The Daily Digger

CSMonitor:   Natural Gas's Green Image Could Be Hot Air, Say Scientists   -    "Natural gas may not be of much use as a “bridge” fuel en route to achieving significant cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions unless its use is accompanied by rigorous policies aimed at curbing emissions – policies that some analysts say should be designed to harness gas as..." Forbes:   Jimmy Fallon Makes the World's Best Argument Against Solar and Wind Energy   -    "Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon , a member of “Artists Against Fracking,” is, like many celebrities , in favor of banning most fossil fuel use and using wind and solar instead. But a few years ago, when he was host of Weekend Update, Fallon made one of the best arguments ever why solar, wind, and other forms of renewable energy ..." Akron Beacon Journal:   Ohio Oil, Gas Industry Provides Training to 92 Firefighters   -    "The Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP) re...

From a letter to the editor in the Marietta Times: I sighed when I learned of an oilfield accident in Noble County on Nov. 12 that claimed the life of a 48-year-old Virginia man. I felt sad because I knew his death was preventable.  The growing list of safety and environmental incidents occurring in Ohio’s Utica shale play is alarming to me.  My message to managers of companies that operate rigs, wells, pipelines, and facilities is simple. Raise your game. Set a higher safety standard than you are accepting.  My message to officials who regulate these companies’ activities is also simple. Raise your standards. Demand better risk management.  My message to all interested parties is stop accepting the notion that accidents are inevitable.  I am not an opponent of the oil and gas industry. To the contrary I am a strong industry advocate. I was raised in Monroe County in a family whose oilfield history dates back more than a century. After receiving a ...

From Business Journal Daily: Hilcorp Energy Co., the most active driller in the northern tier of the Utica shale in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania, is poised to begin aggressive development of its leasehold acreage in the Brinker storage field of Columbiana County.  Data provided by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources show that Hilcorp recently applied for 25 new horizontal well permits that target three sites in Fairfield Township in the northern section of the county.  ODNR approved six of those permits Nov. 13 and 14, the agency reported. The other 19 are pending.  Much of the acreage lies in or around the Brinker, a 30,000-acre natural gas reserve in the Clinton sandstone strata, 3,000 to 6,000 feet below the surface of the earth. Read the rest of this article by clicking here. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From Gas & Oil: Mike Chadsey, director of public relations for the Ohio Oil and Gas Association (OOGA), said companies are waiting on pipeline for 58 wells in the state that aren't in production.  "We have to get this pipe in the ground," Chadsey said.  Companies have invested $6.6 billion in midstream in eastern Ohio. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the Utica and Marcellus has left companies pushing to develop infrastructure to transport and process record amounts of oil, gas and gas products.  The shale play, said Peter Lidiak, pipeline director at American Petroleum Institute, has caused what many call an "energy renaissance." Pipeline and infrastructure construction has had a particularly positive effect on local economies and the national economy.  Lidiak, citing a report from the consulting group IHS, said midstream could create 3.9 million jobs in the U.S. by 2025. Additionally, infrastructure development generated about $7...

The latest Ohio Department of Natural Resources update on Utica shale permitting reveals a couple of sizable jumps, as milestone numbers continue to be passed. New permitting was down after a couple of very active weeks.  Only 8 new permits were issued during the week ending November 22.  Harrison County led the way with 4 new permits, while Guernsey followed with 3 and Monroe County saw 1 new well permit. Despite the slow week of permitting, a couple of other numbers saw large increases.  There were 24 wells added to the number of wells drilled, bringing that total to an even 1,200.  Even more noteworthy was the jump in wells producing, from 618 last week to 698 this week.  There have now been 1,638 wells permitted and the Utica rig count is 52. Click here to view the actual report. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From Columbus Business First: GasFrac Energy Services Inc. has started fracturing its first trial well in the Utica shale, the company said in its third quarter update. Multiple oil and gas companies have ownership in the well and are eyeing the results to see whether the waterless method can be expanded to other Utica wells.   The Canadian company uses gelled propane – not water – during hydraulic fracturing. If successful, the technique would be an environmental boon for the industry that typically uses millions of gallons for each well it drills.   Its Utica well is in eastern Ohio's oil window, which has  proven to be difficult for drillers to crack .   "We think that we've got the right formula for the Utica in the oil window and we are very excited," GasFrac president  Jason Munro  told analysts.   Executives say Ohio's recent  regulation of earthquakes caused by oil and gas activity  could boost the fracking method, too, si...

