Marcellus Drilling News

Yet Another PA Township “Supports” Act 13 Lawsuit

April 27, 2012April 27, 2012

Wednesday night, Scott Township, PA commissioners unanimously voted to pass a resolution showing symbolic (but no real) support for the PA townships that have sued the State of Pennsylvania over provisions in the new Act 13 Marcellus drilling law. The lawsuit takes exception to state rules replacing local zoning laws that control oil and gas drilling.

Scott is just the latest municipality, in addition to Pittsburgh, Tullytown, Wilkinson, Luzerne, Buffalo, Hanover and other municipalities who have also expressed support, but refuse to actually join the lawsuit (see this MDN story).

Sierra Club Will Try to Block Maryland LNG Export Terminal

April 27, 2012April 27, 2012

The Sierra Club will oppose and attempt to block a facility that will liquefy and export natural gas from Cove Point, Maryland. The very same facility from which Sumitomo and Tokyo Gas are trying to negotiate a deal to receive LNG from Dominion Resources (see this MDN story).

Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

Japan Negotiates to Buy Marcellus Gas

April 27, 2012April 27, 2012

Japan needs natural gas and they need it badly. After the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year, Japan has shut down 49 of their 50 nuclear reactors. That spells an impending shortage of electricity in the country. One of the ways to make it up is by using natural gas. Natural gas currently costs over $17 per million BTUs (mmBtu) in Asia. The U.S. commodity price of natural gas is currently under $2 mmBtu. So Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp and Tokyo Gas Co Ltd are in talks with Dominion Resources to import up to 2.3 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year for 20 years starting in 2017.

Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies

Chesapeake Energy Ends Special Deal for CEO Aubrey McClendon

April 27, 2012April 27, 2012

Chesapeake Energy announced yesterday that the program they’ve had in place with CEO Aubrey McClendon that grants him 2.5 percent ownership and participation in every well drilled by the company (called the Founder Well Participation Program) will end in 2015 at the latest, and possibly sooner. The company also seemed to backpedal a bit from an earlier statement that the board was “fully aware” of McClendon’s private financing deals, deals that he used to cover his 2.5 percent portion of drilling expenses.

From the Chesapeake press release:

Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Apr 27, 2012

April 27, 2012April 27, 2012

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

Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Range Resources Corp | Regulation

EPA Region 6 Administrator: Crucify Energy Companies

April 26, 2012April 26, 2012

Roman crucifixion Lest you think MDN is a bit off the reservation when it comes to criticisms of the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), you might want to read about EPA Region 6 administrator Al Armendariz in an expose by Forbes magazine. Region 6 oversees Texas and surrounding states. Armendariz, a former professor at Southern Methodist University and appointed by President Obama in November 2009 to be Region 6 administrator, is caught on tape talking about his philosophy of “enforcement” and how to target oil and gas companies. He compares his approach to enforcement to how the Romans used to enter a village, find the first five men they could find and crucify them on the spot so the other villagers would be compliant. (See the embedded video below.)

Energy Companies | Range Resources Corp

Range Resources Slide Deck: Complete with Cool Maps

April 26, 2012April 26, 2012

As part of Range Resource’s first quarter financial and operational update they released a PowerPoint presentation. With a theme of “inflection point,” Range lays out the case for why they believe double-digit growth is ahead for the company in the coming years. As MDN reviewed the slide deck, we found a number of slides we think you might like to view, so we’ve embedded the slide deck below and call your attention to the following slides:

Maryland | Statewide MD

Maryland Shale Commission Wants More Time for Study

April 26, 2012April 26, 2012

The ~~Laurel & Hardy~~ Maryland Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission wants more time to complete a study to determine whether or not it’s safe to do hydraulic fracturing in the pristine state of Maryland. Anyone surprised?

Energy Companies | Range Resources Corp

Range Resources Reports 1Q12 Results

April 26, 2012April 26, 2012

Range Resources released their first quarter results yesterday. As is usually the case, the press release they issued (below, in its entirety) is dense with facts and figures and financial terms. Who wants to read all of it?! (That’s why you read MDN!) Yet there is important information contained in it. MDN will “bottom line” it first, and then we’ll highlight those sections which would be of most interest to landowners—people who either have signed with Range and want to know what they’re up to, or those who have not yet signed and want to know if Range is the kind of company they should sign with.

Industrywide Issues | NG Vehicles | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

CNG Filling Stations Coming to South Central PA

April 26, 2012April 26, 2012

A story about two new compressed natural gas (CNG) filling stations planned for Adams and York counties in Pennsylvania gives us a glimpse at the beginning of something big—a massive conversion away from gasoline and to CNG vehicles.

Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Taxation | Utica Shale

No O&G Severance Tax Hike in Ohio This Year

April 26, 2012April 26, 2012

It looks like a severance tax hike for drillers in Ohio won’t happen this year. Yesterday, the Ohio House passed a “sweeping package of spending and policy initiatives” from Ohio Gov. John Kasich. The one thing not among the package? Kasich’s proposal to hike the severance tax for Utica Shale oil and gas drillers.

Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Apr 26, 2012

April 26, 2012April 26, 2012

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

Earthquakes | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Report from England Links Fracking to Earthquakes

April 25, 2012April 25, 2012

$fracking and earthquakes$ Does fracking cause earthquakes? A newly released report from England reportedly confirms a link between hydraulic fracturing of a shale gas well and earthquake activity. And this is not an injection well, but a standard, hydraulically fractured natural gas well. A copy of the report is embedded below. MDN will walk you through the background, what really happened—and why it happened. This is “the rest of the story” you won’t get anywhere else.

Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Ohio Utica Shale Map Creates a Big Buzz

April 25, 2012April 25, 2012

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) recently released an updated map showing their best guess as to where the best prospects are for Utica Shale drilling in the state (a copy of the map is embedded below). And boy oh boy, is that map creating a buzz! Some residents are excited that their property may now become highly desirable to be leased for drilling, and other residents are discouraged that their properties, once thought desirable, may be less so now.

CNX Resources | Energy Companies | Ohio | Trumbull County | Utica Shale

Trumbull County, OH to Get First Utica Shale Well in June

April 25, 2012April 25, 2012

Utica Shale drilling is coming in June to Trumbull County, Ohio. CNX Gas, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CONSOL Energy, just received a permit to drill its first well in the county.

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Public Opinion | Statewide NY

Jamestown Post-Journal Poll on Fracking Support in NY

April 25, 2012April 25, 2012

The Jamestown, NY Post-Journal is currently running a poll of its readership with the question: Would you support hydrofracking in New York state? MDN voted (in the affirmative of course), and here were the results as of this morning: