On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania State Senate have approved a bill that would direct PA utility inspectors to use federal safety standards with most new shale gas gathering pipelines in the state. The measure now goes to the PA House for consideration.
Read More “PA Senate Passes Bill Enforcing Fed Standards on Pipelines”
North Strabane Township (Washington County), PA reports that Range Resources has lowered its offer to lease 141 acres of township-owned land.
Read More “Range Resources Reduces Lease Offer to North Strabane Twp”
Houston-based Crestwood Midstream yesterday announced they will construct a new 16” inch Marcellus gathering pipeline that will run 42 miles through Preston, Taylor and Barbour counties in northeast West Virginia, connecting to Columbia Gas Transmission’s WB Pipeline in Randolph County, WV. By connecting to the WB Pipeline the new gathering pipeline will have access to the Washington, DC and Baltimore markets.
The new pipeline will be completed by this time next year and already has a long term “anchor” contract with Mountaineer Keystone, a Pittsburgh-based drilling company that will commence their horizontal drilling program in the area in the middle of 2012.
Read More “Crestwood to Build New Marcellus Pipeline in NE WV”
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: Wednesday, Dec 14, 2011”
Does fracking cause earthquakes? MDN has covered various stories in the past on this topic. It seems likely that injection wells (not hydraulic fracturing, but the wastewater from fracking being injected deeply in disposal wells) in some locations have been tied to earthquakes in some areas. Notably, when injection wells in Arkansas stopped pumping pressurized liquids into the wells, earthquakes in the area all but stopped (see this MDN story). It certainly seems there is a cause and effect situation.
But what about fracking a single well? Is there a danger that fracking can cause earthquakes? Arthur McGarr, a geologist at the US Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California has worked out a formula for predicting how large an earthquake can result from pumping/injecting fluids underground, including fracking fluids. He recently presented his formula at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, CA. McGarr subsequently spoke to the journal Nature about his formula:
Read More “Does Fracking Cause Earthquakes? Formula Calcs Quake Size”
The number of shale gas drilling permits in Ohio has rocketed from virtually none in 2009 and 2010, to 141 in 2011—the vast majority of that in the Utica Shale.
Read More “OH Shale Drilling Permits See Dramatic Increase in 2011”
Kent Moors, writing on the Seeking Alpha website, comments on his observation from Baker Hughes well rig data for the U.S. that the number of rigs used to drill for natural gas has gone down over the same period last year, but that the number of rigs drilling for oil has skyrocketed.
Read More “Natural Gas Rig Numbers Down, Oil Rig Numbers Up in U.S.”
MarkWest Energy announced yesterday it will pay $1 billion in cash and 19.95 million new Class B MarkWest units (worth an estimated $750 million to $850 million) to buy out joint venture partner Energy and Minerals Group’s (EMG) 49 percent interest in MarkWest Liberty Midstream. The Liberty Midstream joint venture was formed in May 2009 to focus on construction and operation of midstream services in support of Marcellus shale gas production, including pipelines to gather natural gas, facilities to process it, and transportation to get it to market.
Although MarkWest is buying out EMG’s interest in the Liberty joint venture, the two companies will create a new Utica Shale midstream joint venture in eastern Ohio in 2012 as part of the deal.
Read More “MarkWest Pays $1.8B to Buy Out JV Partner in Liberty Midstream”
Magnum Hunter Resources and Stone Energy yesterday announced a joint venture combining their leased Marcellus acreage in Wetzel County, WV, some 1,925 acres, with the stated objective of drilling 19 new horizontal Marcellus Shale wells in the next two years.
From the press release:
Read More “Magnum Hunter, Stone Energy JV to Drill in Wetzel County WV”
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: Tuesday, Dec 13, 2011”
In a surprise move, two West Virginians have announced their intention to build an ethane cracker plant in the state. Former state Supreme Court Justice Richard Neely and Ryan Cunningham, owner of Charleston-based Cunningham Energy have formed a partnership with a few others and will try to get the necessary permits and financing to build an ethane cracker plant on a 1,500-acre plot near Montgomery, WV.
