The Daily Digger

From Via Meadia: Americans don’t know much about fracking, apparently. That’s the takeaway from a recent study of their knowledge and opinions of the drilling technique. Researchers asked the 1,061 respondents what comes to mind when they hear the term hydraulic fracturing, and  this  is what they found ( h/t  Climate Central ): Fifty-eight percent [of respondents] specifically indicated that they did not know anything about the issue or responded with a statement that we considered irrelevant (such as “Battlestar Galactica”) or lacking specific detail to determine its relevance (i.e. “breaking” or “cracking”). That the majority of respondents didn’t know  anything  about fracking (or at least anything relevant) isn’t necessarily surprising, but it does say something about the debate surrounding it. Read more of what that author has to say about the study by clicking here.  Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Fo...

From SNL: North America could see a "prodigious amount" of unconventional oil and gas production consuming trillions of dollars in funding over the next two decades, the Deloitte Center for Energy Solutions said in a new report.   In the report, "The challenge of renaissance: Managing an unprecedented wave of oil and gas investment," Deloitte said fully unlocking the unconventional oil and gas potential in the United States and Canada will call for "a vast and sustained amount of investment" if production totals are to meet analysts' expectations.   "The [U.S. Energy Information Administration] estimates nearly $5 trillion in upstream oil and gas investment is needed in North America through 2035 to maintain current levels of output and meet future demand growth," the report's authors said. "This investment translates into a prodigious amount of onshore well activity and oil sands development." Read more about this ...

From Shale Play: To get a better understanding of the career paths available to young people in the gas and oil industry, nearly 200 seniors from John Marshall and Cameron high schools heard from representatives from several local gas companies about their own careers Tuesday at John Marshall High School. Organized by Energy Speaks Education, students spent the day listening to presentations on the types of jobs available in the industry, the different degrees students would need to obtain to enter the field, salary amounts and the nature of the work on gas and oil sites. Companies represented included the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia, Eagle Manufacturing Company, Gastar Exploration, Select Energy Services and Baker Hughes. "These jobs are demanding and challenging, but they are rewarding," Lydia Williams, a regional sales representative, said to a group of students. "You do not work normal hours. You could be on a site for 12 hours or even...

From the Akron Beacon Journal: Concerned Citizens Ohio is resuming its water testing on a quarterly basis on Dec. 1. The water samples can be brought to Sand Hill Stable at 4311 State Route 303 just west of state Route 44 in Portage County's Shalersville Township. It is the first sampling date since the grass-roots group switched to quarterly testing. Read more here. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

Washington, D.C.  —   Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) released a new report detailing how congressional candidates are benefitting from companies operating hydraulically fractured wells and trade associations supporting the fracking industry.  In the new report,  Natural Cash: How the Fracking Industry Fuels Congress , CREW — utilizing federal campaign contribution data tracked by MapLight — found contributions from the industry to House and Senate candidates from districts and states home to fracking activity rose by 231 percent between the 2004 and 2012 election cycles, from approximately $2.1 million to $6.9 million. In contrast, industry contributions to candidates from nonfracking districts rose by 131 percent, from approximately $2.2 million to $5.1 million, over the same time period. “Like many industries under increasing scrutiny, the fracking industry has responded by ratcheting up campaign donations to help make new frie...

Bob Downing of the Akron Beacon Journal shares some interesting tidbits from the 2012 Ohio Oil & Gas Summary that was released recently: -- Ohio had 5,836 registered well owners who were operating 64,570 wells in 2012. -- A total of 553 wells were drilled in 44 of Ohio's 88 counties in 2012. -- Carroll County was the most active with 87 wells drilled in that year. The rest of the Top 10 were: Noble, 49; Licking, 42; Knox, 40; Stark, 36; Monroe, 31; Columbiana, 30; Harrison, 22; Coshocton, 18; and Guernsey, 18. Those totals include horizontal wells plus shallow vertical-only wells.  -- A total of 198 wells were drilled to the Utica shale in 2012. -- The longest horizontal well was one in Jefferson County that stretched 16,664 feet or more than three miles. Read more here. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov. 20, 2013 — Oil-and-gas-related businesses, industry professionals and decision makers will gather at the Ohio Oil and Gas Association’s (OOGA) 3rd annual Oilfield Expo and Safety Congress Dec. 3 – 5 at Cleveland’s International Exposition (I-X) Center. The premier oil and gas industry event in Ohio and one of the largest in the eastern U.S., OOGA’s Oilfield Expo 2013 will feature an expanded trade show floor with more than 200 exhibitors, a Fall Technical Conference, an Oilfield Symposium and a Safety Congress. “Each year, the Expo keeps growing in size and attendance,” said Tom Stewart, executive vice president of OOGA. “Its popularity is a testament to how important oil and gas development is to the economy of Ohio, Appalachia and to the entire nation.” For more information about OOGA’s Oilfield Expo, visit  www.ooga.com . About the Ohio Oil and Gas Association The Ohio Oil and Gas Association is a trade association with more than 3,300 members involved i...

