) in academe.

Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Dems Blame Marcellus Drilling for Smallmouth Bass Problem

May 29, 2012May 29, 2012

Since 2005, smallmouth bass along a 100-mile stretch of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania have been hit with “outbreaks” of bacterial infections. Because of it, the PA Fish and Boat Commission wants the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to designate that part of the river as “impaired” which would free up money to conduct additional tests.

The DEP says there’s not enough evidence to put the river on the impaired list, yet. But what’s really happening is that a scientific issue is quickly becoming a political football. An all-too-familiar pattern is repeating itself with the smallmouth bass issue. Democrats, like Congressman Camille “Bud” George, want to blame it on Marcellus Shale drilling in the region, without any evidence.

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Dems Introduce 6 New Bills to “Fix” Act 13 Drilling Law

May 29, 2012May 29, 2012

Pennsylvania Democrats have introduced a series of six grandstanding bills into the state legislature called the “Marcellus Compact” that stand no chance of passage. But that’s not why they introduced them. The purpose is to have an issue they can demagogue as they try to win back control of one or both state houses in the next election.

According to the Dems and the sycophantic media that supports them:

Commodity Price | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Muskingum County | Ohio

New Gas-Fired Electric Power Plant in Ohio

May 29, 2012May 29, 2012

Another story about how electric generating plants are switching from coal to natural gas. This one comes from Ohio, where Appalachian Power brought a newly completed gas-fired plant in February near Dresden. Why switch from coal to gas? It’s all in the economics. The cost of coal has skyrocketed from $43.75 per ton in 2007 to $63.78 in 2011, an increase of 46 percent. At the same time, natural gas has gone from over $14 per million Btus to around $2.70 today. Need we say more?

But at what price is it more economical to use coal rather than natural gas? Thanks to Appalachian Power, we now know.

Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Engineering Firms Expand During U.S. Recession – Why?

May 29, 2012May 29, 2012

There’s one industry that’s been recession-proof over the past four years. Can you guess which one?

PA Court Overturns Lower Court on Zoning Compressor Plants

May 29, 2012May 29, 2012

A new ruling in Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court will have far-reaching implications for municipalities that try to apply zoning regulations to a select part of the drilling process, like compressor stations. Compressor stations are necessary to move gas along pipelines—from the well to a point where the gas can be processed and eventually sold. A three judge panel has just overturned a lower court’s decision on whether or not townships can regulate compressors separately from other drilling activities.

Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, May 29, 2012

May 29, 2012May 29, 2012

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:

Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies

Rumor Mill: Who Owns How Much of Chesapeake’s Stock?

May 25, 2012May 25, 2012

The rumor mill continues to churn with regard to Carl Icahn’s investment in Chesapeake Energy. The latest rumor, being circulated by the venerable Bloomberg News, says that Icahn has taken a 4 percent stake in the company. Is that good? Is it bad? Meaningful or not? Let’s give you the “news” (or rather rumor) first, and then some perspective…

First the news:

Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies

Chesapeake Puts 1/2 Million Leased Acres Up for Sale

May 25, 2012May 25, 2012

Chesapeake Energy has put a lot of its western U.S. acreage up for sale—some 500,000 acres in Wyoming and Colorado—in a bid to raise $9-$10 billion in cash to cover funding shortfalls and repay loans.