[copious.abundance]

Cleveland is gonna be the next Dubai!

[copious.abundance]

Aubrey Sez ....

[...]

One thing I would say this -- is the location of this play [Utica shale] has a number of advantages to it. There's plenty of water. The topography is much less challenging than, say, in West Virginia, eastern PA. We're in a part of Ohio which, frankly, is ground 0 for what used to be the manufacturing belt of America, and unfortunately, the last 30 years has been the rust belt. But we think that our activity can help rejuvenate this area, and we're actually quite pleased with the quality of the workforce, the size of the workforce. And we think, of course, there's great transportation alternatives here, and we're pretty close to the Ohio River. So if we need to barge out tomorrow, we can do that. So there's lots of advantages to doing business in eastern Ohio. And so if you could have picked -- if I could have picked another place for a play to develop, it's pretty much the most ideal place I could think of in America for a big new play to develop. We're excited about it and recognize that our activity is going to create a lot of logistical challenges, but we'll meet them all and create tens of thousands of job while we do it.

[...]

From last week's conference call presentation (PDF) ...

[copious.abundance]

25 billion barrels!

Aubrey sez to Jim Cramer ...

[...]

- Could also be transformative for the entire country as they are talking about really big numbers. In the Utica there could be 25,000 wells drilled over several decades which would be over a $200 billion investment,

- In terms of oil and natural gas liquids, there could be 25 billion barrels of oil equivalent and could be one of the biggest discoveries in United States history.

[...]

[copious.abundance]

Time for an update!

200,000 new jobs!

LINK

Oil industry: Shale could generate 200,000 jobs
CantonRep.com staff report
Posted Sep 20, 2011 @ 11:33 PM

Expansion of Ohio’s oil and natural-gas business could generate 200,000 new jobs during the next three years.

The figure was tossed out Tuesday morning by oil industry associations during a press conference in the Statehouse. The five industry groups were joined by JobsOhio, a private nonprofit economic development agency created earlier this year by the Kasich administration.

The job growth projection is based on a study commissioned by the Ohio Oil & Gas Energy Education Program. Kleinhenz & Associates, a Cleveland-based economic research firm, did the study with help from Marietta College, Ohio State University, Central Ohio Technical College and Zane State College.

[...]

The 200,000 projected jobs could come from leasing, exploration, drilling, production and pipeline production associated with Utica shale development. The jobs could lead to a wage and personal income boost of $12 billion.

Meanwhile the report indicates that royalty payments could increase to as much as $1.6 billion by 2015, which is more than have been paid by the industry in Ohio over the past decade.

[...]

And some of the Big Boys are starting to acquire acreage here. First, Hess:

LINK

Hess In Back-to-Back Utica Deals
By Zacks Investment Research on September 12, 2011

Hess Corporation (NYSE:HES) in on track to strengthen its traction in one of the emerging shale plays in the U.S. –– the Utica Shale –– by entering into a second transaction in a week. The company shelled out $750 million for the purchase of the 85,000 acre Marquette Exploration LLC and other leases in the same play.

The deal comes a day after the company agreed to jointly explore and develop 200,000 acres of CONSOL Energy Inc. in Utica Shale play in eastern Ohio. The joint venture agreement with CONSOL entitles Hess to acquire 50% interest of the former in Utica Shale for an aggregate consideration of $593 million. Upon closure, Hess will pay $59 million, while the balance $534 million will be expended in the form of a 50% drilling interest obligation over a five-year span. The transaction is expected to be completed next month, pending customary closing conditions.

Overall, the purchases give Hess an 185,000 net acreage position in Utica. The latest contract calls for Hess to operate in Jefferson, Harrison and Belmont counties with a 100% working interest. The company intends to commence the appraisal drilling operation in the fourth quarter.

[...]

Then Exxon (through its XTO subsidiary) and Chevron:

LINK

Chevron Takes Over Leases
Third major energy company to buy into area shale operations
September 20, 2011
By CASEY JUNKINS Staff Writer , The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register

WHEELING - The Marcellus and Utica shale formations continue drawing attention from giant oil companies, as Chevron Corp. now controls about 4,400 acres in Ohio County.

