Marcellus

Billing its plan to drill 45 Marcellus wells at the Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) a “flagship endeavor,” Consol Energy Inc. outlined plans on Tuesday to use electric engines to power both its vertical and horizontal drilling rigs in order to comply with federal environmental guidelines.

EQT Corp. outlined a $2.4 billion capital expenditure (capex) budget on Tuesday, lifted by plans to resume drilling operations in Kentucky’s Huron Shale formation and intent on putting the $740 million it earned from selling its gas utility toward boosting liquids volume and further developing its expansive Marcellus Shale position.

Chief Oil & Gas and two working interest partners have paid $500 million to Chesapeake Appalachia LLC to acquire MKR Holdings LLC, a deal that includes 130 MMcf/d of production, approximately 40 operated wells waiting on completion or pipeline, and about 75,000 gross-acre leasehold in Bradford, Lycoming, Sullivan, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale, the privately-owned company said Wednesday.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo reportedly repeated his promise to make a decision on whether to lift a moratorium on high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) before the next gubernatorial election in 2014.

Heavy investments and a strong focus in the Marcellus Shale play have landed Range Resources Corp. a place in the 1 Bcfe/d club.

Rice Energy Inc. unveiled sound prospects in documents filed for an $800 million public offering, shining a light on the small independent’s prime acreage in the Appalachian Basin where it plans to step on the gas in the years ahead, starting with a $1.08 billion capital budget next year.

With the help of county-level officials, researchers at West Virginia University (WVU) continue to press ahead with an air quality study at Marcellus drilling sites across the state, finding elevated levels of benzene in the air that they claim are of concern.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) planned to open a 60-day public comment period Saturday (Dec. 14) for proposed regulations regarding surface activities related to oil and gas well development. The regulations would be added to Act 13, the state’s omnibus Marcellus Shale law.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services last year deemed the Marcellus Shale as the lowest-cost play in the country with the highest rate of return, indicating that production there was a drop in the bucket compared to what truly was underground (see Shale Daily, Oct. 18, 2012).