From Krugliak, Wilkins, Griffiths & Dougherty LPA: Prior to this decision, the only appellate court in Ohio to confirm that the 1989 Ohio Dormant Mineral Act (R.C. 5301.56 (in effect prior to June 30, 2006)) was self-executing, i.e. contained an automatic abandonment and vesting mechanism, was the Seventh District Court of Appeals.   The Fifth District Court of Appeals, in affirming the trial court’s decision, followed the holdings in  Walker v. Shondrick-Nau , 2014-Ohio-1499 and  Swartz v. Householder , 2014-Ohio-2359, and held that the 1989 Ohio Dormant Mineral Act automatically abandoned dormant, severed mineral interests and vested title to the same in the affected surface owners.    Additionally, the Fifth District Court of Appeals held that the 1989 Ohio Dormant Mineral Act applied to the current litigation (meaning it applied to severed mineral interests which met the abandonment criteria prior to June 30, 2006) and not the amended versio...

Baker Hughes Stockholders to Receive 1.12 Halliburton Shares Plus $19.00  in Cash for Each Share They Own Transaction Values Baker Hughes at  $78.62  per Share as of  November 12, 2014 Highly Complementary Product Lines, Global Presence and Cutting-Edge Technologies Will enable Combined Company to Create Added Value for Customers Accretive to  Halliburton Cash Flow  by the End of Year One, with Nearly $2 Billion  in Synergies and Significant Cash Flow to Support Future Returns of Capital to Stockholders HOUSTON --(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 17, 2014--  Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) and  Baker Hughes Incorporated  (NYSE:BHI) today announced a definitive agreement under which Halliburton will acquire all the outstanding shares of  Baker Hughes  in a stock and cash transaction. The transaction is valued at  $78.62  per  Baker Hughes share, representing an equity value of  $34.6 billion  and enterpris...

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has made the latest weekly permitting report available, and it was another active week in the Utica shale. 22 new well drilling permits were issued.  Monroe County was the hot spot, with 7 permits.  Columbiana was next with 6.  Other counties with new well permits on the report: Belmont (3), Noble (3), Harrison (2), and Tuscarawas (1).  One week after seeing the most new activity it has had in quite a while, Carroll County had no new permits last week. There have now been 1,630 permits issued for horizontal drilling in Ohio's Utica shale.  1,176 wells have been drilled, 618 are producing, and the Utica rig count went up again, this time to 53. Click here to view the report. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From Seeking Alpha, here is a portion of the comments made by Hess senior vice president of global production Michael Turner during a recent day for investors and analysts that was hosted by the company: So now let's go ahead and talk about the Utica. So we are also very encouraged about our performance to date at the Utica. Obviously, it's a little earlier than the Bakken. We have a very solid post-appraisal plan located in the core positioning of the play. Now we have the highest NRI in the liquids-rich region, which leads to an economic competitive advantage to others. We are also, as we've talked earlier, leveraging Bakken capability to improve efficiencies and reduce costs. And I'll show you some of the transfer in the next couple of slides.   So with our measured development plan, I state measured, I'll talk about that later, we exceed 40,000 barrels a day equivalent by 2020, with over 500 well locations and a net EUR greater than 300 million barrels equ...

From Seeking Alpha: Summary Rice reported continued drilling success in the dry gas Utica play. Two new wells are performing in line with the first well, the Bigfoot 9H. The Bigfoot is outperforming initial expectations. The company provided a type curve for the play. Firm transportation remains a critical component of the growth plan, with FT costs making a big dent in drilling returns. Two New Wells Confirm Success In The Utica's Dry Gas Window   Rice Energy (NYSE: RICE ) provided a performance update for its first operated dry gas Utica well located in Belmont County, Ohio, the Bigfoot 9H. As a reminder, the well tested in June of this year with an initial rate of ~42 MMcf/d from a ~7,000-foot lateral with 40 frac stages and was placed into sales during the second quarter.   The Bigfoot's performance is beating initial expectations. The well has been producing on a restricted choke program for five months at a flat rate of ~14 MMcfe/d. To date, the Bigf...

