Posts Tagged ‘drilling’

Two drilling rig issues in Pennsylvania continue to work their way through government and legal channels.  The Governor’s special commission has recommended a Drilling Impact fee of some sort for gas companies in Pennsylvania.  Also, it has been reported that a second landfill in Lackawanna County will be accepting drill rig waste products.  The twelve lawyers at DLP continue to represent victims of serious trucking accidents, drilling rig accident and other major injury claims.

Gushers highlight gas potential of Pa.’s Marcellus Shale; drillers boost production estimates

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Two unexpected gushers in northeastern Pennsylvania are helping to illustrate the enormous potential of the Marcellus Shale natural gas field.

Each of the Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. wells in Susquehanna County is capable of producing 30 million cubic feet per day — believed to be a record for the Marcellus and enough gas to supply nearly 1,000 homes for a year. The landowners attached to the wells, who leased the well access, numbering fewer than 25, are splitting hundreds of thousands of dollars in monthly royalties.

“There was definitely excitement among the team that planned out these wells and executed their completion,” said Cabot spokesman George Stark.

Drilling companies knew the Marcellus held a lot of gas. They just had to figure out a way to get it out, and they say they’re getting better at it all the time.

The result is that the Marcellus, a rock formation beneath Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and Ohio, has turned out to be an even more prolific source of gas than anyone anticipated. Energy firms are boosting their production targets, not only because new wells are coming on line but also because they’re managing to coax more gas from each well.

Operators say they have a greater understanding of the complicated geology of the Marcellus, allowing them to land their drill bits in the sweet spot of the formation. They’re drilling horizontally at greater distances, giving them access to more of the gas locked within the rock. And they’re tweaking how they break apart the shale.

“It’s like batting practice,” said Matt Pitzarella, spokesman for Range Resources Corp. “The more you swing the bat, the better you get.”

Fort Worth, Texas-based Range has boosted its estimate of the amount of natural gas it will ultimately be able to harvest from its Marcellus Shale wells, telling investors this month that it plans to triple production to 600 million cubic feet per day by the end of 2012.

Another major player, Chesapeake Energy Corp., has likewise reported a dramatic increase in expected well production. Early on, the Oklahoma City-based driller predicted that each well would yield 3.5 billion cubic feet of gas over its life span. That amount has since doubled, to more than 7 billion cubic feet, and continues to go up.

“Growing confidence in reserve quality is a major reason why many of the largest, most-successful, domestic and international energy companies are heavily investing in the Marcellus and other American shale plays,” said Jeff Fisher, Chesapeake’s senior vice president of production.

Indeed, major oil companies like Chevron Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC have placed multibillion-dollar bets on the Marcellus, a 400-million-year-old rock formation that geologists say holds the nation’s largest reservoir of natural gas and perhaps the second-largest in the world.

To unlock the shale’s riches, drillers combine horizontal drilling with hydraulic fracturing, a technique known as fracking that pumps millions of gallons of water, along with sand and chemicals, into the well to creature fissures in the rock and allow natural gas to flow up. Fracking has raised environmental concerns, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is studying its impact on groundwater. The industry insists the process is environmentally safe.

The technology has unleashed a drilling frenzy in Pennsylvania — where more than 3,300 Marcellus wells have been sunk the past few years — and accounts for a twelvefold increase in U.S. shale gas production since 2000. Gas harvested from the Marcellus and other shale fields around the country — including the Barnett Shale in Texas and the Haynesville Shale in Louisiana — now represents a quarter of total U.S. natural gas production.

The new Cabot wells help illustrate why boosters believe the gas field could help steer U.S. energy policy for decades to come. They were also a nice bit of good news for Cabot, the Houston-based driller that endured two years of bad publicity after state regulators accused it of polluting water supplies in Dimock Township, Susquehanna County.

The wells — also located in Dimock — are “producing like gushers,” exulted Stark, the Cabot spokesman, helping to push the company’s daily production above 400 million cubic feet per day.

Like other drillers, Cabot has steadily increased the horizontal length of its wells, from an average of 2,100 feet in 2008 to 3,600 feet last year. It has seen a corresponding increase in capacity.

Capacity, though, does not always translate to production.

Cabot’s wells, and Marcellus wells in general, are not running at full tilt, mainly because the infrastructure required to take the gas from wellhead to market is not yet fully in place. An oversupply of natural gas and the availability of crews to fracture the wells are other limiting factors.

“We certainly have had to manage our pace of drilling with the installation of pipeline infrastructure and demand in the market,” Chesapeake’s Fisher said in a statement. “While some delays in production startups are common in the early phase of these large-scale plays, the industry is working hard to build the infrastructure that will enable Marcellus reserves to get to market for decades to come.”

