As MDN reported last week, Ohio Gov. John Kasich introduced a shale gas and oil severance tax overhaul yesterday. The leaked details from last week were correct—but we now have the full proposal (embedded below). Gov. Kasich is tying a revamped severance tax to lowering income taxes for all Ohioans—by up to $1 billion over five years.
Read More “Ohio Proposal for Revamped Severance Tax, New Impact Fee”
Norwegian driller Norse Energy’s U.S. subsidiary, with significant acreage in upstate New York, continues to sell off bits and pieces of its New York operation. Norse’s strategy has been to stay alive long enough for New York to adopt new drilling regulations and lift the de facto moratorium on Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling in the state. Norse’s latest sale is to a former Norse CEO.
From the Norse press release:
Read More “Norse Energy Sells Off Another Piece of the Company”
Trumbull County, Ohio may get its first Utica shale gas well drilled by Carrizo Oil & Gas this summer according to a company representative:
Read More “Carrizo Set to Drill First Utica Well in Trumbull County, OH”
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, Mar 15, 2012”
Chesapeake Energy is partnering with M3 Midstream and EV Energy Partners to build a new $900 million natural gas processing complex with facilities in Ohio’s Harrison and Columbiana counties by the middle of next year. The facility will be the largest of its kind in eastern Ohio, providing a place for Chesapeake and other drillers to process natural gas and the all-important natural gas liquids. French energy giant Total, a 25 percent joint venture partner with Chesapeake in the Utica Shale, also has an option to participate in the project.
From the Chesapeake press release:
Read More “Chesapeake to Build $900M Processing Plant in OH Utica Shale”
The Hempfield Area School District in Westmoreland County, PA is considering a lease offer from Chevron. So far they aren’t happy with the prices being offered:
Read More “Chevron’s Offer to Western PA School; Dry Gas Worth More?!”
John Arway, executive director of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, believes that the state is missing out on a lot of revenue it could be making from water sales. At a recent meeting of the PA House of Representatives Game and Fisheries Committee, Arway said the state should start charging industry for the water it takes from the state’s rivers and streams. And by industry, Arway means the drilling industry as well as anyone else using water from public water supplies, like farmers.
Read More “PA Commission Wants to Charge for Water in Western PA Too”
In all of the seriousness surrounding the issue of shale gas drilling, sometimes you just need to smile and chuckle. This is one of those times. The headline of this post is a direct quote from Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Maloney from West Virginia. Here is the full quote in context as uttered by Maloney on the statewide radio show Metro News Talkline on Tuesday:
Read More “Let’s “just pull our pants down to get a cracker””
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: Wed, Mar 14, 2012”
In a measure backed by the anti-drilling Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the New York State Assembly has set aside $100,000 to conduct an “independent” health impact study of hydraulic fracturing in its budget for next fiscal year. The measure was proposed by NY State Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton (Democrat from Ithaca, NY). Lifton is part of an anti-drilling cabal of the NRDC, Park Foundation and others who are desperately trying to prevent hydraulic fracturing from happening in New York State. Chief tactic number one? Slow it down by delays and studies until they can eventually kill it.
Read More “NY Democrat Assembly Tries New Tactic to Derail Fracking”
The headline of this post is the point of a press release issued earlier this week by the Dryden Safe Energy Coalition (DSEC), a group based near Ithaca, NY that seeks to remove the hype and emotion from the debate over hydraulic fracturing and shale gas drilling and instead provide science and facts. The DSEC issued a press release (below) which makes the point that Pennsylvania has had a lot more experience with shale gas drilling than New York and has found that a “patchwork quilt of local regulations” on the municipal level did not work, so PA replaced home rule with statewide regulations.
The DSEC says: “If local home rule does not work in Pennsylvania, it is clear it will not be workable in New York.” (Listen up, NY Republican State Senator James Seward.)
From the DSEC press release:
Read More “Home Rule Didn’t Work in PA, So Why Would it in NY?”
An article in today’s Pittsburgh Tribune-Review calls attention to what MDN pointed out yesterday about the Shell CEO comment that a decision on whether or not to build an ethane cracker plant in Appalachia is “years away” (see this MDN story). However, the T-R article adds some interesting information from Shell’s competitor Chevron about how many ethane cracker plants the region can support, and how long it takes to build a plant once the decision is made:
Read More “The (Long) Timeline for Building an Ethane Cracker Plant”
An excellent commentary on CBS Moneywatch (yes, CBS!) points out the folly of green energy jobs and takes some jabs at solar and the “fad” of electric cars. The article starts this way:
Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed an executive order on Monday giving the Ohio Department of Commerce’s Division of Industrial Compliance the sole authority to oversee construction of shale gas processing plants in the state.
Read More “OH Gov. Kasich Signs Exec Order on Shale Processing Plants”
If plans hold, Chesapeake Energy will drill the first shale gas well in Hancock County, WV within the next few months. Hancock is the northern-most county in WV.
Read More “Chesapeake Set to Drill First Shale Well in Hancock County, WV”
Yesterday Anadarko Petroleum announced its 2012 capital plan. Anadarko’s activities in the Marcellus get a brief mention. Anadarko’s lease holdings in the Marcellus are primarily in north-central Pennsylvania, the non-wet gas area. Therefore, they are scaling back drilling in the Marcellus for 2012.
From the Anadarko press release:
Read More “Anadarko Decreasing Number of Marcellus Rigs by 40%”