From Shale Play: Belmont College officials believe full development of the Utica Shale natural gas and oil play will require workers to weld together thousands of miles of pipelines across the Ohio countryside. Thursday, college leaders showed Ohio Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor how they are working to train local residents to perform jobs that are mostly now going to those from southern states. "We want these jobs to go to Ohioans," Taylor said during the tour of the college's Energy Institute. "We need to address the demands of this industry. Belmont College is helping us meet the demand." Read that whole article here. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From Grist: The fracking industry wouldn’t lie, would it? But how else to explain the massive discrepancies between the number of jobs that it claims to create and the number of jobs that it actually creates? Perhaps it’s just confused about what’s going on at its own operations. Whatever the reason, the gulf between fracking propaganda and reality has been laid bare in a new report led by the  Multi-State Shale Research Collaborative , a watchdog group that studies employment trends, economic development, and community impacts associated with fracking and proposed fracking in New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. “Industry supporters have exaggerated the jobs impact in order to minimize or avoid altogether taxation, regulation, and even careful examination of shale drilling,” Frank Mauro, one of the authors of the report,  told the Rochester  Democrat and Chronicle . Read more from that anti-drilling site here. The Ohio Oil &...

From the Morgan County Herald: Penrose said the Utica shale industry has made 550 millionaires out of landowners in Carroll County since drilling has begun. Harrison County has about 80 new millionaires, too. He advised any Morgan Countians with an opportunity to move up in the tax brackets to obtain some professional financial help in planning for the future. Sudden wealth can be a mixed blessing with many benefits, but many challenges, too. “One of the main purposes of the MCLG is to educate our landowners about the facts of oil and gas leasing and production, “Ponchak said. “We have many educational speakers talk to our group, such as Ohio Department of Natural Resources, tax and estate planning attorneys, OSU Extension Office, hydraulic fracturing companies, county engineer, Ohio Oil and Gas Association, and Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. Read the entire article by clicking here. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

It's been a while since we posted anything about Patriot Water Treatment's battle with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources ( click here to view our previous post about it ).  There has been a new development now.  From The Columbus Dispatch: The Ohio Department of Natural Resources failed to supply all of the public records that a Trumbull County city and business should have received in a dispute over fracking waste, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday. Judge John A. Connor of Ohio’s 10th District Court of Appeals in Columbus wrote the 3-0 opinion that ordered the agency to provide the city of Warren and Patriot Water Treatment with all of the remaining documents. April Bott, an attorney representing Warren and Patriot, said the documents are deleted emails stored in the agency’s record-keeping system. Patriot Water Treatment recycles fracking waste from Utica and Marcellus shale wells in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Warren’s sewage-treatment plant takes the treat...

From Shale Play: Switzerland of Ohio Local Schools has received more than $1 million so far from Marcellus and Utica shale drilling deals, but Treasurer Lance Erlwein said Ohio's largest school district in terms of geographic area is still headed for the "fiscal cliff." "The lease proceeds are a much needed shot in the arm to our general fund, and they will be used for day-to-day operations," said Erlwein. "Despite receiving those funds, we were still forced to make devastating cuts. And we only have enough operating funds to end this current school year - and finish the next school year." Read the entire article here.  Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

Renewable energy and natural gas holding hands and singing Kumbaya? Activists will never stand for that From The Energy Collective: Renewable energy sources and natural gas should be considered as complements and not rivals.  A hybrid gas-electric clean energy provides a workable engineering solution while 100% Renewables models based heavily on wind, solar and efficiency fall short of the meeting the functional needs of a modern technology intensive society. Natural gas and renewables are already functional partners on the grid.  Because wind and solar are intermittent sources of electricity, some form of backup power is required to fill the down times.  By and large this backup power has been provided by natural gas because gas is the most flexible in its deployment.  Gas turbines can be turned on and off quickly to meet fluctuating power demands.  Large boiler based systems such as coal and nuclear are not so flexible in their operations, they can ta...

