Marcellus Drilling News

Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Marcellus Drillers Attempting to Woo Chemical Companies to Build Plants in the Marcellus
May 5, 2011May 23, 2011

Marcellus Shale drillers and regional economic development agencies are trying to interest chemical companies in locating to southwest PA and northern WV by building “cracking plants” that would convert some of the compounds from Marcellus drilling into the raw material used to manufacture plastics and other chemical products. Just one such plant would mean a $1 billion investment, creating thousands of short-term jobs to build the plant, and hundreds of permanent jobs to staff it once built.

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Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Public Opinion | Statewide MD

Maryland Landowners in Marcellus Shale Region – energyNOW! TV Show Wants to Speak with You
May 4, 2011

energyNOW! is a weekly half-hour television program on Bloomberg TV and ABC-7 in Washington DC covering energy and environmental stories. MDN recently received a request from energyNOW! producer Shawn Shepard to see if we can help locate landowners in Maryland willing to talk on-camera for an upcoming energyNOW! segment. Here is Shawn’s request:

Read More “Maryland Landowners in Marcellus Shale Region – energyNOW! TV Show Wants to Speak with You”
Broome County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Equinor/Statoil | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | New York | Tioga County (NY)

NY Landowners Sue Chesapeake & Statoilhydro Over Force Majeure Lease Extension
May 4, 2011May 4, 2011

A number of landowners in New York’s Southern Tier region (Broome and Tioga Counties) signed leases with gas companies in 2000 for peanuts, $3 per acre, long before shale gas drilling was discovered and used. The technologies of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have been around for decades, but it wasn’t until 2006 that the two were combined to tap shale gas.

Read More “NY Landowners Sue Chesapeake & Statoilhydro Over Force Majeure Lease Extension”
Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues

The Prospects for Continued Expansion of Marcellus Drilling – Some Companies Cooling on Shale Gas Drilling
May 4, 2011May 4, 2011

Will drilling in the Marcellus Shale, or other shale plays for that matter, continue its red-hot growth? The honest answer is, who knows? It depends on whether or not it’s profitable for energy companies to continue their shale gas drilling expansion. Right now, it appears that at least some companies are leaning away from further expansion in shale gas drilling because the commodity price of natural gas is low compared with oil. Many (most?) of the companies who drill for natural gas also drill for oil. If the price you get for gas is only barely covering your costs to drill, as it is right now for natural gas, you take a close look at the alternatives, like oil.

Some of the factors that will continue to affect the price of natural gas in the coming few years, and hence drillers’ willingness to drill:

Read More “The Prospects for Continued Expansion of Marcellus Drilling – Some Companies Cooling on Shale Gas Drilling”
Accidents | Bradford County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Pennsylvania | Statewide MD

Maryland AG Sues Chesapeake Energy Over Spill in Pennsylvania
May 3, 2011May 3, 2011

Maryland’s Attorney General, Douglas F. Gansler, has filed an “intent to sue” on Chesapeake Energy because of the accidental spill of fracking fluid in April in Leroy Township, PA (read MDN’s story about the spill here). Mr. Gansler’s rationale for his litigiousness is that the fluid reached a small stream that feeds the Towanda Creek, and the Towanda Creek in turn empties into the Susquehanna River, and the Susquehanna River empties into the Chesapeake Bay. Therefore, according to Gansler, several federal statutes have been violated, including the Clean Water Act. Also, the City of Baltimore uses the Susquehanna as a backup source of water “in times of drought.”

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Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Legislation to Regulate Large Water Withdrawals in NY Waterways Makes Progress
May 3, 2011May 3, 2011

New York State’s long, ponderous, tedious road to allow Marcellus Shale drilling takes another small step forward—maybe.

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Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Ohio Township, PA Supervisors Pass Ordinance to Restrict Marcellus Shale Drilling Activities
May 3, 2011May 3, 2011

Supervisors in Ohio Township (Allegheny County), PA last night voted to approve an ordinance that places restrictions on Marcellus Shale drilling in the Township. According to Township Solicitor Mike Witherel, the previous ordinance, passed in 2003, placed no restrictions on drilling. The new ordinance puts in place common sense restrictions on drilling activities.

Read More “Ohio Township, PA Supervisors Pass Ordinance to Restrict Marcellus Shale Drilling Activities”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Wastewater

New Technology May Hold Key to Cleaning Fracking Fluids, Early Tests Very Promising
May 3, 2011May 3, 2011

A new technology funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory may hold the key to cleaning Marcellus Shale (and other drilling) fracking fluids. According to the press release from the DOE below, this new technology removes 99 percent of oil and grease from the water in fracking fluid, and it removes 90 percent of the nasty stuff: benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes. The Osorb technology uses “swelling glass”—silica or sand-like particles—to absorb the chemicals. And it can be re-used over and over again. See a video of it in action below.

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Energy Companies | Energy Services | NOVA Chemicals | Range Resources Corp

Range Resources to Sell Ethane to Canadian Chemical Company
May 3, 2011May 3, 2011

Range Resources, one of the largest drillers in the Marcellus Shale, will provide ethane to Canadian chemical company NOVA Chemicals. Methane is the primary compound that is “mined” during gas drilling, but ethane is also one of the compounds produced when drilling. And ethane is used by chemical companies as a “feedstock” or raw material to make plastics. For more background, see this MDN story.

