The Daily Digger

From Duke Today: Home values decline steeply when fracking occurs in neighborhoods that use well water, says new research from Duke University. But the outcome differs in neighborhoods that rely on piped water, where home values rise slightly after shale-gas drilling occurs.  The study, conducted in Pennsylvania, found that in areas using well water, home prices dropped by an average of $30,1676 when shale drilling occurred within a distance of 1.5 kilometers. Meanwhile, homes using piped water gained an average of $4,800 in value after shale wells opened nearby.  Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is a relatively new technology in which gas is extracted by drilling into a shale formation and then applying a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals to create cracks from which the underground gas stores are released. The paper is among the first to quantify the impact of fracking on property values in a wide geographic area, said co-author Christopher Timmin...

From the Akron Beacon Journal: Drilling is slowing down in Ohio’s Utica Shale because of low commodity prices and growing energy supplies.  Continued low prices tied to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ efforts to derail shale drilling in the United States have put a major crimp into drilling for natural gas and liquids in Ohio and other shale-drilling states.  OPEC has continued production, despite an oil glut that has reduced prices to $36 a barrel, in order to maintain its market share.  That natural gas-oil glut and low prices are good news for consumers who have cheap natural gas for heating their houses and petroleum for fueling their vehicles, but it has created serious problems for struggling energy companies.  And those impacts are also being felt across much of eastern Ohio in hotels, restaurants, gas stations and industries that supply drillers.  Warm winter temperatures are also hurting energy producers because there is l...

From NGI: U.S. energy sector bankruptcies reached levels during the final three months of this year last seen in the Great Recession, as the financial toll from lower commodity prices squeezed oil and natural gas producers, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas (Fed).  Sustained lower oil and natural gas prices aren't the only issue, though, economists said in a report Wednesday. Domestic exploration and production companies also have faced higher costs to produce than their international counterparts.  "At least nine U.S. oil and gas companies, accounting for more than $2 billion in debt, have filed for bankruptcy so far in the fourth quarter," said Fed economists Martin Stuermer and Navi Dhaliwal. "If bankruptcies continue at this rate, more may follow in 2016."  Upstream firms also have slashed capital expenditures, with spending estimated to be down by more than half (51%) from the fourth quarter of 2014 to the third quarter of 2015. Read ...

From Dominion: Dominion East Ohio expects increased energy production from the Marcellus and Utica shale formations in Ohio and nearby states to help provide ample supplies of natural gas at lower prices than a year ago.  "These abundant shale energy resources have led to lower national and regional market prices and our customers are reaping the benefits," said Jeff Murphy, vice president and general manager.  Murphy noted that natural gas prices for the remainder of the winter heating season likely would be lower than those of last winter. For example, Dominion East Ohio's current Standard Choice Offer (SCO) rate is $2.226 per thousand cubic feet (mcf), which is 53 percent lower than the December 2014 SCO rate of $4.712/mcf.  Under the current rate, the average SCO residential customer's bill for the month of December 2015 would be $66.12, almost 40 percent less than $109.92 in December 2014 and dramatically less than the average SCO residential customer...

From the Energy & Environmental Law Blog: We have summarized two recent Ohio oil and gas cases that may be of interest to you.  Mobberly v. Wade (7th Dist.) – Ohio’s Seventh District Court of Appeals granted summary judgment in favor of an oil and gas lessee in a lease forfeiture action. The lessor argued that the lease terminated due to lack of production from the lessor’s property. The lessor’s claim, in part, was based on the allegation that the lessee had commingled oil produced from the lessor’s land with oil produced from a neighboring property. The lessor also challenged the lease on the grounds that the lessee failed to file production statements with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) and that the lessee purchased gas from the lessor for the lessee’s own use in violation of the lessee’s covenant to market.  The court rejected the lessor’s claims and denied forfeiture. To read more about this decision and also the decision in the  Cooper v....

From The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register: As 2015 draws to a close, the Upper Ohio Valley seems on course to get a local outlet for its prolific natural gas reserves with the planned $5.7 billion PTT Global Chemical ethane cracker.  After years of speculation and intrigue, Belmont County officials in the spring confirmed that Thailand-based PTT wants to build the giant petrochemical complex on a 500-acre site along the Ohio River in Belmont County, with the project property consisting of the now-closed FirstEnergy Corp. R.E. Burger plant, as well as the Ohio-West Virginia Excavating land to the southwest.  "The Ohio Valley will never be the same. This is going to bring jobs, jobs and more jobs," Belmont County Commissioner Matt Coffland said, noting the thousands of temporary construction jobs and hundreds of full-time jobs the project could create. You can read more by clicking here. Further, from the Akron Beacon Journal: Major demolition is scheduled to beg...

From UPI: Oil production from inland shale basins in the United States is expected to be more robust than previously thought, OPEC said in its global outlook.  The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries released its much-watched World Oil Outlook report for 2015, outlining its expectations for the global energy sector. OPEC has defended its market share during the past year as higher U.S. oil production pushed sector dynamics heavily toward the supply side. Coupled with weak global economic growth, crude oil prices have plummeted from above the $100 per barrel mark in mid 2014 to below $40 per barrel.  In its latest outlook, OPEC said it expects U.S. crude oil production from shale deposits to increase from 3.8 million barrels per day in 2014 to 4.9 million bpd by 2023. By 2040, the trend will start to reverse as U.S. shale output falls to 4.2 million bpd.  "Although the updated forecast for the 2015 outlook shows that U.S. tight crude [oil production] wil...