Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, May 3, 2012
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Tioga County, NY Lease Deal with eCORP Falls Apart
It looks like it’s time to put away the champagne bottle and glasses that New Yorkers had brought out to toast a deal in Tioga County, NY that would use LPG (waterless) fracking and perhaps herald an early end to more than four years of a horizontal drilling moratorium.In March, MDN reported on a deal announced between eCORP International and the Tioga County (NY) Landowners Group, also known as Southern Tier Energy Partners (STEP), to lease 135,000 acres in Tioga County with an eye to using LPG waterless fracking (see this MDN story). After the initial announcement, eCORP released another press statement outlining the deal that both sides had supposedly worked out, a somewhat complicated arrangement in which the approximately 2,000 landowners would be split into 13 independent operating companies and would become part-owners in those companies (see this MDN story).
Read More “Tioga County, NY Lease Deal with eCORP Falls Apart”
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Innovative New Way for Landowners to Attract Lease Offers
ShaleNavigator is a web-based natural gas mapping system MDN has highlighted before (see this MDN story). The ShaleNavigator website allows users to display various “layers” of information on a map, including where wells have been permitted, who the driller is, where pipelines are located, and more. Users can zoom in or out and turn layers on or off. A cool service.
ShaleNavigator has just added an important new layer to their mapping system called the “Available Property” layer (see image below). This new layer shows properties from landowners that are available for lease, with the actual property boundaries. Here’s the neat thing: users can turn on the other layers, like recent permits, pipelines, etc. so those interested in leasing property for drilling, like drilling companies and landmen, can visually see the “context” of the offered property. Now that’s really cool.
Read More “Innovative New Way for Landowners to Attract Lease Offers”
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New “Research” Says Fracking will Contaminate Aquifers
A new research paper titled “Potential Contaminant Pathways from Hydraulically Fractured Shale to Aquifers,” bought and paid for by anti-drilling organizations Catskill Mountainkeeper and the Park Foundation, christened “peer-reviewed” and published in an obscure journal called Ground Water, concludes that fracking fluids won’t stay put a mile below solid rock and will instead travel uphill, through that mile of solid rock, and contaminate water aquifers—within a few years.
What scientific method was used to conduct this all-important research that foretells the end of safe drinking water as we know it? Computer models. Yeah, the author of this “important new study” sat and played with computer models, got a few of his buddies to sign off on his “research,” got paid a boatload of money from anti-drilling organizations and published it. And now, shazam, everyone is supposed to run for the hills and end all fracking everywhere. Nice try.
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Chesapeake’s NatGas Production Cuts Never Materialized
In January 2012, Chesapeake Energy announced they would curtail (reduce) their natural gas production by 1/2 billion cubic feet (bcf) per day. In February, they announced they would double it to 1 bcf per day (see this MDN story). Other energy companies also announced they would cut production, all in an attempt to reduce supply and boost the price of natural gas. But commodities traders were wary of those announcements, saying in essence, “We’ve heard this before,” and that real cuts in production were never forthcoming (see this MDN story). Looks like the wary traders were right.
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Brooke County School District Signs Lease with Chesapeake
The Brooke County, WV Board of Education on Monday approved a lease deal with Chesapeake Energy that will allow natural gas drilling beneath school-owned property. The deal allows Chesapeake to drill under any of the school’s collective 189 acres, which is scattered throughout the county at different locations. The signing bonus is $3,500 per acre for each acre drilled, plus 18 percent royalties.
Read More “Brooke County School District Signs Lease with Chesapeake”
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Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, May 2, 2012
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Breaking: Chesapeake to End FWPP Early, Searches for New Chairman
Still reeling from a press pounding, the Chesapeake Energy board of directors today announced that they and CEO Aubrey McClendon will end the Founders Well Participation Program (FWPP) early—on June 30, 2014 (18 months before it was due to end). The program grants McClendon the right to up to 2.5 percent ownership in each well drilled by the company, but also requires him to kick in his portion of the drilling costs. McClendon was using loans or mortgages to come up with his portion of the cash needed to drill—loans which now total nearly $1.4 billion. So stung by the revelation of just how much McClendon has borrowed, the board and McClendon will end the program.But also part of today’s announcement is that the board of directors is looking for a non-executive chairperson. Currently, McClendon is the chairman of the board in addition to his role as CEO. When a new non-executive chairperson is found, McClendon will relinquish his role as chairman but stay at the helm as CEO. This is, no doubt, an effort to show the company is being more rigorous and impartial when it comes to the decisions by the board. That is, they want to reassure stockholders that everything is fine in the company, and that no financial funny business is going on behind the scenes.
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EPA Administrator Al Armendariz Resigns over Crucify Comment
Al Amrendariz, EPA Region 6 administrator (Texas and surrounding states) has been hoist by his own petard. Yesterday he resigned—in disgrace. It seems nearly everyone (but anti-drillers) were calling for his resignation after a video of Armendariz came to light where he outlined his philosophy of enforcement against energy company “violators” to that of the Romans who used to enter a village, find the first five men, and crucify them—which had the effect of, shall we say, making everyone else behave themselves (see MDN’s previous story on Armendariz to watch the infamous video).Read More “EPA Administrator Al Armendariz Resigns over Crucify Comment”
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Graph Showing NatGas Rig Count vs NatGas Price
In a Reuters news story about the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) latest report showing natural gas production fell slightly in February, we get the following graphic which MDN found interesting. It shows the Baker Hughes rig count (number of natural gas drilling rigs) plotted as one line, with the second plotted line representing natural gas futures prices. The natural gas rig count—drilling rigs dedicated to drilling for natural gas in the lower 48 states—is now at a 10-year low. The count as of last Friday was 613, the lowest it’s been since April 2002. Gas prices are also at 10-year lows.
