Consol to Concentrate on Gas

Consol Energy is taking bold steps toward updating its current business model to reflect changing energy needs and interests in the U.S. and abroad. The company plans to put more focus on its gas interests moving forward. Read on for more on how it plans to do so.

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Consol to direct its energy toward gas production, CEO says

Consol Energy wants investors to start viewing it as more of a gas company than a gas and coal conglomerate, and is prepared to sell assets to finance more drilling in the gas fields of Appalachia, company Chief Executive Officer J. Brett Harvey said this morning.

Consol’s growing presence in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale and Ohio’s Utica Shale will be funded in part through the selling or restructuring of other elements of its portfolio, such as its barge or pipeline businesses.

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The Shale Play Today – April 2013

This month’s Shale Play Today was just released. The lead article discusses the Supreme Court decision in the Butler case. Other articles discuss Pennsylvania legislation and hydraulic fracturing studies. Check out the newsletter here.

New Fracking Waste Water Treatment Plant in Pa.

Another Marcellus waste water treatment plant has opened in Pennsylvania. This creates another option for drillers looking to either dispose of or acquire water for fracking. Read on for more.

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PA firm opens new plant to treat Marcellus waste

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Friday, April 19, 2013

TIOGA, PA (AP) — A Pennsylvania firm has opened a new plant to treat and recycle wastewater generated by Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling.

Aquatech International Corp., which is based in Canonsburg, says the new plant opened in Tioga County on Wednesday. That’s in northeast Pennsylvania near the New York border.

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New Partnership Between Industry, Environmental Groups

Several environmental and natural gas industry groups have collaborated on a project covering Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio — the Pittsburgh-based Center for Sustainable Shale Development. This partnership has resulted in agreement across interested parties as to standards for minimizing negative environmental impacts of shale drilling. Among those participating are Shell, Chevron, Consol, and EQT. Read on for more.

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Unlikely partners: Both sides agree on tough new fracking standards

GREENE COUNTY MESSENGER
By Calkins Media and wire reports
Monday, April 1, 2013

PITTSBURGH — In an unlikely partnership between longtime adversaries, some of the nation’s biggest energy companies and environmental groups have agreed on a voluntary set of standards for gas and oil fracking in the Northeast that appear to go further than existing state and federal pollution regulations.

The program will work a lot like Underwriters Laboratories, which puts its UL seal of approval on electrical appliances that meet its standards. In this case, drilling and pipeline companies will be encouraged to submit to an independent review of their operations, and if they are found to be taking certain steps to protect the air and water, they will receive the blessing of the brand-new Pittsburgh-based Center for Sustainable Shale Development.

If the project succeeds, it could have far-reaching implications for both the industry and environmental groups. A nationwide boom in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has unleashed huge new energy reserves but also led to fears of pollution and climate change.

Shell Oil Vice President Paul Goodfellow said this is the first time the company and environmental groups have reached agreement to create an entire system for reducing the effects of shale drilling.

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Italian Company Investing in West Virginia to Supply Shale Gas Industry

The shale gas boom has attracted an Italian company to build its first American plant in West Virginia. Pietro Fiorentini USA will be producing pressure regulators, valves and more out of a forthcoming Weirton plant. Local officials are thrilled about what this means for jobs and economic development in the region. Read more below.

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Pietro Fiorentini USA Plans to Invest $9 Million to Establish Manufacturing Facility in Weirton, West Virginia

AREA DEVELOPMENT ONLINE
Thursday, March 21, 2013

Italy-based Pietro Fiorentini USA plans to invest $9 million to build a manufacturing facility in the Three Springs Business Park in Weirton, West Virginia, with plans to create up to 41 jobs during the initial phase and up to 150 when fully operational.

Parent company Pietro Fiorentini S.p.a., based in Italy, produces pressure regulators, valves, and pressure reducing and metering systems for the natural gas industry. Although the company has a sales office and a distributorship in the U.S., the West Virginia plant will be its first manufacturing operation in the country. The new facility will produce components for the treatment of shale oil and gas.

The firm plans to lease space at the former Wheeling Corrugating Plant in Brooke County currently owned by Business Development Corporation of the Northern Panhandle and Hackman Capital based in Los Angeles to get operations under way within six months. Construction on the new manufacturing facility is expected to start this summer.

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It’s Up to You, New York … New York

Will the Empire State extend its moratorium on hydraulic fracturing?  Things appear to be heading in that direction with the actions of the NY State Assembly last week, whereby it passed a resolution to extend the ban for two more years.  The measure must still be voted on by the state senate and would need to be approved by Gov. Cuomo. Like many of our readers, we plan to keep tabs on this issue of major industry significance.

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New York Assembly passes fracking moratorium

by Tim Stuhldrerer – Central Penn Business Journal, 3/12/2013.

The New York State Assembly voted last week to extend New York’s ban on fracking another two years.

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“)%–> The bill was passed “to give the Legislature sufficient time to more fully review the available data” and to assess a pending Department of Environmental Conservation health study, according to assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
“Wherever you stand on the issue, two facts are indisputable,” Silver said in a statement. “One, the health and well-being of the people must always take precedence over industry profits, and two, the natural gas locked within the Marcellus Shale and the Utica Shale isn’t going anywhere. We’re not going to lose it.”
The drilling industry has pressed New York to open land to drilling, while activists caution that fracking could put New York City’s water supplies at risk.
If New York does open up, chances are that companies involved in drilling would mostly work from existing offices in Pennsylvania’s Northern Tier, rather than open additional ones, said Mark Lauriello, president of Lancaster County-based engineering firm Rettew Associates Inc., which does extensive work related to shale gas.
Companies already typically serve multiple counties out of a single office, and logistically it doesn’t much matter if those counties are in Pennsylvania or New York, he said.
At present, however, New York “is not all that attractive an area” for drillers, Lauriello said.
That’s because New York, like the Northern Tier, has primarily dry gas, which is mostly pure methane used for heating. Low prices have driven drillers to concentrate instead on wet gas areas in Ohio, Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Wet gas contains additional components such as ethane and butane that can be sold at a premium.
The New York State Assembly’s moratorium still needs to pass the state Senate and be signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. A Senate leader said Monday the moratorium is unnecessary and he plans to block it.

 

 

ECA to Expand Its Eastern Headquarters

Energy Corporation of America plans to expand its Charleston, W.Va. operations by building a 60,000 sf building that will ultimately house 200 employees for their eastern headquarters. Their current space no longer suits the needs of the company, which is based in Denver but has significant operations in the Marcellus Shale.

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Big energy player expanding Charleston footprint

THE STATE JOURNAL
By Taylor Kuykendall
Wednesday, March 6, 2013

A major player in the natural gas development in West Virginia wants to expand its footprint with a new 60,000 square foot building that will serve as its eastern headquarters.

Energy Corporation of America, a privately-held and family-operated oil and natural gas company is headquartered in Denver. The company has about 300 employees and owns more than a million acres in Appalachia.

The company presented its plans to the Charleston Municipal Planning Commission. The Commission reviewed the site application Wednesday at its regular meeting.

The commission approved ECA’s plan unanimously, pending approval following an inspection of a sanitary line at the site.

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