2013 December 15, 2013 Next Year is Make or Break? Ideastream (a consortium on NEO public radio/TV) reports: “Crossing
that thousand-permit threshold is pretty exciting,” says Mike Chadsey,
who heads public relations for the Ohio Oil and Gas Association (OOGA).
He says the higher-than-expected increase shows great interest in
exploring gas and oil reserves in the state. As for his expectations in
the coming year? “2014’s going to be the year that will really tell us
what this Utica Play’s going to do,” says Chadsey. “That’s when our
processing facilities’ gonna come online. We’re going to flip the
switch, and actually see what these wells they have drilled, what kind
of production we’re going to get out of them.”
Dec. 13, 2013 Do state drilling permits trump local laws? Canton Repository reports that the
Ohio Supreme Court has scheduled arguments in a closely-watched lawsuit
that challenges the state's authority to supersede local zoning laws
with centralized regulation of oil and gas drilling. The case brought by
Munroe Falls, an Akron suburb, against Beck Energy Corp. will be argued
Feb. 26. It centers on a Beck project that began on private property in
2011 with state permission. In the process, the city contends the
company sidestepped 11 local laws on road use, permitting and drilling. more here
December 11, 2013: Shale boom is yielding a hotel gusher in six Ohio counties: Utica region is seeing a big spike in roomsCrains Cleveland Business reports on the hotel boom...and more...good quotes about housing need, good "names" of
planner/decision makers; nice analysis of the boom v. bubble argument
November 21, 2013 An insight for activists: find common ground with your neighbors: To
clear the air, some Susquehanna County residents leave the fracking
debate behind "...the media blitz angered her neighbors, the Teels, who
said it ignored the economic benefits of drilling. The reporters, the
activists and the industry haven’t gone away, but things have started to
change. he Teels and Switzer disagreed about what happened to their
water in the past, but now they’re part of a new advocacy group that
agrees it’s time to curb air pollution. Switzer remembers the first time
Ron Teel came to her home for a meeting."
November
15, 2013 Is the Shale play a playground? Ohio
Business Daily reports on a drillers meeting in Pittsburgh. "Thus,
the southern tier of the Utica is yielding more profitable "wet"
gas products such as ethane, butane and propane. "We like that
playground," Palm said. "It sure has turned out nice where
we are. We've been lucky to an extent and I'll take luck anytime in
the oil business." Maybe that's stretching the metaphor to the
breaking point...
Nov 7,
2013. Investors need more Info on Fracking Risks.A report in Bloomberg News describes a new report of the lack of transparency by
gas/oil companies. “Hydraulic fracturing operations are under
intense scrutiny for potential harm to neighboring communities and
the environment -- from air and water pollution to increased noise,
traffic and crime,” Danielle Fugere, president of As You Sow
Foundation, a non-profit focused on environmental and corporate
responsibility, said in a statement today.
report
is here: http://disclosingthefacts.org/more
here: http://www.iehn.org/documents/frackguidance.pdf
October
31, 2013. Shell may pull plug on Pa. cracker.The Daily Mail reports:"Facing eroding profits and future headwinds, executives at Royal
Dutch Shell said Thursday they face "hard choices" about
future investment plans, including the company's potential $2 billion
petrochemical plant along the Marcellus shale. Shell, Europe's
largest oil company, announced Thursday that third quarter profits
fell short of analysts' expectations. The $4.5 billion the company
earned during the quarter fell 32 percent from the same quarter one
year ago."
If the
“cracker” doesn't go forward, there could have a big economic
impact on columbiana county which is close to the proposed site in
Beaver Co PA. Maybe this is why Kasich (and his staffers) have been
hanging out in the gas counties recently? There's a story out of Wheeling this week that also suggests local officials are positioning
for a cracker if the Shell deal falls thru: (2nd
paragraph)
November
7, 2013 Freeport
families evacuated in gas leak: "Some families are staying away from their homes the past few
evenings as their property is inspected after a report of a gas leak
from two old wells in the area." There's been some discussion about abandoned and deteriorating
wells and whether they may be affected by fracking in the vicinity. Read more here and here.
