The Daily Digger

New permits issued last week:   9  (Previous week:  1 )   +8 Total horizontal permits issued:  3006  (Previous week:  3000 )    +6 Total horizontal wells drilled:  2535  (Previous week:  2532 )   +3 Total horizontal wells producing:  2141  (Previous week:  2141 )   +-0 Utica rig count:  17  (Previous week:  15 )   +2

From WKSU: Encino is a natural gas and oil acquistion and development company created by a group of successful former executives of other major gas & oil corporations. Late last year it made a multi-billion dollar deal to get the Ohio holdings of Chesapeake Energy, the original leader in the Utica Shale development.  Encino's Director of External Affairs Jackie Stewart says the company is now committed to its new Utica headquarters in Louisville. “We’re trying to hire local. I mean, over 70% of our entire employees are here in Ohio.”  She says the size and richness of the Utica shale has a lot to do with that. “When you think about the future and oil and natural gas career pathways in Ohio, we have world class rock here. So, we’re going to be here for a long time.”  Stewart says Encino has already hired more than a 100 people in Louisville and is actively recruiting. Read on by clicking here. 

Last month CNX discovered a leak as they were finishing a Utica shale well in Pennsylvania, as mentioned on our blog .  Now the price tag from the problem is becoming clear. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The opportunity to complete the three wells that didn’t trigger the problem still exists, the company told investors on Monday. But that’s not on the budget for 2019 or the carryover budget for 2020.  These large Utica wells — which CNX pioneered in this area of southwestern Pennsylvania — are voluminous, both in gas production and expense. They are about a mile deeper than their Marcellus cousins and the gas they tap is therefore at greater pressure than in the shallower layers.  In the most recent company earnings call, executives said they’re spending around $14 million per well for development, but they’re shooting to get that down to $12.5 million.  On Monday, CNX disclosed that all told, the Shaw pad will account for $30 million in capital spendin...

From the Times Reporter: More than a year after Ohio’s Attorney General sued Rover Pipeline for polluting a Stark County wetland and other alleged environmental violations, the parties continue to fight over whether a local court should hear the case.  The state has said Rover Pipeline and six subcontractors broke various regulations involving the release of stormwater, drilling fluid or water used in pressure-testing the 713-mile-long interstate natural gas pipeline.  Rover Pipeline and the subcontractors have argued that only the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, not the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, has the power to enforce environmental regulations on an interstate pipeline.  There is no timetable for when the judge will make her ruling.  Rover Pipeline, comprising two 42-inch-diameter mainlines, transports up to 3.25 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day from the Utica and Marcellus shale regions to users in the United States and Canada...

New permits issued last week:   1  (Previous week:  15 )   -14 Total horizontal permits issued:  3000  (Previous week:  3000 )    +-0 Total horizontal wells drilled:  2532  (Previous week:  2531 )   +1 Total horizontal wells producing:  2141  (Previous week:  2141 )   +-0 Utica rig count:  15  (Previous week:  14 )   +1

From the Norwalk Reflector: Area school districts in the path of the new NEXUS natural gas pipeline appear confident they will get new tax revenues beginning in 2020.  Beyond that, there’s still uncertainty about what the net effect will be, as school districts such as Edison assume the state will cut school funding in response to the gas pipeline windfall.  Late last year, gas began to flow through the 36-inch, 256-mile NEXUS natural gas pipeline, which runs from Kensington in southeast Ohio through to Michigan, passing through Erie and Sandusky counties.  Several years ago, NEXUS published an estimate on the amount of ad valorem property tax revenues the pipeline would generate for local school districts and governments.  Some of the biggest projected revenues for the first year of funding, which apparently will be 2020, are $3.6 million for Edison Schools, $735,200 for EHOVE, $1.4 million for Perkins Schools, $6.2 million for Margaretta Schools and $870,...

From the Ohio Department of Natural Resources: Belmont County first responders will receive $425,000 to enhance their ability to keep their communities safe through new equipment and training, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR).  The funding for these first responders is provided in accordance with a compliance agreement between XTO Energy Inc. (XTO) and ODNR. This financial support will directly fund the purchases of equipment and training to bolster response capabilities within the communities of Belmont County.  “The safety of our local first responders is paramount in any emergency situation,” said ODNR Director Mary Mertz. “That is why we worked to help provide them with the additional support, training and equipment to ensure they are prepared and able to safely respond.”  The table attached to this release designates the name of each public entity, the corresponding address and the amount to be remitted to the public entity.  ...

