The Daily Digger

New permits issued last week:   10   (Previous week:  4 )  +6 Total horizontal permits issued:  2748   (Previous week:  2744 )  +4 Total horizontal wells drilled:  2246   (Previous week:  2244 )  +2 Total horizontal wells producing:  1801  (Previous week:  1802 )  -1 Utica rig count:  21  (Previous week:  23 )   -2 Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From Cleveland.com: Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dennis Kucinich on Thursday unveiled a series of proposals designed to bring a complete end to oil and gas drilling in Ohio.  At a news conference in downtown Columbus, the liberal former congressman and presidential candidate said that as governor, he would use eminent domain to acquire and close all existing traditional and fracking-style oil and gas wells in the state. Kucinich pledged to block any new drilling permits and order a statewide injection-well ban.  In addition, Kucinich would direct the Ohio State Highway Patrol to stop, inspect, and turn away vehicles found with fracking waste. The state would offer free health screenings to Ohioans living near fracking sites and collect data with an eye toward filing a class-action lawsuit against fracking companies on the scale of the multi-billion-dollar legal settlement that states reach with tobacco companies 20 years ago.  Asked whether his proposals wer...

From WTAP News: On March 22, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management will auction oil and gas lease rights for two parcels in the Wayne National Forest near Marietta.  The two parcels total about 345 acres in the Marietta Unit of the Wayne National Forest in Ohio.  The parcels will be sold in an online auction that starts at 8 a.m.. on March 22, at the "Oil and Gas Rights Auction Website" link in the "Related Links" section of this story.  Each parcel will have its own unique open bidding period with start and stop times clearly identified on the auction website.  The open bidding period for each parcel will run for three hours from start to finish, and bids will be accepted only during a parcel’s open bidding period. Read more by clicking here. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro is pushing back against pressure to resolve the state’s case alleging unfair treatment of thousands of landowners by natural gas drilling companies.  Chesapeake Energy Corp. recently reached a $30 million settlement agreement with Pennsylvania landowners in separate, private class-action cases based on allegations of improper or inflated deductions from gas royalty payments.  But attorneys for the Oklahoma-based company told a federal judge in late December that the company reserves the right to pull out of those proposed settlements — covering all 14,000 of its Pennsylvania gas-producing leases — if it can’t resolve the attorney general’s case as well.  In an editorial and a letter to the judge, Mr. Shapiro and a senior attorney in the office have called the company’s position a pressure tactic. Click here to read more. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsB...

From The Canton Repository: Without a taproom or a big sign above its entry, Shale Brewing Co. is flying under the radar compared to most area breweries.  But its downtown production facility in a former foundry at Second Street SE is sizable and equipped with a 10-barrel brewhouse. Shale’s beers are available at numerous local stores and bars and in many locales around Ohio.  “We’re now at 150 accounts,” said Jeff Joliat, who co-founded Shale with Jim Williams. “We’re south to Marietta, west to Galion, east to the Pennsylvania and West Virginia borders. We’re in Columbus.” A new distributor soon will be taking Shale’s beers into West Virginia.  Due to the company’s name and oil derrick logo, Shale has proved especially popular in oil-industry areas. “Someone said, ’You should call it Kale instead of Shale and you’d do great in Columbus,” Joliat said with amusement. Read the whole article by clicking here. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @En...

From Reuters : Ohio environmental regulators again asked federal energy regulators to order Energy Transfer Partners to cease drilling operations on the Rover natural gas pipeline project under the Tuscarawas River over concern about the potential for a spill.  Rover has reported a loss of approximately 200,000 gallons of drilling fluids from the hole ETP is drilling under the Tuscarawas River in Stark County, Ohio, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said in a filing with the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which was made available on Wednesday. The Ohio EPA said Rover has ceased operations at the site and is seeking approval from FERC on a plan submitted on Jan. 22 to continue horizontal drilling. Another article from Reuters notes that analysts feel this decision by the FERC will likely cause the Rover pipeline to miss its targeted completion date of March 2018: “At this point, we don’t think it will be done at the end of the first quarter,” said Matt Lew...

From an Antero Resources press release: In 2018, Antero plans to operate an average of five drilling rigs and four completion crews in the Marcellus Shaleand expects to complete 120 to 125 wells with an average lateral length of 9,300 feet. The drilling plan in the Marcellus averages nine wells per pad. As average lateral lengths continue to increase, total well costs are expected to decline further in 2018 to $0.80 million per 1,000' of lateral, a 45% decline from 2014 and a 9% reduction from 2017 well costs. The Company plans to operate one drilling rig and one completion crew in the Ohio Utica Shale in 2018 and expects to complete 20 to 25 wells with an average lateral length of approximately 11,600 feet. Antero is currently drilling and completing its Utica wells at an average budgeted cost of $0.89 million per 1,000' of lateral, a 43% well cost improvement over 2014 and a 9% improvement from 2017 well costs.  Antero is budgeting to continue to consolidate acreage for...