Posts Tagged ‘Brian Grove’

BY DENISE ALLABAUGH (STAFF WRITER)
Published: August 26, 2010

WILKES-BARRE – Encana Oil & Gas continues its quest for natural gas.

The company remains in an exploratory mode as it drills two natural gas wells in Fairmount and Lake townships, said company Vice President Don McClure.

“It’s very dependent on what we find in those two wells as to what our next steps are going to be,” Mr. McClure said.

Mr. McClure and Brian Grove, senior director of corporate development for Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s Eastern Division, spoke about the impacts of drilling natural gas wells to more than 100 business leaders who attended the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce’s CEO-to-CEO networking breakfast Wednesday at the Westmoreland Club.

Earlier this month, the Luzerne County Zoning Hearing Board granted Encana Oil & Gas conditional use to drill 10 more wells in Fairmount and Lake townships. Mr. McClure says the company is “being very conservative” with the drilling process.

“We’re only going to drill a couple wells and we’ll evaluate what they’re going to produce,” Mr. McClure said.

The company drills wells simultaneously to be efficient and reduce community impact, Mr. McClure said. The potential for water pollution are among the concerns arising from the increased drilling. Yet, Mr. McClure said he sees natural-gas drilling as a “tremendous opportunity” that could reduce dependence on Middle East oil from about 44 percent to 10 percent by increasing natural gas production.

“That’s substantial,” Mr. McClure said. “That’s the kind of impact that Marcellus Shale can have.”

Showing the company’s track record in the United States and Canada on a slide presentation, Mr. McClure said the company takes safety of people and the environment very seriously. As the second largest natural gas producer in North America, he said Encana’s goal is not to be the biggest but the “best we can possibly be.”

“We’re always pursuing a higher safety standard,” he said.

Both Mr. McClure and Mr. Grove touted benefits of natural gas drilling, which they said will be an economic development engine for job growth.

When asked how many jobs could be created as a result of Marcellus Shale, Mr. McClure said studies show for every one percent increase in natural gas production across North America, that correlates to 20,000 to 30,000 jobs.

More than 350,000 oil and gas wells have been drilled in Pennsylvania since the first commercial oil well was developed in 1859, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

When asked what the biggest misconception of drilling is, Mr. Grove was quick to respond, “Hydraulic fracturing.” Fears about hydraulic fracturing, or the process used in wells that results in fractures in rocks, have been driven by a “lack of knowledge,” he said.

Contact the writer: dallabaugh@citizensvoice.com

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Copyright:  The Scranton Times

By Elizabeth Skrapits (Staff Writer)
Published: July 5, 2010

Luzerne test wells’ results awaited

Depending on how its first natural gas wells turn out, Luzerne County could attract a lot of attention from potential drillers.

“I suspect everybody’s interest levels will be piqued if Encana gets successful,” said Steve Myers, director of Land and Legal Affairs for Citrus Energy Corp.

Encana Oil & Gas USA Inc. is poised to start drilling two exploratory natural gas wells this summer, one in Fairmount Twp., on the property of Edward Buda off Route 118, and the second in Lake Twp. on the property of Paul and Amy Salansky on Sholtis Road.

Drilling for natural gas in an area once known for anthracite coal mining is a daring move, by industry standards.

“Everyone’s nervous about going that far south,” Mr. Myers said.

Maps of the Marcellus Shale show the formation running throughout Luzerne County. However, its shale may not be very rich in gas due to the proximity of the anthracite coal-producing areas and high temperatures, which can turn the gas into carbon dioxide, Mr. Myers said.

“There’s some concerns that the Marcellus Shale was subjected to some high temperatures, high pressures that would have converted the shale to graphite and cooked off whatever gas was in place,” he said.

There’s a line that exists, but nobody knows exactly where it is, Mr. Myers said.

“One side, it’s going to be productive; you throw a rock and it’s not,” he said. “Kind of like a summer shower. It can rain across the street, but it doesn’t rain in your yard.”

Encana officials are willing to take the risk.

“We’ve said all along that it’s exploratory, and we have to prove we can develop commercial quantities of natural gas,” Encana spokeswoman Wendy Wiedenbeck said.

“We’re not focused on what other operators are doing; we’re just focused on acting responsibly and getting the wells drilled. And the well results will speak for themselves.”

Although the drill rig is expected to arrive in Fairmount Twp. at some point after today, and the drilling and completion process will take an estimated 65 to 75 days total, production results won’t be in until the end of the year or even 2011, Ms. Wiedenbeck said.

Gas production for the Fairmount Twp. and Lake Twp. wells will have to be reviewed before Encana makes further plans, she said.