The latest report on weekly permitting activity from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources shows that the Utica shale is inching a little bit closer to a couple of milestone numbers. 8 new permits were issued last week.  6 of those were issued to Chesapeake: 3 in Carroll County, 2 in Columbiana County, and 1 in Guernsey County.  In addition, 1 permit was issued to Hess Ohio Resources for a Jefferson County well, and 1 to Antero Resources for a Noble County site. The grand total of Utica shale permits in Ohio has now reached 995.  There are 609 wells drilled and 189 producing.  The Utica rig count is 44. View the whole report here. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

A new study is once again sounding the alarm about methane emissions, singling out fossil fuel extraction as an offender whose significant contributions to the methane problem are being underestimated by the EPA.  Here is what the authors of the study have to say about their conclusions: Significance Successful regulation of greenhouse gas emissions requires knowledge of current methane emission sources. Existing state regulations in California and Massachusetts require ∼15% greenhouse gas emissions reductions from current levels by 2020. However, government estimates for total US methane emissions may be biased by 50%, and estimates of individual source sectors are even more uncertain. This study uses atmospheric methane observations to reduce this level of uncertainty. We find greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and fossil fuel extraction and processing (i.e., oil and/or natural gas) are likely a factor of two or greater than cited in existing studies. Effective natio...

From Crain's Cleveland Business: It's no secret that hydraulic fracturing uses a lot of water — generally, between 3 million and 7 million gallons per well — and a lot of that water comes from city water plants, lakes and other surface-water sources. But, in the Utica hot spot of Carroll County, drillers soon might be reusing more of their flowback water to frack future wells, thanks to a new water recycling plant.  The plant, owned by Youngstown-based equipment rental company Iron Eagle, was designed by Rettew Flowback in North Canton and will have the capacity to recycle about 588,000 gallons of water per day, said Rettew spokeswoman Holly White. It is located in Sherrodsville. You can read the entire story by clicking here.  Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From WFMJ News: Two people were arrested during a protest outside an injection well in Trumbull County. The protest was meant to call attention to the site and storage pits that will soon store waste water from the gas drilling process. Protesters say the evaporation pits are too close to schools and homes in Niles and Weathersfield. The site is located on North Main Street in Niles. Read the whole article here.  Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From Zolmax: Equities researchers at Deutsche  Bank  started coverage on shares of  Gulfport Energy Corp. (NASDAQ:GPOR)  in a research report issued on Monday,  TheFlyOnTheWall.com reports. The firm set a “buy” rating on the stock. The analysts wrote, “Not far from Canton, Ohio lies the Utica Shale, an asset with Hall of Fame characteristics (significant resource and growth opportunities) with returns that can compete against the current basins driving US oil and gas growth (Eagle Ford, Permian, Bakken, Marcellus). Sitting at the core of the Utica, we view Gulfport Energy as the most levered to future success of the basin with 2014 an inflection point for peer leading debt-adjusted production and cash flow growth. While the pace of infrastructure build out remains key, GPOR looks to have capacity well in hand for the growth opportunity the basin presents. We initiate coverage with a Buy rating and $75  price  target.” Read the whole article by c...

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:   Shell accelerates property pursuit in Beaver County - ethane cracker plant buzz HealthNewsDigest.com:   Greener Ways to "Frack" for Natural Gas? Energy in Depth:   Five Bogus Claims Made about Hydraulic Fracturing on the U.S. House Floor National Journal:   Fracking Boom Fractures the Environmental Movement Forbes:   Colorado's Ambulance Chasing Fracking Activists - Part III Complete Colorado:   "Frack Free Colorado" Erases Ties to "Water Defense" Fronteras Desk:   New Mexico County Sued Over Fracking Ban KQED News Fix:   Jerry Brown Lashes Out Against Environmentalists Over Fracking The Nation:   The Fracking Industry's Dishonest Response to 'Gasland' CNN Money:   Best Jobs in America 2013 (several oil & gas industry jobs make the list) National Journal:   The Backdoor Bid to Ban Fracking PennLive.com:   Pa's shale industry is investing in infrastructure Atlantic:   W...