From the Pittsburgh Business Times: A fire continues to burn in Noble County, Ohio, near a  Consol Energy  Inc. well pad after an explosion and fire Wednesday afternoon killed a Blue Racer Midstream contractor while work was being done on a condensate line leading from the well. The name of the electrical contract worker, a Virginia resident, was not disclosed in a statement by Noble County Sheriff  Stephen S. Hannum . No one else was hurt in the 4:15 p.m. Wednesday accident, which occurred on Blue Racer Midstream property next to the well pad.   Hannum said one fire was quickly contained, but a second, which he termed "small but dangerous," continues to burn and is being monitored by emergency officials, Blue Racer employees and the Ohio Fire Marshal's office. Click here to read more.  Here is an NBC 4 report: NBC4: Columbus, Ohio News, Weather, and Sports (WCMH-TV) Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From a GASFRAC press release: OPERATIONAL AND STRATEGIC UPDATE A Special Committee of independent directors has been formed to oversee a strategic alternative process on behalf of the Corporation. This Special Committee of GASFRAC's Board has engaged CIBC to identify, examine and consider a range of strategic alternatives available to GASFRAC, with a view to enhance and maximize shareholder value.  During the quarter, GASFRAC successfully deployed its HOOD technology and commenced fracturing its first well in the Utica Shale formation.    GASFRAC's Board is continuing to pursue a search for the appointment of a permanent Chief Executive Officer; with an announcement anticipated by the end of second quarter 2015.    GASFRAC is not expected to be compliant with the terms of its Revolving Credit Facility at December 31, 2014, specifically the obligation to maintain a Fixed Charge Coverage Covenant Ratio of 1.15 to 1.00. GASFRAC is working w...

The latest report from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources shows a big bump in permitting activity. There were 38 new permits issued in the week ending November 8.  They were spread across 5 counties.  The leader was Carroll County, with 14 new permits (9 to Chesapeake Energy and 5 to Rex Energy).  Close behind was Belmont County, with 13.  The other counties on the report were Monroe (6), Guernsey (4), and Harrison (1). This flurry of activity pushed the new cumulative total to 1,609 permits issued.  1,162 wells have been drilled, 617 are producing, and the Utica rig count climbed up to 51. View the report here. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From Reuters: Oilfield services provider Halliburton Co and rival  Baker Hughes Inc  are in preliminary talks on a potential merger, Baker Hughes said in a statement on Thursday.   The statement said the discussions "may or may not lead to any transaction" but two people familiar with the matter said  Halliburton was in talks to buy Baker Hughes. Any potential deal between the two Houston-based companies could run into antitrust concerns.   "Baker Hughes Incorporated today confirmed that it has engaged in preliminary discussions with Halliburton Company regarding a potential business combination transaction," the statement said.   Halliburton declined to comment on the talks, which were first reported by  Dow  Jones and in The Wall Street Journal. The people familiar with the matter spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. Read the rest of the article by clicking here.  Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @Ene...

From the Akron Beacon Journal: Drillers in eastern Ohio’s Utica Shale have withdrawn nearly 136 million gallons of water from three reservoirs in 2014.   The water was taken from Piedmont, Clendening and Seneca lakes, according to a new report from the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District.   That volume — a 22.5 percent increase from 2013’s total water sales of 111 million gallons — is comparable to what the city of Akron pumps in four days to its 300,000 water customers.   The impacts of the latest withdrawals on the district “were negligible,” the agency said in its assessment, noting that it limited maximum daily withdrawal to 2 million gallons. Click here to continue reading the article. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From Gas & Oil: In 2012, Amerimar, Inc. secured a one-year option to buy the former Firestone offices and tire plant and the Greystone Hall building in order for office space related to the oil and gas industry.   The company seeked $40 million in tax credits and Akron City Council approved historic designations to the buildings, allowing them to be eligible for $40 million in tax credits.   This was a $5 million investment for the company. Currently, these properties are still under contract.   The Firestone property was planned to be used for administrative, engineering and research job offices all linked to the oil and gas drilling in the Utica shale formation.   “We’re actively soliciting tenants,” said James Loveman, a director at Amerimar Realty. “If gas and oil companies are interested, we’d love to have them.”   The former Firestone properties are a 1.3 million square foot property, located at 1200 Firestone Parkway and 1301 South Main ...