The Daily Digger

From the Akron Beacon Journal: Nexus Gas Transmission will wait until next year to fully restore all of the land along its pipeline route.  Heavy rain this fall has left the ground in some areas too wet to properly restore this year, a project spokesperson wrote in an email last week.  Nexus had aimed to complete restoration around the end of last month, according to filings with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which has already approved the pipeline for use.  Nexus will stabilize unrestored areas with FERC-approved, industry-standard practices for the winter and finish restoration in the spring, spokesman Adam Parker wrote in an email.  “Where appropriate, erosion control devices will remain in place, the right-of-way will be seeded with a winter grass and stabilized with straw mulch,” Parker wrote, adding that workers won’t put mulch or seed in areas with standing water. Click here to continue reading. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitte...

From Kallanish Energy: Calgary-based Marksmen Energy reports it's making progress in drilling a Clinton Sandstone well in southeast Ohio, Kallanish Energy reports.  The company has a 60% interest in the Leaman #1 horizontal well in Hocking County. The well is operated by Hocking Hills Energy and Well Services LLC of Ohio.  Completion of milling and drilling the 1,500-foot lateral is expected to begin this week. The lateral drilling is expected to take 10 to 15 days. The sandstone was previously stimulated with a 12-stage hydraulic fracturing or fracking process.  Marksmen said it has interests in 5,500 acres of additional land with several potential Clinton Sandstone wells locations that could be developed under its agreement with its operator.  The company has said it's planning “an aggressive drilling program in 2019 to fully develop the acreage,” subject to financing. Read more by clicking here. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @E...

From S&P Global Platts: Encino Energy, a company that became an Appalachian Basin exploration and production industry powerhouse with the acquisition of Chesapeake Energy's Utica Shale assets in July, is looking to grow its operations in the Utica and invest in other basins, the company's CEO said in an interview with S&P Global Platts.  "We expect to be active acquirers; there are specific targets in the Utica that we're already evaluating that we hope to buy and there are probably more in the Utica that we hope to acquire over time," Encino President and CEO Hardy Murchison said Monday.  Murchison said the company is also looking to expand beyond its Utica footprint into other US onshore resource plays.  "We clearly expect to grow in the Utica and we'll probably expect to grow outside the Utica as well," he said. Almost overnight, Encino became a major player in the Ohio Utica Shale play with the acquisition of Chesapeake's ...

From the PA Environment Digest Blog: On November 20, the PA Supreme Court agreed to review the PA Superior Court ruling in April saying Southwestern Energy drilling company trespassed on the property of Susquehanna County landowners by taking natural gas from an adjacent property without permission through its unconventional drilling operations.  The PA Supreme Court specifically rephrased the issue it was reviewing this way--”Does the rule of capture apply to oil and gas produced from wells that were completed using hydraulic fracturing and preclude trespass liability for allegedly draining oil or gas from under nearby property, where the well is drilled solely on and beneath the driller’s own property and the hydraulic fracturing fluids are injected solely on or beneath the driller’s own property?”  The PA Superior Court ruling overturned the rule of capture practice that has been in place for as long as companies have been drilling for oil and gas and developing...

From the Akron Beacon Journal: The Summit County Council on Monday formally approved the “Pipeline Emergency Response Fund” intended to pay for services in the event of a natural gas pipeline emergency in the county.  Starting in 2021, the fund — proposed in response to the now-functioning $2.1 billion Nexus natural gas pipeline that runs through part of the county — will collect about $100,000 annually in property taxes from pipeline operators. The money will be used to pay for training, planning and equipment for local emergency responders.  The council also on Monday received a 2019 preliminary operating budget.  According to the county executive’s web site, the county is looking at a 2019 operating budget of $546.7 million, which is 1.7 percent higher than the 2018 adjusted budget of $537.7 million. The 2018 operating budget as originally passed in late 2017 totaled nearly $529.2 million. The county’s latest budget document says it projects revenue collectio...

From The Times Leader: Two local counties are now better equipped to respond to emergencies, thanks to a partnership with the natural gas and oil industry. The Belmont County Emergency Management Agency held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday to dedicate its new emergency response vehicle — a travel trailer that has been converted and equipped to serve as a mobile incident command center. The new vehicle was acquired at no cost to taxpayers, since the Ohio Oil and Gas Association was able to coordinate an effort by EQT Corp., Ascent Resources and Antero Resources to each pay a share of the $50,000 price tag. Mike Chadsey, marketing director for the OOGA, said the three companies are the primary gas and oil producers operating in Belmont County today and they were happy to help prepare the EMA to respond to any type of emergency.  Dave Ivan, EMA director, said the vehicle replaces an previous unit that had been created from an old school bus. At Ivan’s recommendation, the Bel...

From the Ohio EPA: Ohio EPA will hold a public meeting to present information and accept comments on a draft air permit-to-install related to the proposed PTTGCA Petrochemical Complex that would be located at Old Route 7 and Ferry Landing Road (Hwy. 2), Shadyside.  The public information session will begin at 6 p.m. on Nov. 27, 2018, and will be held at Shadyside High School, 3890 Lincoln Ave. The public hearing will immediately follow, during which the public can submit comments on the record concerning the draft permit.  If approved, the permit would allow construction of a 1.5 million tons-per-year ethane cracker plant. The plant would use six ethane cracking furnaces and manufacture ethylene, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE). Carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter and greenhouse gas pollutants are expected to be emitted along with minor quantities of other pollutants. Computer modeli...

