Marcellus drilling rig, Chartiers Township, Washington Co., PA

From an Article by Paul J. Gough, Pittsburgh Business Journal, October 23, 2017

Pennsylvania added one working natural gas rig to its tally in the first two weeks of October, maintaining its slim lead over Ohio among Appalachian natural gas producers.

There were 32 rigs in Pennsylvania during the week ended Oct. 20, according to the latest data released by oilfield services company Baker Hughes. That compares to 29 in Ohio, where the rig count has remained steady since the end of August. Pennsylvania has seen its rig count stay in the low- to mid-30s all year.

At the same time, West Virginia lost one rig since the beginning of October and now has 15. But that’s still one rig higher than it had in August, according to Baker Hughes data.

Pennsylvania has always had a lead in rig counts over the course of the Marcellus and Utica Shale booms, but that traditional lead has been slipping in recent months as more takeaway capacity comes online in Ohio.

Baker Hughes said there were 913 oil and natural gas rigs in the U.S. last week, down 15 from a week ago but up 360 from a year ago when the energy industry was still in sustained downturn.

Baker – Hughes releases weekly & annual shale drilling rig count

From Pittsburgh Business Times, July 27, 2015

The number of drilling rigs in the Marcellus Shale stayed steady last week, although it’s down significantly from a year ago. There were 59 rotary rigs working the multistate Marcellus Shale play as of July 24, according to the Baker Hughes’ report. Nothing had been added or taken away in a week, although it’s down 19 rigs compared to a year ago.

By comparison, the Utica Shale added a rig to bring its count up to 23. But that’s down from the 45 working the shale play a year ago.

The Marcellus Shale is the fourth most-active shale play in terms of rotary rig counts, behind Permian (245), Eagle Ford (100) and Williston (70).

By state, these totals include Marcellus and Utica operations:

>>> Pennsylvania: 44 rigs, up one from a week ago although it’s down nine from a year ago.
>>> West Virginia: 18 rigs, unchanged from a week ago but down nine from a year ago.
>>> Ohio: 20 rigs, up one from a week ago but down 23 from a year ago.

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Gas Production in WV Northern Panhandle Triples in Two Years

From an Article by Casey Junkins, Wheeling Intelligencer, July 27, 2015

Wheeling, WV –The Marcellus and Utica shale natural gas fields continue sizzling in the Northern Panhandle, as West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey statistics show drillers pumped nearly three times as much natural gas in the region during 2014 compared to 2012.

Once the Dominion Resources Cove Point liquefied natural gas export facility opens in Maryland – and the Dominion Atlantic Coast Pipeline and the EQT Corp. Mountain Valley Pipeline systems open – production numbers across Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia should increase again, according to West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association Executive Director Corky Demarco. 

In 2011, Ohio County’s natural gas production, via three traditional vertical wells, came in at 84,000 cubic feet. The total jumped to 2.7 billion cubic feet in 2012, according to the survey. However, by 2014, the Ohio County total skyrocketed to 33.5 billion cubic feet. All active horizontal shale wells in Ohio County are now operated by Southwestern Energy Co., after that firm paid $5 billion to acquire Chesapeake Energy’s West Virginia assets last year.

A similar boom is taking place in the three West Virginia counties south of Ohio – Marshall, Wetzel and Tyler. In Wetzel County, for example, where natural gas production has been strong for several years, energy companies extracted 63.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas in 2012. By the end of last year, the total had reached 165.1 billion cubic feet.

Fact Box: Production by County: 2012 and 2014
>>> Hancock — 0.01 and 0.01
>>> Brooke — 0.001 and 12.5
>>> Ohio — 2.7 and 33.5
>>> Marshall 48.5 and 93.6
>>> Wetzel 63.7 and 165.1
>>> Tyler 8.9 and 42
Figures are in billions of cubic feet.

In addition to Southwestern, drillers featuring lucrative wells in Marshall, Wetzel and Tyler counties include Chevron, Magnum Hunter, Antero Resources, Gastar Exploration, Stone Energy, American Energy Partners, HG Energy, Noble Energy, Consol Energy, and others.

Although WV natural gas yields continue increasing, Demarco said this will likely “level off” soon. According to the New York Mercantile Exchange, the price for a 1,000-cubic-foot unit of natural gas is now around $2.80. This is less than half the selling price for the same unit in March 2014.

“It’s an issue of supply and demand. Right now, there is an oversupply, particularly in the Appalachian Basin,” Demarco said of the region home to both the Marcellus and Utica plays. “But with the downturn in price, we can catch up with some of the pipeline construction.”

See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net

Newspaper president’s ties to gas industry undermine claims of ‘credibility’

By Michael M. Barrick, Appalachian Chronicle, March 3, 2015

“Good ol’ boys down at the bar
Peanuts and politics
They think they know it all
They don’t know much of nothin’
Even if one of ‘em was to read a newspaper, cover-to-cover
That ain’t what’s going on
Journalism dead and gone”
– “Frail Grasp on the Big Picture” by the Eagles, 2007

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. – Readers of “The Independent Voice of North Central West Virginia” – The Exponent Telegram – Clarksburg’s only newspaper, have only a frail grasp on the big picture, at least when it comes to understanding the implications of the natural gas boom in the region. That is because the newspaper’s president, Brian Jarvis, is also the president of Hydrocarbon Well Services, an oil and gas service company with 15 rigs, according to Jarvis’ LinkedIn site.

Also, according to his LinkedIn site, Jarvis is an attorney representing gas and oil interests, work he continues following a stint with Jackson Kelly PLLC, a leading gas industry law firm with five offices in West Virginia – including Clarksburg – as well as five other states and Washington, D.C. Jarvis worked there for more than three years, from September 2008 – January 2012.