Chevron joins Hess Corp. and Exxon Mobil as global oil companies investing in the Ohio Valley, as Hess has spent $1.34 billion during the past few weeks to acquire acreage in eastern Ohio. Exxon subsidiary, XTO Energy, is now leasing Belmont County acreage at $4,950 per acre with 19 percent on production royalties.

"Having companies like Chevron and Exxon here gives credence to the shale plays," said Tim Greene, owner of Land and Mineral Management of Appalachia. "You assume they have the financial support to stand behind their deals."

According to records in the Ohio County Clerk's Office, California-based Chevron - a company that produced 2.76 million barrels of oil per day in 2010 - took over about 170 individual leases from AB Resources, the largest of which is a 713-acre parcel in the West Liberty area. Most of the acreage is in the northern and central portions of the county, primarily in the areas near West Liberty and Triadelphia.

[...]

So much excitement!

[MD]

Tick off another percent or two. It's still too expensive to use they way we've been using it, but it will help keep the heat and lights on.

[copious.abundance]

Time for a long overdue update!

Though drilling has barely just begun, they've already got a customer!

Marathon Petroleum Exec: Canton Refinery To Use 12,000 B/D Utica Crude Next Year

Marathon Petroleum Corp. (MPC) has started to use small amounts of crude oil from the Utica shale at its refinery in Canton, Ohio, the company said Tuesday.

The refinery would be among the first to process oil from the up-and-coming shale formation in the northeast U.S. The Utica is expected to grow in prominence as new drilling technology helps unlock oil and gas that had previously been too uneconomical to make drilling worth the effort.

The 73,000 barrel-a-day Canton refinery will increase its take of Utica oil to up to 12,000 barrels a day in early 2012 and could raise the amount further, said Marathon Petroleum Senior Vice President Mike Palmer.

They're already planning new pipelines.

New shale gas pipeline to skirt the Dayton region

A proposed pipeline could transport a key industrial liquid from newly drilled Marcellus and Utica shale formations through Ohio and Miami Valley counties on its way to Gulf Coast petrochemical plants.

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. of Houston, Texas, which would build the pipeline, said Friday it has a long-term agreement with driller Chesapeake Energy Corp. to transport at least 75,000 barrels per day. It would handle ethane, a byproduct of natural gas processing, derived from the Marcellus and Utica regions in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.

Haliburton is setting up shop in the area:

300-plus jobs coming to Muskingum County, official says

ZANESVILLE -- Halliburton, one of the largest providers of products and services to the energy industry, is working on a deal to build an operations hub in the EastPointe Business Park.

The company could create as many as 300 jobs over the next three years, Zanesville-Muskingum County Port Authority Board President Dick McClelland said this morning.

ANOTHER new factory in Youngstown related to this!

$13.2M shale-spurred project to bring 103 jobs

The proximity to the Utica and Marcellus shales is attracting an international company to spend $13.2 million for a natural-gas compression facility on Salt Springs Road.

Exterran Energy Solutions plans to start construction in February on the 65,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and office building to be operational in about a year with the work finishing in July 2015, according to paperwork provided by the company to the city.

When the project is complete, “[it] is one that will have a huge impact on the local economy with potential for further growth,” said T. Sharon Woodberry, the city’s economic development director.

The company plans to spend $9.3 million on building construction and $3.9 million on machinery and equipment at the city’s Salt Springs Business Park.

The surge in eastern Ohio real estate activity looks like it's already starting.

Gas, oil boom boosts real-estate markets

When they bought Palmantier’s Motel in August 2010, Rainie and Earl Sonntag liked the idea of saving a landmark.

The couple had experience running a small hotel and hoped to succeed with the property, but they didn’t expect the help they would get because of renewed interest in drilling for oil and natural gas in eastern Ohio.

Business started slow when the Palmantier reopened. “The shale guys came in, and it boomed,” Rainie said.

The story even made it to CNN! And this is the first article I've seen giving an estimate on future production:

Ohio set to see oil boom thanks to fracking

Ohio hasn't been an oil powerhouse for nearly 100 years.