WEEK ENDING 02/02/19 New permits issued last week:   6  (Previous week:  10 )   -4 Total horizontal permits issued:  2993  (Previous week:  2992 )   +1 Total horizontal wells drilled:  2524  (Previous week:  2517 )   +7 Total horizontal wells producing:  2141  (Previous week:  2138 )   +3 Utica rig count:  14  (Previous week:  14 )   +-0 WEEK ENDING 02/09/19 New permits issued last week:   15  (Previous week:  6 )   +9 Total horizontal permits issued:  3000  (Previous week:  2993 )   +7 Total horizontal wells drilled:  2531  (Previous week:  2524 )   +7 Total horizontal wells producing:  2141  (Previous week:  2141 )   +-0 Utica rig count:  14  (Previous week:  14 )   +-0

From TribLIVE: The Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County has asked for an extra water sample from Beaver Run Reservoir after a gas well located near the water source recently lost pressure.  CNX Resources suspended fracking operations from its Shaw 1G well, a deep Utica well on the northwestern side of Beaver Run Reservoir, because of a “pressure anomaly” observed last week, the Canonsburg-based energy company said over the weekend.  The Municipal Authority serves more than 400,000 people in five counties. Beaver Run Reservoir provides water to about 130,000 people in northern Westmoreland County through the authority’s George R. Sweeney Treatment Plant. It also serves small portions of Armstrong and Indiana counties.  CONSOL Energy began establishing gas wells on seven pad sites near the reservoir in 2011. Click here to continue reading that article. CNX is investigating the cause of the problem, but the company already has announced the likely root cause...

The battle in Dimock, Pennsylvania between a group of landowners and Cabot Oil and Gas is one that has just refused to end.  Dimock resident Ray Kemble sparked the latest round of legal wrangling by filing what would appear to be a frivolous lawsuit that attempts to relitigate matters that had already been resolved through the court system, which prompted Cabot to turn around and sue Kemble and his attorneys.  The resulting legal discovery process has exposed some fascinating details about the nature of the claims that have been so highly publicized regarding Dimock's water.  It also seems to reveal that Kemble has been used as a pawn by anti-fracking groups, neighbors in pursuit of fame and cash, and seedy attorneys. From Natural Gas Now: Yes, following the hearings yesterday in Montrose and  the big news about Food & Water Watch and Catskill Mountainkeeper funding Craig Stevens , his deposition by Cabot, which was made a part of the court record, was ...

From Law 360: The Sixth Circuit on Monday upheld the dismissal of a constitutional challenge to an Ohio law allowing drillers to tap properties near ones they’ve leased without getting consent from landowners, saying a permit issued by state regulators to Chesapeake Exploration LLC doesn’t constitute a “taking” under the 14th Amendment.  An appeals court panel affirmed an Ohio federal judge’s June dismissal of a suit by landowners challenging the order issued by the Ohio Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management under the state’s so-called forced pooling law allowing Chesapeake to horizontally drill below their properties.  The landowners can’t cite a single case that such pooling schemes are unconstitutional, the Sixth Circuit panel said in its opinion. Meanwhile, the Ohio Supreme Court has said the state’s forced pooling law is a legitimate use of its police power in regulating oil and gas development, and courts in other states have reached similar conclusions ab...

From PA Homepage: Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro is in Bradford County answering questions an ongoing lawsuit with two natural gas companies.  The lawsuit, involving gas royalty payments, was first filed in 2015. Eyewitness News reporter Eric Deabill has the story.  Pennsylvania’s Attorney General says his office has received more than 500 complaints from landowners who believe two gas companies engaged in unfair and deceptive trade practices.  Josh Shapiro j told the crowd here that even though this civil lawsuit has been in the courts for three years he is committed to keeping up the fight.  Dozens of landowners filled the auditorium at Towanda High School Thursday to hear the latest about a lawsuit by the Pennsylvania Attorney Generals Office against two natural gas companies.  Attorney General Josh Shapiro is looking to recover money for thousands of landowners who may have had money wrongfully deducted from their fracking royalty c...