From Natural Gas Intelligence: Carroll, Harrison and Columbiana have been the top-three counties, respectively, for drilling in the state since about 2011, but this year saw an uptick in operators that struck out farther south and southeast, where officials at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) say permitting activity has undoubtedly been on the rise.   “I guess you could say there’s been a lot more activity in the southern region; in the counties of Harrison, Belmont, Monroe, Guernsey and Noble,” said Shawn Bennett, a spokesman with the industry-outreach group Energy In Depth. “What you’re seeing is, for so long Chesapeake has been the clear leader in the Utica; they’re the ones developing Carroll County. Now others are catching up and finding out where they stand in the play.”   But even though Chesapeake holds 545 horizontal drilling permits, according to state records, the company doesn’t hold all of the Utica’s potential, said Don Fischbach, chairm...

From The Motley Fool: Former  Chesapeake Energy  ( NYSE:  CHK     ) CEO Aubrey McClendon once called the Utica Shale the "best thing to hit Ohio since the plow." Some laughed at that remark a few years back, especially after early returns didn't show that the play held much producible oil. Bold statements like that, combined with poor returns, forced McClendon into an early retirement from Chesapeake. However, after looking through the oil and gas producer's most recent results, McClendon is probably the one who's laughing. Last quarter, Chesapeake's production in the Utica shot up by 91% compared to the prior quarter. The company produced 164 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalent per day after it connected 63 wells to pipelines. There's even more growth on the way. After drilling 377 wells in the play, Chesapeake Energy still has 208 wells still in various stages of completion. New CEO Doug Lawler noted that while Texas' Eagle Ford shale...

From the Record-Courier: Weeks after the city received support in its fight for control of oil and natural gas drilling within its boundaries, the opposing side has received similar support, including from the state itself. A number of entities filed friend of the court briefs in the Ohio Supreme Court on Oct. 28 in support of Ravenna-based Beck Energy. These include a brief from Ohio Attorney General Michael DeWine, signed by State Solicitor Eric E. Murphy. Other briefs were filed by the Ohio Contractor's Association, the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, the Ohio Aggregates Association, the American Petroleum Institute, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 18, the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber of Commerce, and eight companies identifying themselves as "active oil and gas producers engaged in the development of the Utica Shale in Ohio." Read the whole article by clicking he...

From Columbus Business First: As consolidation in Ohio’s banking industry picks up steam , much of that activity will come with oil and gas considerations, says Michael Voinovich , of investment banking firm  Boenning & Scattergood Inc. Utica-driven mergers and acquisitions activity is in its infancy, he said, but deals by  Huntington Bancshares Inc.  and  CNB Financial Corp.  are evidence to the trend. “In Ohio, for every transaction considered, shale is a part of the conversation,” said Voinovich, who works out of Cleveland for the West Conshohocken, Pa.-based firm. Read the whole article here.  Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

The weekly update on horizontal drilling permits is available from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Only 10 new permits were issued.  Exactly half of those were for Belmont County wells, with 5 permits issued to Hess Ohio Developments LLC for Warren Township drilling.  2 permits were issued for Carroll County.  Rounding out the activity was Morgan County, which saw its first 3 horizontal drilling permits issued. This latest permitting brings the grand total of Utica shale permits in Ohio to 988.  606 wells have been drilled, and 184 are producing.  The Utica rig count is 39. View the report here. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From Reuters: At a dusty Texas oilfield, Apache Corp has eliminated its reliance on what arguably could be the biggest long-term constraint for fracking wells in the arid western United States: scarce freshwater. For only one well, millions of gallons of water are used for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the process that has helped reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil over the past five years by cracking rock deep underground to release oil and gas. In Irion County, where Apache is drilling dozens of Wolfcamp shale wells in the Permian Basin, the company is meeting its water needs for hydraulic fracturing by using brackish water from the Santa Rosa aquifer and recycling water from wells and fracking using chemicals. The company's approach could have broader significance for areas prone to drought. Apache, which has the most rigs running in the Permian, the oil-rich region that spans 59 Texas counties, says the model can cut costs and truck traffic rattling small towns st...