According to his LinkedIn site, Jarvis, as president of Clarksburg Publishing, “Oversee(s) publishing The Exponent Telegram, Bridgeport News, Preston News, Preston Journal, NCWV Real Estate, NCWV Life Magazine, MYNCWV.com, and several other multimedia products.”

Clearly, these business interests of Jarvis call into question the newspaper’s independence when covering the gas industry. Indeed, in late January, approximately 10 environmental leaders met with an official with the newspaper to challenge the newspaper to provide more comprehensive coverage of the gas industry. Ironically, on the day of the visit, a gas line explosion that had occurred the day before in Brooke County, W.Va. got no mention in the newspaper.

This is not surprising though, as the newspaper closed out 2014 with a tribute to the gas industry. In its December 30, 2014 issue, the front page declared, “Marcellus Shale authors statewide success story.” In the article, the newspaper proclaimed, “The Exponent Telegram’sEditorial Board has named the Marcellus Shale development as the Success Story of the Year.” Additionally, in its lead editorial in the same edition, the newspaper uncritically adopted the energy industry’s assertions of its benefits, despite the overwhelming scientific evidence that the harm to public health and safety, as well as the environment, far outweighs any perceived benefit.

Nowhere in the article or the editorial did the newspaper disclose interests held by Jarvis in the gas and oil business. Of course, the newspaper also enjoys significant advertising revenues from gas industry giants such as Dominion Resources, Inc.

The newspaper has not remotely attempted to cast a critical eye on the gas industry, despite growing opposition to it within its sphere of influence. In fact, it barely disguises its glee at defeats experienced by those fighting the industry. In a February 10 headline over an AP story about landowners in Virginia battling Dominion over landowner rights, the headline declared, triumphantly, “Foes of proposed pipeline lose fight.”

In addition to not informing readers that its president also has holdings in the gas industry, the newspaper’s Assistant Managing Editor, Matt Harvey, used the February 9 editorial page to – ironically – talk about the newspaper’s credibility. He wrote, “But what never changes about journalism is what’s been the same dating back to the days of Ben Franklin’s ‘Poor Richard’s Almanack,’ and beyond: Credibility.”

He continued, “And if it not only gets facts wrongs (sic) but also twists them to fit its presentation, well, chances are it won’t last long.” He added, “Credibility also means being willing to examine all sides of an issue and dig deep to discover some of the hidden issues.”

One would presume that Harvey is referring to issues such as the hazards associated with the gas industry, such as site development and well pad activity, traffic congestion, water use and contamination, air pollution, waste disposal, public health issues, quality of life issues, misuse of eminent domain in pipeline development, climate change, potential earthquakes, and questionable claims of economic revitalization.

The newspaper has simply not covered those issues at all, let alone dug deep into them. Harvey concluded his editorial with a bit of a lecture, writing, “But anyone who thinks the Internet has put paid (sic) the old-fashioned basics of journalism should think again. Without who, what, when, where, how and why – and without watchdogs willing to follow the money trail – the freedoms Americans enjoy would be headed for an endangered species list.”

There could not be a more ironic statement from a representative of The Exponent Telegram. Because they are not being the watchdogs they claim to be, West Virginians are headed for the endangered species list.

The reading public deserves better. Jarvis should divest himself of all interests in – and income from – the gas industry. Until and if he does, the newspaper lacks all credibility, despite Harvey’s claims. The Eagles were right. Journalism is dead and gone – at least in print, in Clarksburg.

Source: Appalachian Preservation Project, LLC, 2015. The Appalachian Chronicle is a publication of the Appalachian Preservation Project. The Appalachian Preservation Project is a social enterprise committed to preserving and protecting Appalachia.

Rig Count Down, Gas Output Up

Marcellus Region Leading in Output per Gas Well and Total Production 

From the Article by Laura Legere, State Impact – PA, October 24, 2013

Improvements in drilling efficiency and increasing productivity from new wells are driving the recent growth in oil and gas production across six key shale regions in the country, including the Marcellus.

In the first of what will be a monthly report on drilling productivity, the U.S. Energy Information Administration noted this week that “new technologies for drilling and producing natural gas and oil have made traditional measures of productivity, such as a simple count of active rotary drilling rigs, obsolete.” So the agency is using different measures to record productivity, especially an estimate of how much gas or oil is produced from new wells in a month per average rig operating in the region. The estimate indicates both the time it takes to drill a well and the well’s production, the agency said.

A graph captures the trend in the Marcellus: fewer rigs are drilling new wells in the shale since a peak in early 2012, but the wells they drill are producing more gas at the start.

The report held surprises for energy experts who did not expect the Marcellus Shale to reach its current output of more than 12 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day this year, or even for several years.

According to the Associated Press:

Federal energy experts are surprised by the rapid Marcellus growth, since the number of drilling rigs has fallen over the past two years.

“A year ago, we were not expecting the Marcellus to be at 12 billion cubic feet,” said Sam Gorgen of the EIA, which is a part of the Department of Energy.

The current Marcellus production is even higher than the predictions of Terry Engelder, a Penn State University geologist who has drawn praise and criticism for his estimates of how much gas the region holds. Engelder had predicted that the Marcellus wouldn’t reach the 12 billion cubic foot rate until 2015, and some critics said that was overly optimistic.

The report also shows production from the Marcellus and Haynesville shales diverging from a point of parity a year ago. Both shales were producing about 9.1 billion cubic feet of gas a day in November 2012, according to the EIA. Now, the Marcellus is expected to produce 12.6 billion cubic feet a day next month, while the Haynesville, which underlies parts of Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas, is expected to produce 6.6 billion cubic feet a day.

See the new Drilling Productivity Report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) here.