Marcellus Drilling News

Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Chesapeake First Customer for Ethane Pipeline to Gulf Coast
November 4, 2011November 4, 2011

Looks like Enterprise Products’ plan to build an ethane pipeline from the Marcellus and Utica Shales to the Gulf Coast (see this MDN story) is already paying off. Chesapeake Energy is the first company to commit to using the pipeline, which is due to be completed and in service by 2014.

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Energy Services | Sunoco Logistics

Sunoco Looking to Invest in Marcellus & Utica Midstream
November 4, 2011November 4, 2011

Sunoco is getting out of the refinery business by July of next year and is instead looking to expand its investment in midstream businesses, including pipelines, terminals and storage, in addition to its retail outlets. Sunoco is particularly interested in opportunities in the Marcellus and Utica Shales.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Kanawha County | West Virginia

Charleston WV Shows Community Support for Cracker Plant
November 4, 2011November 4, 2011

Residents of Charleston, WV want large energy companies looking to locate an ethane cracker plant in the Marcellus region to know that residents of Charleston want it and welcome it with open arms. An online letter-writing campaign has been launched to show community support for the project, which is estimated to bring more than 12,000 new jobs and some $7 billion in economic activity to the region where it’s built.

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Friday, Nov 4, 2011
November 4, 2011November 4, 2011

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 | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Official: No Cases of Water Contamination from Fracking
November 3, 2011November 3, 2011

$frack here frack now$ The top oil and gas regulator in West Virginia said at a conference on Wednesday that he has not seen any confirmed cases of groundwater contamination from fracking in West Virginia.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Lawmakers Close to Passing New Drilling Rules, Impact Fee
November 3, 2011November 3, 2011

Pennsylvania lawmakers are getting close to passage of legislation that would adopt many of the recommendations from Gov. Tom Corbett’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission, including an impact fee on wells and including a measure that would supersede some local drilling ordinances.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Public Opinion | Statewide PA

Mercyhurst Poll: Majority of PA Residents Support Fracking
November 3, 2011November 3, 2011

Mercyhurst College recently completed a statewide poll in Pennsylvania covering several issues, one of which is Marcellus Shale drilling in the state. A copy of the full questions and responses is embedded below. On the straightforward question, “Do you favor or oppose extracting natural gas through fracking in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus shale region?” the results were: Favor 55%; Oppose 27%; Depends 9%; Don’t Know 9%. A very clear and convincing majority of Pennsylvanians support fracking.

From the Mercyhurst press announcement summarizing the results:

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Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Enterprise Wants to Build Ethane Pipeline to Gulf Coast
November 3, 2011November 3, 2011

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. is planning to build a major new pipeline to transport ethane from the Marcellus and Utica Shale regions in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The second largest component (by volume) to come out of the ground in shale gas drilling is the chemical ethane. Somewhere between one and six percent of natural gas coming from the ground is ethane, which can be converted to the hydrocarbon ethylene. Ethylene is the “feedstock” (or raw material) used to make most plastics, including polyethylene and PVC. Enterprise wants to provide a way for ethane to reach the ethylene processing plants along the Gulf Coast.

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Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Southwestern Energy

Benton Twp Supervisors Back Down on Exploratory Well
November 3, 2011November 3, 2011

Rather than pay legal fees to defend their legislation, the supervisors in Benton Township (Lackawanna County), PA voted Wednesday to change the language of their legislation restricting the drilling of an exploratory well by Southwestern Energy. The supervisors voted to grant Southwestern the right to drill the exploratory well back in June, but slapped 18 specific (and costly) conditions on the project, making it unfeasible according to Southwestern who challenged 11 of the 18 conditions. The supervisors changed 9 of those 11 yesterday.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs

PA Economist Says Shale Gas Only Way to Economic Recovery
November 3, 2011November 3, 2011

Edmond Seifried is professor emeritus of economics at Lafayette College in Easton, PA. He says that fiscal and monetary policy used by the Federal Reserve has not and will not work. He says that natural gas is not just the best, but the only way for the U.S. to recover from the current economic malaise.

Seifried points out the obvious: The less money we spend on foreign oil and invest in our own energy sources (in particular natural gas), the more the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will increase, meaning more jobs here at home, and more money that stays here in our country.

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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH

Ohio EPA Seeks Public Comment on New Air Permit for Drilling
November 3, 2011November 3, 2011

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is asking for public comments on a draft permit that controls air emission standards for shale gas drilling. The new standards do not affect the actual drilling and fracking activities because those are regulated by federal rules. The Ohio permit would regulate emissions from generators, dehydration systems and other “peripheral” activities that go on in the drilling process. A copy of the draft permit can be downloaded here.

From the Ohio EPA press release about the new air permit:

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thursday, Nov 3, 2011
November 3, 2011

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: Thursday, Nov 3, 2011”
Butler County | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Rex Energy | Utica Shale

Rex Energy Completes its First Utica Well in Western PA
November 2, 2011November 2, 2011

Rex Energy has just completed drilling and fracking its first horizontal Utica Shale well in western Pennsylvania and plans to bring it online once a gathering pipeline to the well is completed in January.

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

Chesapeake Energy Seeks OH Refiner for Oil from Utica Shale
November 2, 2011November 2, 2011

A roundtable discussion at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland, OH brings us this update about Utica Shale drilling in Ohio:

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

NY Hydraulic Fracturing Advisory Panel Member Speaks Out
November 2, 2011November 2, 2011

In July, New York Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Joe Martens announced the formation of a Hydraulic Fracturing Advisory Panel to make recommendations to the DEC on how to oversee, monitor and enforce new shale drilling regulations in the state (see this MDN story). The initial panel of 13 members was heavily tilted to anti-drillers, with a few pro-drillers thrown on to make it look good. In August, Martens appointed an additional five members (all pro-drilling) to the panel, to provide balance and give landowners a voice. Those new members include:

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Commodity Price | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues

Natural Gas Now Least Expensive Way to Generate Electricity
November 2, 2011November 2, 2011

Jack Kelly had an excellent column in Sunday’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It starts out with a brief history of the discovery of oil in the U.S. and moves to shale gas and points out that shale gas is an even bigger game changer than oil was. Did you know that natural gas is now the cheapest way of generating electricity?! Renewable sources like wind cost 1.5 times more, and solar costs 3.3 times more to produce the same megawatt of electricity as natural gas.

Among Jack’s observations:

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