The ongoing saga of Ben Lupo's companies in the wake of his ordering the illegal dumping of thousands and thousands of gallons of wastewater into a storm sewer have been chronicled here at The Daily Digger all along (see some of the background here , here , here , here , and here .)  Now there is a new development in the story. From Business Journal Daily: The U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Northern District of Ohio Tuesday approved the sale of the assets of D&L Energy Inc. to a Denver company for $20.7 million.  Resource Land Holdings LLC emerged as the successful bidder for the assets of the beleaguered energy company that filed for Chapter 11 earlier this year.  According to documents filed with the court, four qualified bidders attended an all-day auction in Cleveland Nov. 13. The auction was continued to Nov. 16 with two buyers present.  The asset purchase agreement approved Tuesday includes D&L's participation in joint ventures in pipeline agree...

From The Motley Fool: Despite  recent losses at the polls , fracking is slowly starting to garner more public support. A recent poll of 1,001 adults by Robert Morris University Polling Institute showed that 56% supported hydraulic fracturing. Further, those with an opinion on fracking strongly believed that it has the potential to fuel economic growth, and move the country toward energy independence. The big sticking point for many are the environmental concerns. Of those polled, 60% said that the environmental impact of gas drilling outweighs energy independence and reduction in energy bills. That said, the public does appear to be softening its stance against fracking. According to Robert Morris, a similar poll three years ago would have only found a third of those polled in support of fracking. This is an important shift for the industry, which has struggled with image problems. Energy companies like  Range Resources  ( NYSE:  RRC     ) have wor...

From Seeking Alpha: I have followed Chesapeake Energy ( CHK ) for a number of years and have written a number of articles on the company. I can honestly say that I am more optimistic about the company today than I have been in the last 3 or 4 years. As I follow the company and watch to see if it's maintaining its plan to bring itself back to profitability, I'm very excited about what I have been observing. What I am summarizing here, I will expound on later in this article. I am excited to see Chesapeake increasing revenue, decreasing capital expenditures and increasing productivity all at the same time. This is a winning combination. Let's take a look at the company's numbers. Read the whole article here.  Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

Report: 48th Annual 2012 Ohio Oil & Gas Summary from Marcellus Drilling News Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register: Natural gas processors MarkWest Energy, Dominion Resources, M3 Midstream and others are building about $12 billion worth of infrastructure in Ohio, according to an official with the state Department of Natural Resources. While Rick Simmers, chief of the Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management at ODNR, spoke Friday during the DUG East conference in Pittsburgh, he noted a case before the Ohio Supreme Court is challenging his agency's exclusive authority to regulate drilling and fracking throughout the Buckeye State. Simmers reminded those in attendance at the two-day conference that although advances in horizontal drilling and fracking now allow for exploration in the Utica and Marcellus shale formations, there have been about 280,000 wells drilled in Ohio since 1861. Read the whole article here. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From Forbes: Environmentalists won’t stop the shale gas craze. Neither will federal regulators. But a lack of water could possibly do so. And that is why drillers are looking for new ways to find water supplies — or fresh water supplies would be jeopardized as a result of fossil fuel development. During the exploration of shale gas, a concoction of sand, water and chemicals is pumped into the ground. Some of the dirty water returns and it must either be treated or  re-injected underground , which at least in the northeastern United States involves trucking such tainted water to different locales — something that then upsets the green movement. Treating — or recycling — the “fracking water,” by contrast, optimizes a scarce resource while potentially mitigating any ecological ramifications, albeit at potentially higher costs. “No question: Recycling is the way that the industry is moving,” says Bill Charneski, chief operating officer of  OriginOil , in a telephone intervi...

From The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register: Marcellus and Utica shale companies depending on the Blue Racer Midstream plant for processing are out of luck until at least January, as the facility remains completely shut down after part of it caught fire Sept. 21. "Blue Racer's Natrium plant in Marshall County remains in a safe shutdown mode. We are making the repairs needed to restore service," said Blue Racer spokeswoman Casey Nikoloric. Though Dominion Resources originally developed the Natrium plant and the full-time workers at Natrium are considered Dominion employees, Blue Racer now officially owns the facility as part of a $1.5 billion deal between Dominion and Caiman Energy.   "The plant will not restart until an emergency siren system is in place and tested in the neighboring community of Kent," said Jim Norvelle, spokesman for Dominion, noting he projects this to occur in January. "We have been talking with our neighbors there about ...