Two large energy companies, Shell and an unidentified company, have said they will make announcements in January of 2012 on where they will build ethane cracker plants. West Virginia was hopeful that Shell or the other company would select their state. But Neely and Cunningham don’t want to leave it to chance—so they plan to move forward.
Read More “Surprise Announcement of Ethane Cracker Plant in WV”
The Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors (PSATS) originally opposed PA House Bill 1950 and Senate Bill 1100, the two primary bills before the General Assembly that deal with the issue of natural gas development that are now very close to reconciliation and a signature from Gov. Tom Corbett. PSATS’ primary objection is that the bills would strip away most, if not all, municipal authority to regulate gas drilling in their own communities. Recent amendments to the bills have made them “more reasonable” and more palatable to PSATS, but they are still not good enough to garner an endorsement.
Read More “PA Town Supervisors Still Not Happy with Proposed Legislation”
Norse Energy Corp, the U.S. subsidiary of the Norwegian energy company, owns leases for 180,000 net acres in New York State, 130,000 of those acres being in the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays. Norse bet the farm on New York allowing shale gas drilling long before now, and they lost (NY is still months, if not years away from allowing shale gas drilling). Norse has put their New York acreage on the auction block, looking for another company to buy it.
In the meantime, one of Norse’s drilling partners is suing them for lack of drilling according to their agreement. That agreement had nothing to do with shale gas, but instead was drilling in the Herkimer formation, a limestone-type layer in central New York. Norse seems to indicate they may restart Herkimer drilling at some point. From the Norse press release:
Read More “Bradford Drilling Sues Partner Norse Energy for No Drilling”
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: Monday, Dec 12, 2011”
MDN wanted to see what your attitudes are about government’s role in promoting (or not) renewable energy sources. A even split between those who think government should have no role, and those who believe the government should promote, but not require, use of renewable sources. This poll was one of the least voted on in recent months, meaning either the issue just doesn’t stir up much interest among MDN readers, or (more likely) the poll question could have been written better! Let’s see if we might improve this week’s poll question.
What should government’s role be with regard to renewable energy sources?
No role in promoting/requiring renewables (41%, 67 Votes)
Promote (not require) renewables (40%, 66 Votes)
Require use of renewables (19%, 30 Votes)
Total Voters: 163
This Week’s Poll: Ban Fracking?
The latest public relations attempt to turn the word “fracking” into a pejorative—firmly implanting a negative concept in people’s minds—is the release of draft findings from the Environmental Protection Agency from a study they have done in Pavillion, Wyoming that supposedly ties hydraulic fracturing to chemical contamination of local water supplies. That is what the headlines are trumpeting, and that is the impression that will be left with the vast majority of people who don’t read much beyond the headlines. And that’s unfortunate, because, as Paul Harvey used to say, there’s “the rest of the story” in Pavillion (see this MDN story for our initial analysis).
MDN will not repeat what we’ve already said on the topic, but rather for this week’s poll, take the pulse of MDN’s readers on their views as to whether or not high-volume (uses lots of water) horizontal hydraulic fracturing should be banned. Let’s just get it out there on the table. Ban it? Or not? That’s certainly where anti-drillers are headed—they want a complete and total ban. They are not interested in safeguards, and frankly they aren’t interested in allowing any more exploration for fossil fuels on U.S. soil (or offshore). That was abundantly clear at recent New York DEC hearings on proposed new drilling regulations.
What say you? Ban fracking? Or allow it? Please vote now on the right side of any page in the site.
Below are the most recent “top 5” lists and the calendar of Marcellus related events for the next two weeks.
Happy reading,
Jim Willis, Editor
On Thursday, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released draft findings of its investigation into groundwater contamination in the small town of Pavillion, Wyoming (a copy of the EPA draft report is embedded below). The EPA says that water in the town contains chemicals consistent with chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing. Fracking has been used in a number of nearby gas wells. Needless to say, major media outlets like the AP, and anti-drilling environmentalists, are breathlessly calling this the “smoking gun” and declaring that fracking really does cause groundwater contamination after all (ban it now!). Not so fast…
Read More “Pavillion, WY – Smoking Gun that Proves Fracking is Unsafe?”