But thanks to controversial new drilling technology, the state that once produced a third of the nation's crude and was the birthplace of John D. Rockefeller's mighty Standard Oil could once again be a significant source of domestic supply.

[...]

An oil bounty: If given the proper development, Ohio could be producing 200,000 barrels of crude a day by 2020.

And the big news out today was Chesapeake's long-expected announcement of it's JV partner - France's Total:

Total Acquires Stake in Utica Play

Total announced that its subsidiary, Total E&P USA, Inc.("Total"), has signed and completed on December 30, 2011 an agreement to enter into a Joint Venture with Chesapeake Exploration, L.L.C.,a subsidiary of Chesapeake, and affiliates of its partner EnerVest Ltd. In the agreement, Total acquires a 25% share in Chesapeake's and EnerVest's liquids-rich area of the Utica shale play located across 10 counties on the eastern side of the state of Ohio, USA.

[IndigoMoon]

Here's an UPDATE for ya.....
http://ohiofracktion.wordpress.com/2012/01/03/nbc-cnn-npr-ecowatch-the-us-is-seeing-the-results-of-youngstown-organizing/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45847245/ns/us_news-environment/#.TwPX2tRRQtp

Ohio has suspended operations at five deep wells used to dispose of fracking-related fluids after nearly a dozen earthquakes in the town of Youngstown over the past year, the latest sign of local unease over the booming shale gas industry.

I live in Ohio- born and raised. Earthquakes are not "normal" here. Take your fracking and well, frack it.

[copious.abundance]

^
I figured someone would bring that up.

The wells causing those quakes weren't oil/gas drilling wells, and as far as I know they weren't even fracked wells. As your own article says, they were wastewater disposal wells. Aparrently right over a fault line.

The wells were used to store wastewater from oil and gas drilling operations, not for production

[IndigoMoon]

^
I figured someone would bring that up.

The wells causing those quakes weren't oil/gas drilling wells, and as far as I know they weren't even fracked wells. As your own article says, they were wastewater disposal wells. Aparrently right over a fault line.

The wells were used to store wastewater from oil and gas drilling operations, not for production

Yes- waste water FROM the fracking. All that toxic water has to go somewhere.

[rockdoc123]

I live in Ohio- born and raised. Earthquakes are not "normal" here. Take your fracking and well, frack it.

well you must be pretty young then....there were more earthquakes at as high a richter scale level at least twice in the past fifty years in NE Ohio. Obviously you weren't around for the very nasty earthquake in the mid-eighties, at least two decades before any shale drilling was occurring. You live on a major, well-documented fault line which is occasionally reactivated. The USGS has identified this area as being one of the most active earthquake regions in the US. There have actually been at least two >5 earthquakes documented.

Go to the USGS site on earthquakes to get the information.

[copious.abundance]

Yes- waste water FROM the fracking. All that toxic water has to go somewhere.

You're correct, it does. So, all they have to do is put the wastewater somewhere else besides a wastewater well inconveniently located near a fault. Problem solved.

[dinopello]

Here's an UPDATE for ya.....
http://ohiofracktion.wordpress.com/2012/01/03/nbc-cnn-npr-ecowatch-the-us-is-seeing-the-results-of-youngstown-organizing/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45847245/ns/us_news-environment/#.TwPX2tRRQtp

Ohio has suspended operations at five deep wells used to dispose of fracking-related fluids after nearly a dozen earthquakes in the town of Youngstown over the past year, the latest sign of local unease over the booming shale gas industry.

I live in Ohio- born and raised. Earthquakes are not "normal" here. Take your fracking and well, frack it.

They seem to be injecting or planning to inject that toxic stuff all over Ohio. When I was in Columbus for the Holidays, we read about Mansfield looking at some toxic fraking fluid disposal. Seems like the debate about frak waste is similar to the nuclear disposal issue. Kasich says not to worry about what to do with the waste, drill away !

A spokesman for Gov. John Kasich, an outspoken supporter of the growing oil and natural gas industry in Ohio, said the drilling industry shouldn't be punished for a fracking byproduct.

