Utica Shale

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) on Monday said employment in the state’s core shale-related industries, such as pipeline construction and well drilling, increased by more than 30% between the first quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2013.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) expects to begin releasing quarterly oil and gas production reports in February, after a push from investors, members of the agency itself and other industry stakeholders, who called for more up-to-date figures on the pace of development in the Utica shale play last year.

FERC has cleared the way for Rockies Express Pipeline LLC (REX) to offer westbound capacity on part of its system from the Marcellus/Utica region without the threat of having to match for existing west-to-east customers the lower rates it is charging for the new service.

A report released earlier this month that details activity in Ohio’s Utica Shale play underscores the rapid rate at which midstream companies are working to catch-up with exploration and production companies that have a backlog of wells shut-in and waiting to come online.

The Multi-State Shale Research Collaborative, a group of nonpartisan, state-level research organizations, has released an economic study showing that far fewer new jobs have been created in states where Marcellus and Utica shale development is underway than previously reported.

In response to “multiple inquiries,” Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. LLC has launched a package of proposals to transport as much as 400,000 Dth/d of natural gas from the Utica Shale to the Texas Gulf Coast beginning as soon as April 1.

Pennsylvania’s Environmental Hearing Board on Wednesday ruled that it does not have “original jurisdiction” to approve orders for well spacing and drilling units — or requests for forced pooling — as they’re referred to in the state.

Pennsylvanians remain divided on the issue of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and are uncertain of how safely it can be performed in the Marcellus Shale. But the issue may not be at the forefront of voters’ minds in the 2014 gubernatorial election, according to a pollster from Mercyhurst University.

A report released late Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) appears to show how much shale exploration in the Utica/Point Pleasant formation lifted the state’s historic oil and gas industry in 2012.