The Marcellus isn’t the only shale formation in Pennsylvania that energy companies have their eye on. Drillers are just beginning to explore the gas-bearing Utica and Upper Devonian formations. The Utica is deeper that the Marcellus, and the Upper Devonian is shallower.

“It’s triple the resource potential under the same plot of land,” said Kevin Cabla, an energy analyst at Raymond James & Associates.

Posted at: Yahoo.com

All sorts of issues related to the gas drilling rig industry are heating up in Pennsylvania and New York.  State and Federal officials continue to debate the extent and nature of gas drilling to be allowed in the Delaware River Basis which supplies drinking water to millions of people including New York City.  Meanwhile, Pennsylvania officials with the Fish and Game Commission announced plans to lease land and water supplies to the gas industry for gas drilling and water outtake.  Officials believe they have no choice in light of private leases surrounding state game lands.  The twelve lawyers at DLP continue to monitor all issues involving the gas drilling industry while representing people involved in tractor trailer/truck accidents, gas drilling rig accidents and other major injury claims.

Conflicting reports on the gas drilling industry in Pennsylvania surfaced on the same day.  One report noted “gushers” at gas drilling rig sites in Bradford and Susquehanna Counties.  The New York Times published a front page article citing various industry documents questioning the extent of the “gas boom” in Pennsylvania .  Some documents quoted compared the gas drilling explosion to the dot com bubble.  The twelve lawyers at DLP continue to follow these and other gas drilling issues while representing seriously injured people in Pennsylvania truck/tractor trailer accidents, gas drilling rig accidents and other serious accident in Northeast and Central Pennsylvania.

A recent drive on Pennsylvania Route 6 in Bradford County revealed a tremendous increase in truck traffic on rural roads in Pennsylvania.  This increase in truck traffic has led to an increase in truck accidents in rural Pennsylvania.  Recently a Wyoming County driver was killed when she turned in front of a tractor trailer on a usually low traffic volume rural roadway.  The twelve lawyers at DLP handle Pennsylvania truck accident cases involving death or serious injury.

With the increase in gas drilling rig gas production and gas drilling rig accidents and production affecting local communities throughout the Commonwealth reports in Harrisburg show increasing support for some type of “gas tax” in Pennsylvania.  Many politicians have voiced opposition to any tax on the gas industry.  DLP continues to monitor this issue while representing victims of Pennsylvania truck accidents. gas drilling rig accidents and other serious incidents.

Should Pennsylvania impose a tax on the gas drilling industry?  Governor Tom Corbett says “No” but he awaits a report from a Commission reviewing the issue.  The Commission report is due out in late July, 2011.  However, the State budget is due to be passed by June 30,  2011.  There appears to be bipartisan support growing in Harrisburg for some type of gas tax.  Whether sufficient veto proof support exists is yet to be determined.  The twelve lawyers at DLP continue to monitor this and other gas drilling rig related issues while representing victims of gas drilling rig accidents, Pennsylvania truck accidents and other gas drilling related incidents.

Reports today note the Department of Environmental Protection is pushing for tougher regulations on gas drilling companies and drilling rig sites.  Environmental concerns with water and air quality are driving the proposed regulations.  In the meantime talks continue in Harrisburg regarding some type of taxation on the gas drilling rig companies.  Safety issues regarding truck accidents in Pennsylvania due to increased truck traffic volume and highway damage also continue to be discussed.

New York State, concerned with water quality in the Delaware Water Basin, recently filed a claim requesting the Federal Government to oversee gas drilling in the watershed area.  Noting that New York City and surrounding areas receive significant amounts of drinking water from the Delaware River, New York officials want a closer eye kept on gas drill rigging activities near the river.  Presently New York has a moratorium on gas drilling statewide while formulating regulations for the industry.  The twelve lawyers at DLP continue to handle Pennsylvania gas drilling accident cases especially in Tioga, Bradford, Susquehanna, Sullivan and Wyoming Counties and other counties in Northeast and Central Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett wants to lift a statewide moratorium on gas well drilling on state land, including state forests, state prisons, and college campuses. He proposed that campuses situated over the Marcellus Shale Gas Reserve could be opened to natural gas drilling. Preliminary talks with school officials have already begun and a bill has been drafted allowing campus drilling. The announcement comes after he proposed to cut state funding to the schools by 50% in the budget.

There are six college campuses located within the Marcellus Shale Gas Reserve: Mansfield University, Lock Haven University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, California University of Pennsylvania, Clarion University, and Slippery Rock University. Discussion regarding the ownership of the gas royalties is ongoing.

The University of Texas at Arlington began natural gas drilling in 2009.  The drilling has generated millions in royalties for the university (The Meadville Tribune, 5/29/2011) (Erie Times-News, 5/29/2011).

Posted At: Examiner.com