"That would be the equivalent of shutting down the auto industry because a scrap tire dump caught fire somewhere," said Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols.

[IndigoMoon]

Yes- waste water FROM the fracking. All that toxic water has to go somewhere.

You're correct, it does. So, all they have to do is put the wastewater somewhere else besides a wastewater well inconveniently located near a fault. Problem solved.

How about your back yard?

[copious.abundance]

Yes- waste water FROM the fracking. All that toxic water has to go somewhere.

You're correct, it does. So, all they have to do is put the wastewater somewhere else besides a wastewater well inconveniently located near a fault. Problem solved.

How about your back yard?

The wells they're injecting this junk into are thousands of feet deep. From your own link

There are 177 disposal wells currently in operation in Ohio. The Mahoning County well is 9,000 feet/ deep and is used to dispose of hazardous fluids, injecting fluid that cannot be disposed of in landfills into sandstone well below groundwater level.

No, I would not mind if someone was pumping junk water 9,000 feet deep in my neighborhood. As long as it wasn't near an earthquake fault.

BTW I read somewhere that the geology in Ohio happens to be good for this kind of disposal, which is why Marcellus drillers in PA are going all the way over to Ohio to do this (geology in PA isn't good for that kind of thing). So basically, thank your good rocks for your fortune. Just have them stay away from those fault lines.

[IndigoMoon]

I live in Ohio- born and raised. Earthquakes are not "normal" here. Take your fracking and well, frack it.

well you must be pretty young then....there were more earthquakes at as high a richter scale level at least twice in the past fifty years in NE Ohio. Obviously you weren't around for the very nasty earthquake in the mid-eighties, at least two decades before any shale drilling was occurring. You live on a major, well-documented fault line which is occasionally reactivated. The USGS has identified this area as being one of the most active earthquake regions in the US. There have actually been at least two >5 earthquakes documented.

Go to the USGS site on earthquakes to get the information.

Actually, I'm in my early 50's. In the 80's, I lived in Geauga County. Since 2000, I've lived farther south, more toward Sugarcreek/Dover/New Philly. Evidently, I did miss the one in the 80's.

[rangerone314]

I'd be surprised if fracking encounters much resistance in Ohio. Like Indiana, there seems to be a pretty strong fascist-corporatist element in Ohio for being a northern state. (Indiana for its part had huge KKK membership in the past)

[rshizzle]

My area of Ohio is so desperate for any investment whatsoever they'll take the chance. There are 3 deserted steel mills within a 10 mile stretch of highway here. Business has been up in my town, I have yet to see any production numbers though, just a few halliburton trucks.

[copious.abundance]

The hiring has begun!

Oil jobs: 300 apply to Chesapeake; fair next week in New Philly

An estimated 300 people wandered into the lobby of the Holiday Inn North Canton on Thursday, and 80 walked out with job offers.

Recruiters and managers for three Chesapeake Energy subsidiaries met with applicants, and two of the operations — Great Plains Oilfield Rentals and Oilfield Trucking Solutions — offered jobs.

More people will be getting jobs next week when SOS Staffing screens workers who stop at The Employment Source offices in New Philadelphia. Up for grabs will be jobs that pay between $40,000 and $50,000 per year with Schlumberger Ltd., an oil field service provider.

[...]

[MD]

Yes, it's a good time to be starting careers in the energy sector. It will continue to be so for a very long time.

[copious.abundance]

If there was any doubt these plays are and will create tons of new jobs - and well-paying too - and not just roustabouts and mud loggers, but other blue-collar jobs ... let this put those doubts to rest. Only 5 to 15 weeks training needed.

Great Lakes Truck Driving School Gears Up for O&G Industry

This course was developed to meet the anticipated demand of workers due to the Marcellus and Utica Shale Exploration. The school has already located ten drilling contractors that are seeking to immediately fill over 4,000 positions with a starting annual pay between $50,000 and $65,000. These companies have indicated a need for CDL Drivers and Heavy Equipment Operators with a preference for the credentials offered in the Oil Field Safety Certification Course.