Marcellus Drilling News

Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Range Resources Corp | Regulation

EPA Administrator Al Armendariz Resigns over Crucify Comment
May 1, 2012May 1, 2012

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).

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Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues

Graph Showing NatGas Rig Count vs NatGas Price
May 1, 2012May 1, 2012

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
May 1, 2012May 1, 2012

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.

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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies

Chesapeake’s Stock Moves Higher on Analyst Comment
May 1, 2012May 1, 2012

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
May 1, 2012May 1, 2012

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.

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Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Landfills | Pennsylvania

Scranton Suburb Ends Objection to Shale Cuttings at Landfill
May 1, 2012May 1, 2012

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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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, May 1, 2012
May 1, 2012May 1, 2012

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

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Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Sunoco Logistics

Stop Press: ETP Acquires Sunoco for $5.3 Billion
April 30, 2012April 30, 2012

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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Carrizo Oil & Gas | Columbia County | Encana Energy | EXCO Resources | Lackawanna County | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | WPX Energy

The Marcellus “Line of Death” in NE PA
April 30, 2012April 30, 2012

Terry Engelder, Penn State geosciences professor and “father of the Marcellus Shale” once coined the term “line of death” for the point where shale stops being productive. He was specifically talking about the coal region in Pennsylvania where once-upon-many-millennia-ago high temperatures that hardened the anthracite coal also “cooked out” methane natural gas from the shale. Geologists and gas companies know the area around the Lackawanna Syncline—a banana-shaped formation that runs through Luzerne and Lackawanna counties—is likely to be devoid of methane, but what they don’t how is how far from the Syncline the line of death will be found.

We now have another plugged well that helps indicate where shale is unproductive—this one in Sugarloaf Township in neighboring Columbia County:

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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

PA DEP Continues Investigating 2 Water Wells Near Dimock
April 30, 2012April 30, 2012

Old news being reported as new news: The PA Department of Environmental Protection continues its investigation into a possible case of methane migration in two water wells just outside of Dimock Township. The investigation started in 2010 and is not part of the ongoing Dimock situation. The “new news” part of the story is that Cabot Oil & Gas added more cement in the casing of a nearby Greenwood 1 well (in March).

DEP officials are now monitoring to see if the additional cemented casing cuts down on methane in the two water wells. If it does, it will be obvious that Cabot’s Greenwood 1 well is the cause. If it does not reduce methane in the water wells, back to the drawing board and the investigation continues.

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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | New York | Statewide NY

NYS Comptroller Threatens Chesapeake Energy
April 30, 2012April 30, 2012

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who is anti-drilling, “scolded” Chesapeake last week (according to the headlines) over the program that allows CEO Aubrey McClendon to participate in every well drilled by the company, with up to 2.5 percent ownership in each well. Although DiNapoli released a press statement to his favored mainstream media (MSM) buddies, he has yet to publicly release the statement “scolding” Chesapeake.

Here’s what we have from MSM accounts:

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH

Gov. Kasich: Shale Drilling is Good, but OH Needs Diversity
April 30, 2012April 30, 2012

Speaking at the Eastern Ohio Development Alliance’s annual meeting last Friday, Ohio Gov. John Kasich said that although he supports shale oil and gas drilling in the Marcellus and Utica Shales in his state, he doesn’t want to put all of Ohio’s economic eggs in one basket. He said the state needs to focus on more than just the energy sector to help elevate Ohio out of its current economic doldrums.

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Polls

New MDN Poll: Will McClendon be CEO One Year from Now?
April 30, 2012April 30, 2012

MDN launches a new poll today. Over the past several weeks, Chesapeake Energy has been in the midst of a public relations storm. Chesapeake operates a program called the Founders Well Participation Program (FWPP) which allows CEO Aubrey McClendon to invest his own money, and reap the financial rewards, of up to a 2.5 percent stake in every well drilled by Chesapeake. He must help fund his 2.5 percent of drilling costs. Reuters disclosed a few weeks ago that McClendon has been borrowing—big time—in order to meet his obligations to the program. He has borrowed (i.e. mortgaged his interest) to the tune of $1.1 – $1.4 billion, depending on the news source.

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Apr 30, 2012
April 30, 2012April 30, 2012

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

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY DEC Chief Says Supportive Towns More Likely to be Drilled
April 27, 2012April 27, 2012

MDN reported earlier this week that certain key New York State senators (and others) were signaling that if/when hydraulic fracturing is allowed to go forward in the state, it may only happen in communities that support it (see this MDN story). We now have further confirmation that indeed that will likely be the case from none other than Joe Martens, the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Sullivan County

Woodstock & Fracking Have One Thing in Common
April 27, 2012April 27, 2012

The Town of Bethel, in Sullivan County, NY, was home to the Woodstock “music festival” in 1969. Bethel is also the latest New York township to ban hydraulic fracturing. Both events have at least one thing in common: They’re both supported by hippies and hippie-wannabes.

Last night, the Bethel town board voted 5-0 to ban fracking before a “crowd” of 70 in attendance:

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