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Bradford County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County | Tioga County (PA)
SRBC Lifts PA Water Withdrawal Restrictions, Drilling Resumes
There is no official notice posted on the Susquehanna River Basin Commission’s (SRBC) website, but according to a Reuters news story, the SRBC has lifted its temporary ban on water withdrawals implemented two weeks ago on April 18. Hydraulic fracturing uses a lot of water. Drillers get the water from various sources, most often rivers and streams. If that river or stream happens to be located in the Susquehanna River Basin, withdrawals are overseen by the SRBC, which ensures water levels do not get too low.
Read More “SRBC Lifts PA Water Withdrawal Restrictions, Drilling Resumes”
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Chesapeake’s Stock Moves Higher on Analyst Comment
A little good news for Chesapeake Energy. Chesapeake’s stock opened at $18.05 yesterday, and closed at $18.44, a 2.2 percent boost. The price remains significantly down from the over $35 per share price it had been trading it within the past year, but still, a movement up is a good thing.
If you’ve been reading MDN for any length of time, you know about the current public relations firestorm Chesapeake finds itself in over it’s Founders Well Participation Program (FWPP), a program in which CEO Aubrey McClendon gets up to a 2.5 percent ownership interest in each well drilled by the company. The controversy surrounds how he finances his portion of the drilling cost. He’s taken out loans (in essence mortgages) against his 2.5 percent interest—to the tune of $1.4 billion. That “revelation” caused the Chesapeake stock price to take a tumble (see below).
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Aqua America | Energy Services | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | PVR Partners
New Water Pipeline Reduces Water Truck Trips in PA
Aqua America and Penn Virginia Resource Partners (PVR) issued a press release yesterday to call attention to a recently completed private pipeline project in the Marcellus Shale in north-central PA. What’s new and different about this pipeline is what it carries: water. The newly completed pipeline supplies water to drilling sites without the need for water trucks—and that’s the “angle” Aqua America and PVR are pushing. They tout the fact that already, in less than a month of operation, the pipeline has eliminated more than 2,000 water truck trips.
Read More “New Water Pipeline Reduces Water Truck Trips in PA”
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Scranton Suburb Ends Objection to Shale Cuttings at Landfill
Opposition from a local township to a landfill outside of Scranton, PA that sought and was granted a permit to accept more shale cuttings has ended. Keystone Sanitary Landfill, a privately owned and operated municipal solid waste landfill located in Dunmore, PA applied to increase the daily volume of shale cuttings (leftover rock waste from drilling) from 600 to 1,000 tons per day. They also requested the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) change their permit so they could receive the cuttings in an “unprocessed or unsolidified form” (see this MDN story).
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Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, May 1, 2012
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Stop Press: ETP Acquires Sunoco for $5.3 Billion
Just this morning Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), a huge pipeline company that owns 23,500 miles of pipelines and gathering systems, including the largest intrastate pipeline in Texas, announced they are buying Sunoco for $5.3 billion. One of the main reasons for the purchase? ETP said they have a growing interest in the Marcellus Shale and they want Sunoco’s assets in the Marcellus region—a sure sign that midstream and downstream will be where the action is for the foreseeable future. Infrastructure to move gas from point A to point B, and even to end users (consumers) will drive much of the activity in the Marcellus. In that light, the buyout/merger makes sense.Sunoco is not a driller (“upstream”) but instead is mostly a downstream company, owning pipelines, terminals and marketing assets. Sunoco also has a network of approximately 4,900 retail locations in 23 states.
From the press release:
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It looks like it’s time to put away the champagne bottle and glasses that New Yorkers had brought out to toast a deal in Tioga County, NY that would use LPG (waterless) fracking and perhaps herald an early end to more than four years of a horizontal drilling moratorium.
Still reeling from a press pounding, the Chesapeake Energy board of directors today announced that they and CEO Aubrey McClendon will end the Founders Well Participation Program (FWPP) early—on June 30, 2014 (18 months before it was due to end). The program grants McClendon the right to up to 2.5 percent ownership in each well drilled by the company, but also requires him to kick in his portion of the drilling costs. McClendon was using loans or mortgages to come up with his portion of the cash needed to drill—loans which now total nearly $1.4 billion. So stung by the revelation of just how much McClendon has borrowed, the board and McClendon will end the program.
Al Amrendariz, EPA Region 6 administrator (Texas and surrounding states) has been 
Just this morning Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), a huge pipeline company that owns 23,500 miles of pipelines and gathering systems, including the largest intrastate pipeline in Texas, announced they are buying Sunoco for $5.3 billion. One of the main reasons for the purchase? ETP said they have a growing interest in the Marcellus Shale and they want Sunoco’s assets in the Marcellus region—a sure sign that midstream and downstream will be where the action is for the foreseeable future. Infrastructure to move gas from point A to point B, and even to end users (consumers) will drive much of the activity in the Marcellus. In that light, the buyout/merger makes sense.