October
21, 2013
Drilling industry creates housing demand locally: Greatest impact on rental
market Marietta
Times "What
is really booming right now in the rental market," she said. "It
is very hard to find a good rental in the area now and we have seen
rental prices go up recently." McClain said as the demand grows
the rental rates will continue to climb.
October
8, 2013 Oklahoma Businesses warn about lack of affordable housing "Business advocates from rural Oklahoma told state
lawmakers Tuesday that a lack of affordable housing for the influx of
energy and agricultural workers to their regions is stalling economic
growth." HUM..OH does not come before OK.
10/813 How
Fracking Is Bad for Our Bodies: With the spread of hydraulic
fracturing come untoward social and somatic health effects. TheAtlantic
10/2/13 DrillBits: Gas and oil industry updates for Guernsey, Noble, Muskingum,
Belmont and Tuscarawas counties
a newsy
summary (notice no news of local advocates or local impacts?)
In
reality, the play is shifting gears. Exploration and production
companies have set into a quiet, methodical pace. A handful of them have
become the predominant players in Ohio, including Chesapeake Energy,
Gulfport Energy, Consol Energy, Hess Corp., Devon, Noble Energy and
Andarko E&P, among a sprinkling of others whose work today will
define the trajectory of the Utica and its part in shaping the state’s
future. “The project evolution is taking an ordinary course from the
stand point of you lease it, define it and harvest it,” said Don
Fischbach, chairman of the energy group at Calfee, Halter & Griswold
in Cleveland. “We’re just about to give birth to the extent of the
project area. The parameters of this play are dependent on a lot of
unknown factors like commodity prices, infrastructure build-out, and
it’s not fair to compare the Utica’s time line to other plays that are
predominantly producing crude oil.”
9/30/13 Shale
drillers must report chemicals
The
Columbus Dispatch
Oil and
gas companies are being told for the first time to give county
officials and local fire departments information about the toxic
chemicals drillers use to fracture shale. Ohio officials sent a memo
this month notifying companies that a federal right-to-know law
trumps a 2001 state law that allowed them to send the information
exclusively to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. more here
10/1/13 Gas-to-liquids
plant planned for Ashtabula County Shale
Play
Houston-based Pinto Energy LLC, a developer of "Gas-to-Liquid"
processing facilities, plans to build a 2,800-barrel-per-day natural
gas processing plant just east of Ashtabula. Plans announced last
month call for the plant to process natural gas extracted from the
Utica and Marcellus Shale Plays into liquid products that can be used
in the manufacture of specialty products like solvents, lubricants,
waxes and clean transportation fuels. The 80-acre industrial site
was chosen for its access to existing infrastructure, like waste
water treatment plants, an air separation unit, gas pipelines, and
barge and rail loading facilities, along with a local customer base
for some of the plant's products, officials involved in the project
announced. The gas-to-liquid, or GTL, facility is expected to create
30 direct jobs, 400 temporary construction jobs and about 112
indirect jobs. The state-of-the-art facility will be one of the
first plants of this kind in North America. According to Pinto, the
gas-to-liquid technologies have existed since the early 20th century,
but recent technological advancements have transformed the industry. More here.
9/3/13 ODJFS Ohio Shale Report
appended at the bottom of this page-take away is: more jobs!
a nice overview of the gas/oil explore/extraction industry in Ohio
7/2/13-Housing Crisis?
In an article entitled
“Rental Market Drying Up Fast” the online news source Shale Play
writes “Houses are selling at higher prices, hotels are full and
apartments are renting quickly because of the Upper Ohio Valley's
burgeoning oil and natural gas industry. This boom has led to some
families in lower income brackets suffering because they say
landlords are evicting them in favor of renting to out-of-state
oilfield workers...”
"Ohio
has a network of more than 190 class II injection wells originally
intended for disposal of brine from the 64,000 or so producing wells
within the state. Insufficient disposal and treatment facilities within
the Marcellus producing areas of Pennsylvania have resulted in dramatic
increases in disposal of out-of-state wastewater." good primer on
injection wells