From Oil and Gas Investor: EnCap Investments LP has retained Detring Energy Advisors to market for sale certain of its oil and gas mineral and royalty interests located in Jefferson, Belmont, and Harrison counties, Ohio, within the core of the dry gas Utica Shale play.   The assets offer an attractive opportunity to acquire a concentrated, core position underneath premier Utica-focused operators generating world-class well results and superior economics, according to Detring.   Asset Highlights: About 6,325 Net Royalty Acres (at 1/8) | 93% HBP Overriding Royalty Interests (ORRI) located throughout the core of the prolific Utica Shale play Substantial OGIP across contiguous acreage position and under top operators including Ascent, Gulfport, Hess and XTO Significant near-term development potential with about 3,340 net royalty acres (more than 50%) contained within existing horizontal drilling units ORRI retained for any leases re-leased within 12 months of ex...

From Forbes: As a general rule, a divided federal government is the best kind of federal government where the oil and gas industry is concerned. This is an industry that places a high degree of importance on regulatory and statutory certainty, and a divided government tends to result in a slower pace of change in these areas.  The unified, Republican-controlled government of the past two years produced a rapid pace of change, though much of it has actually been favorable for the industry, as the Trump Administration has gone about revising and repealing a raft of Obama-era actions. But that work is now mostly done, although the ultimate resolution for the EPA's Waters of the United States rule and various methane-related measures at EPA and the Department of the Interior remain somewhat up in the air for now.  Congress was able to agree to include energy-related provisions in its omnibus spending bill last December, but has done little related to energy since. The lame ...

New permits issued last week:   7  (Previous week:  4 )   +3 Total horizontal permits issued:  2924  (Previous week:  2917 )   +7 Total horizontal wells drilled:  2457  (Previous week:  2448 )   +9 Total horizontal wells producing:  2081  (Previous week:  2075 )   +6 Utica rig count:  18  (Previous week:  15 )   +3 Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

by Jackie Stewart, Energy in Depth XTO Energy brought its  “ Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day ”  program to Belmont County Schools on Tuesday, as part of the company’s ongoing effort to encourage young women to pursue education and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math – or STEM – fields. Middle school girls from Shadyside, Bellaire and Powhatan heard from a number of XTO Energy’s female employees from the area – including several engineers. The program provided the 50 students with the opportunity to take part in interactive experiments conducted by members of the XTO staff and the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP). Through the hands-on problem-solving activities, students were shown how creativity and ingenuity can be used in the classroom, and how knowledge of STEM subjects can lead to rewarding engineering careers. ExxonMobil and XTO Energy have made it a priority to engage young women and promote STEM education. S...

New permits issued last week:   4  (Previous week:  8 )   -4 Total horizontal permits issued:  2917  (Previous week:  2913 )   +4 Total horizontal wells drilled:  2448  (Previous week:  2446 )   +2 Total horizontal wells producing:  2075  (Previous week:  2072 )   +3 Utica rig count:  15  (Previous week:  17 )   -2 Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

by Ken Ward Jr., ProPublica For decades, Arnold and Mary Richards collected monthly royalty checks — most recently from $1,000 to $1,500 — for the natural gas sucked up from beneath their West Virginia farm by small, old wells. So in 2016, when EQT Corp. drilled six new gas wells, the Ritchie County couple expected to see their royalty payments skyrocket. The much-larger wells would collect far more natural gas from the Marcellus Shale formation, which is fueling the boom in the state’s gas industry. The Richards’ checks did grow considerably. But the couple also saw something they didn’t expect: EQT was cutting the size of those new checks. EQT began deducting for what it said was the cost of transporting the gas, for processing the gas and even for state taxes. All told, since November 2016, the Richardses calculated they were missing about $235,000 in royalties. The Richardses had looked closely at their lease agreements. The agreements stated that EQT would give them 12...

by Ken Ward Jr., ProPublica Linda Stimmell gets upset every time EQT Corp.’s checks arrive in the mail. The energy giant extracts natural gas from beneath the Stimmell family’s old farm in Doddridge County, West Virginia, under the terms of a lease signed when Teddy Roosevelt was president. The royalty checks Stimmell receives from two “Bates Wells,” named for her great-great-grandfather, Andrew Jackson Bates, amount to just $9 and $3 each quarter. The lease Bates signed more than a century ago with Carnegie Natural Gas Co. of Pittsburgh allowed legendary industrialist Andrew Carnegie’s company to drill for, produce and sell as much natural gas as Carnegie wanted. In exchange, Bates got a flat fee of $300 a year per well. Because of that deal, Stimmell and the many other Bates descendants who have since inherited the gas — and that 112-year-old lease — have received tens of thousands of dollars less than they would have if the contract were negotiated today. “They’ve paid p...

by Dan Alfaro, Energy in Depth For the  eighth consecutive time , the citizens of Youngstown have voted overwhelmingly against a Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) initiative aimed at banning fracking and all fossil fuel-related activity within the city limits. Unofficial results show nearly 57 percent of the city’s voters rejected the proposal – nearly identical to the margin on the  seventh failed attempt. City voters rejected similar ballot measures six times between 2013 and 2016: twice in both 2013 and 2014, and once each in 2015 and 2016. The group – under the guise of the all-too-familiar “Community Bill of Rights” – again attempted to repackage and re-purpose what ultimately amounts to a symbolic ban on fracking. As in years past, the  Youngstown Vindicator   editorial board  joined a chorus in urging voters to stop the “job-killing” madness. Again: “What part of ‘no’ – multiplied tens of thousands of times over in votes over ...