Marcellus Drilling News

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Interior Sec. Ken Salazar Offers Statement on Fracking

April 4, 2012December 11, 2012

Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar recently said that his agency is working on new regulations that will lower the risk of water supplies becoming tainted from hydraulic fracturing operations. Whatever that means. Sec. Salazar was touring a “man camp” housing settlement in the Bakken Shale area of North Dakota on Monday and during a back and forth with the press had this to say on the topic of hydraulic fracturing:

Online Map Shows How Much PA Towns Will Make from Impact Fee

April 4, 2012April 4, 2012

A website MDN has previously highlighted, FrackTrack.org, has published an interactive map that helps Pennsylvania residents track whether or not their county and local municipality has voted to accept the recently passed impact fee law (screen shot below). The map includes a clock counting down to the final deadline. The first deadline under the new law is for counties, which was 60 days from when the measure passed. The second deadline is for municipalities, which is 60 days after that. Combining the two you get 120 days total, of which we now have 69 days left.

Commodity Price | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Low NatGas Prices Translate to Electricity Rate Cut by Peco

April 4, 2012April 4, 2012

Yet another Pennsylvania utility is lowering rates customers pay—this time it’s a rate cut for electricity by Peco Energy which supplies the Philadelphia area. Low cost natural gas is being used in electrical generating plants and the utility is passing along the lower cost to produce electricity to its customers, thanks in part to an abundant supply of Marcellus Shale natural gas.

Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Apr 4, 2012

April 4, 2012April 4, 2012

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

Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Chesapeake’s First Ohio Utica Shale Production Numbers

April 3, 2012April 3, 2012

conventional v unconventional gas drilling Chesapeake Energy has filed their first production report with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) for nine wells they drilled in the Ohio Utica Shale/Point Pleasant formations for 2011. A copy of the report is embedded below. The big news is that a single well in Harrison County—in production for just six months of 2011—produced 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

That single well was 2 percent of the state’s entire natural gas production for all of 2011. Put in perspective, Ohio has 49,000 conventional natural gas wells in production. That one well is producing an average of 300 times more natural gas than a conventionally drilled well. Behold the power of hydraulic fracturing.

Guest Post: Peters Twp Responds to MDN on Act 13 Lawsuit

April 3, 2012April 3, 2012

Last week, MDN wrote an article about the just-filed lawsuit by a group of Pennsylvania townships seeking to strike down provisions in a new PA law referred to as Act 13 (see this MDN story). Act 13 preempts local zoning ordinances that prohibit or regulate oil and gas drilling and replaces those ordinances with a set of rules from the state. In essence, Act 13 substitutes the state’s “one size fits all” zoning ordinance for local zoning ordinances. MDN’s comment at the end of that article was that in examining some of the attachments to the filed lawsuit it seems to MDN that anti-drillers are the ones driving the lawsuit.

David Ball, a council member from Peters Township (Washington County), PA—one of the towns filing the lawsuit—emailed MDN to challenge our view and assessment that he and others filing the lawsuit are anti-drilling, and to further explain their reasons for the lawsuit. MDN asked permission to publish his comments and he accepted. This is not the very first, but perhaps the second or third guest post on MDN. We are happy (from time to time) to offer guest posts that disagree with our own views if that post is courteous, serious and advances the discussion. This one does and we thank Mr. Ball for taking the time to write.

Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Ohio Petroleum Council Calls Utica/Marcellus “Game Changer”

April 3, 2012April 3, 2012

Terry Fleming, executive director of the Ohio Petroleum Council, recently visited the offices of The Daily Jeffersonian newspaper to talk about Utica and Marcellus drilling in the state. Among his comments were predictions about just how big the economic impact of shale drilling will become in Ohio over the next few years:

New Video: Women of the Marcellus

April 3, 2012April 3, 2012

MDN is really pleased to share a new video highlighting how Marcellus Shale development is impacting families in Pennsylvania. While many know about the economic impacts and consumer savings made possible by shale gas, this video highlights the personal stories of three families whose lives have been made materially better because of Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania.

Big Economic Impact of Midstream Projects in OH & PA

April 3, 2012April 3, 2012

A pair of stories about how the midstream is transforming western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio recently ran in the Youngstown, OH The Business Journal. Midstream refers to the infrastructure that gets natural gas to market, including pipelines and processing plants. Right now and for the foreseeable future, spending on midstream projects in Ohio is likely larger, from an economic impact standpoint, than exploration and production.

Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Apr 3, 2012

April 3, 2012April 3, 2012

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

Anti-Driller Campaign Against LPG Fracking Begins in NY

April 2, 2012April 2, 2012

MDN crystal ball It certainly didn’t taken long for anti-drillers to start talking down LPG (waterless) fracking. Just last week, a Tioga County, NY landowner group announced they will sign a lease with eCorp to allow drilling on 135,000 acres in New York using a proprietary technology by Canadian company GASFRAC (see this MDN story). The waterless technology uses liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a gel-like substance that replaces water in fracking. Perhaps most importantly, by using LPG fracking, eCorp can move ahead with permitting and drilling now (in New York!), ahead of the release of new fracking regulations that have been stalled in a four-year review process.

MDN predicted that with almost all stated reasons to oppose water-based fracking now removed, anti-drillers would invent new reasons to oppose LPG fracking. MDN’s prediction has already come true. An article printed in the “news” section of the Albany Times Union, which clearly is an opinion piece, says this:

NatGas Leak Caused Williams Compressor Station Explosion

April 2, 2012April 2, 2012

A natural gas leak was the cause of an explosion last week in a Susquehanna County, PA natural gas compressor station (see this MDN story). Fortunately, an alarm triggered an automatic shutdown of the station just minutes before the explosion.

Energy Companies | WPX Energy

WPX Sells Barnett Shale & Arkoma Basin Holdings

April 2, 2012April 2, 2012

WPX Energy, the spun-off exploration and production arm of Williams, announced this morning that they are selling off their holdings in the Texas Barnett Shale and Oklahamo Arkoma Basin for $306 million, and using the proceeds to grow operations in the Marcellus and Bakken Shale areas, as well as the Piceance Basin.

New York | Tompkins County

Park Foundation Continues to Fund Anti-Drilling Groups

April 2, 2012April 2, 2012

Once again the Park Foundation, a philanthropic organization started by famed media mogul Roy Park, continues to fund anti-drilling activities. The latest example is the announcement of nearly $6 million in new grants from the Park Foundation. Nearly $3.3 million are scholarships for Ithaca College students, class of 2017. Just over a half million dollars will go to organizations, projects and programs in Tompkins County.

Commodity Price | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Pittsburgh Customers Get Another NatGas Rate Reduction

April 2, 2012April 2, 2012

The Pittsburgh area’s three largest natural gas utilities have just dropped their natural gas rates (again) for customers—this time up to 22 percent.

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

CONSOL/CNX Opening New Branch in Columbiana County, OH

April 2, 2012April 2, 2012

CONSOL Energy’s CNX Gas subsidiary has just leased 10,000 square feet at an industrial park in Columbiana County, Ohio. The new branch office will handle all of CNX’s Utica Shale efforts in Ohio, a signal that CNX has big plans for the Utica.