From the company issued press release:

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Beaver County | Columbia County | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Utica Shale | Williams Production

Drilling in the Utica Shale in PA – Ranges Says Yes, Williams Says No
May 2, 2011May 2, 2011

The Marcellus Shale layer is about a mile down, depending on where you are. Lately, there’s been talk about tapping into the Utica Shale, which sits below the Marcellus, at about two miles down. A recent permit granted to Williams Production Appalachia to drill its exploratory well deeper on Route 487 in Sugarloaf Township, Columbia County in Pennsylvania sparked rumors that Williams was planning to tap into the Utica. But a spokesperson for Williams, Helen Humphreys, says that’s not true:

Read More “Drilling in the Utica Shale in PA – Ranges Says Yes, Williams Says No”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP Sec. Michael Krancer Responds to Critics, The Gloves Come Off
May 2, 2011May 2, 2011

Now that Michael Krancer has received official confirmation from the Pennsylvania Senate to be the Secretary of PA’s Department of Environmental Protection, he is talking freely with the press and he has plenty to say.

Krancer said the following about his recent “voluntary request” to drillers to stop sending fracking fluid to municipal treatment plants that are not equipped to handle it:

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Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Marcellus Shale Coalition’s Kathryn Klaber Talks about NY Moratorium and Other Issues
May 2, 2011May 2, 2011

Kathryn Klaber, the president and executive director of the Marcellus Shale Coalition based in Canonsburg, PA, is perhaps the most visible face of the pro-drilling movement in the Marcellus Shale. The Coalition she represents has as its members most of the energy companies who actively drill in the Marcellus. Ms. Klaber is articulate and smart, and not afraid to answer the tough questions about drilling. In a recent interview, she addressed a wide range of issues including how much and what types of investments are being made in the Marcellus, how many jobs it produces, mineral rights vs. surface owners rights, accidents, environmental issues and more.

Among her comments was this exchange about the drilling moratorium in New York State:

Read More “Marcellus Shale Coalition’s Kathryn Klaber Talks about NY Moratorium and Other Issues”
Centre County | Pennsylvania

Increase in Marcellus Shale Drilling in Centre County, PA – Volunteers Keep an Eye on Local Streams
May 2, 2011May 2, 2011

A volunteer water monitoring project in Centre County, PA began in 2010 with the aim to produce a baseline for the health of local streams and waterways in the county. The volunteers keep an eye on the streams because of the upswing in Marcellus Shale drilling activity in the county. If there should be accidents, or if fracking fluid should somehow find its way into local waterways, the data collected by the volunteers will prove a valuable resource for evaluating the environmental impact.

Read More “Increase in Marcellus Shale Drilling in Centre County, PA – Volunteers Keep an Eye on Local Streams”
Accidents | Bradford County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

Federal EPA Demands Answers from Chesapeake Energy on Well Blowout in Bradford County Last Week
April 27, 2011April 27, 2011

Chesapeake Energy has successfully replaced a wellhead that was defective and had caused a blowout with fracking fluid escaping from a well in Leroy Township near Canton in Bradford County, PA last week. Over a two day period, fracking fluid ran over neighboring land and some of it into a nearby stream that empties into the Towanda Creek. (Read MDN’s original article on the blowout here.)

The PA State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is investigating the blowout and the potential environmental damage it may have caused. But that’s not good enough for the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA is now throwing its weight around. In a letter to Chesapeake citing the Clean Water Act and various other federal statutes, the EPA is demanding that Chesapeake provide a list of details to the EPA about the incident by May 9.

Read More “Federal EPA Demands Answers from Chesapeake Energy on Well Blowout in Bradford County Last Week”
Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Gov. Corbett Says “No” to Concept of Forced Pooling of Marcellus Shale Leases
April 27, 2011April 27, 2011

Forced pooling happens when most landowners in an area have signed leases and want to allow drilling, but one or two have not. If a landowner has not signed a lease but owns land situated between other land already leased, that landowner could be “forced” to allow drilling. The unwilling landowner would not be forced to allow a drill pad, but a driller on a neighboring piece of property would be allowed to drill underneath the landowner with a “minority interest.” Forced pooling is not currently allowed in Pennsylvania, and according to new Gov. Tom Corbett, it won’t be as long as he’s governor.

Read More “PA Gov. Corbett Says “No” to Concept of Forced Pooling of Marcellus Shale Leases”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

MDN In-depth: A Close Look at the New Democrat Report on Hydraulic Fracturing Chemicals
April 26, 2011April 26, 2011

On April 16, three Democrat Congressional members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Henry Waxman, Edward Markey and Diana DeGette released a report on the chemical contents of hydraulic fracturing products used by the 14 oil and gas service companies. MDN has had a look at that report and finds it confusing, obfuscating and frankly, nothing more than yet another political attempt to bring gas drilling under the oversight of the federal EPA. That is the sole purpose of this report. Let’s dive deeper.

Staffers working for Waxman et al canvassed drilling companies, using the power of the federal government to obtain details on what products and chemicals they use during the process of hydraulic fracturing when drilling for oil or gas. As MDN has described before (but will do so again for those new to the drilling issue), when a company drills first vertically, and then horizontally, it uses a fair amount of water and sand—perhaps 3-4 million gallons of water on average for a single well. Along with the water and sand, which is literally 99.5 percent of what goes down the bore hole, a little bit of chemical mixture is used mostly to lubricate and to prevent bacterial buildup during the drilling process.

Read More “MDN In-depth: A Close Look at the New Democrat Report on Hydraulic Fracturing Chemicals”