At one time Citrus had considered drilling in Luzerne County, leasing hundreds of acres in Lake and Fairmount townships in partnership with Tulsa, Okla.-based Unit Corp. But the partnership broke up and Citrus ended up selling off almost all its leases to Williams Production Appalachia.

Williams Inc., also based in Tulsa, does natural gas drilling and processing, and owns thousands of miles of pipelines, including the Transco, which runs through northern Luzerne County – conveniently close to Encana’s planned drilling sites.

Williams has received permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection to drill three wells in Columbia County: two in Benton and one in Sugarloaf Twp.

Another natural gas company, Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy, also has dozens of leases in Luzerne County but hasn’t made a move yet.

“Chesapeake is still evaluating the area. However, as we drill each new well, we learn more about the potential and the productivity of particular geologic areas, and this information guides our decisions about where to focus future activity,” Brian Grove, Chesapeake director of corporate development, stated in an e-mail.

For the time being, Citrus is focusing its efforts in Wyoming County, according to Mr. Myers. The company has drilled four wells so far in a successful partnership with Procter & Gamble, and has more in the works.

Citrus also plans to drill its own wells in Wyoming County, where it has leased large chunks of land – as have Chesapeake, Carrizo Marcellus LLC, Chief Oil & Gas, and others drawn by the prospects of production in Luzerne County’s neighbor to the north.

“It’s very much a hotbed of activity,” Mr. Myers said. “Any time you get good production, people are going to come. … We expect to have plenty of company here in the future.”

Contact the writer: eskrapits@citizensvoice.com

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Copyright:  The Scranton Times

By Andrew M. Sederaseder@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer

The landscape of the state’s northern tier is changing as natural gas drillers set up shop from the Poconos west to Tioga County.

The burgeoning industry also is bringing change to the curricula at some local colleges hoping to capitalize on the need for a skilled and trained work force.

Lackawanna College in Scranton and Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport have launched programs specifically catering to those interested in securing employment in the natural gas and ancillary fields. Other schools, including Johnson College and Keystone College, are investigating courses to prepare students for jobs in the industry.

When the industry made initial steps to move in to the region, Lackawanna College got in on the ground floor.

“Our goal was to try to find a niche where we could train people for jobs they could find here,” said Larry D. Milliken, director of energy programs at the college. The school, with input from the industry, created an applied science degree in Oil and Gas Production Technology program in December 2008.

The school asked Milliken, a former gas company employee with a background as an economic geologist who lives in Dunmore, to help with the program.

He sees great potential for the field and the creation of jobs, as companies look to tap into the gas supplies within the Marcellus Shale, a layer of gas-laden rock about a mile underground across most of Pennsylvania.

“I’m not sure most people realize the magnitude of what the Marcellus can mean and do for the state. … It’s going to be a huge game changer in Pennsylvania.”

Milliken said he sees hundreds of immediate jobs and the potential for thousands more as a result of gas drilling.

As an example, he said one well tender will be needed for every 20 wells that come on line. This year alone, he said, more than 1,000 wells are anticipated to be drilled and that number should double next year. This will mean 50 to 100 new well-tender jobs will be created every year for the next 20 years, he projects.

To prepare potential employees for those jobs, Lackawanna College offers an associate’s degree in natural gas technology and is developing an operating and maintenance degree program in compression technology that could debut next fall.

In addition, the college will soon start giving accounting students at its Towanda Center the option of customizing their degree to prepare them to work in the accounting side of the natural gas industry, Milliken said.

Milliken said Lackawanna relied heavily on curricula and course work offered by established programs at Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs, Wyo.; North Central Texas College in Gainesville, Texas, and Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas. Using that material, Lackawanna created an outline for its own potential programs and sent it to 10 gas companies “for feedback and modifications before settling in on our own curriculum.”

At the moment, the Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport is the only other place to get industry-specific training. The school has partnered with the Penn State Cooperative Extension to create The Marcellus Shale Education & Training Center.

Opened in 2008, the center will identify the industry’s work force needs and respond with education tracks that train people for those jobs. Careers include welders, construction workers, drivers and machine operators and fabricators.Tracy Brundage, the school’s managing director of the Workforce Development and Continuing Education programs, said that as the landscape of the Northern Tier changes, so too do course offerings at the college.

She said input from energy companies has been influential in the design of 21 new courses, including those through the Fit 4 Natural Gas program developed by work force development boards in more than a dozen Northern Tier counties using Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry funds.

Officials from Lackawanna College also lauded the affiliations and assistance offered by gas companies.

“They’ve been very active,” Milliken said.

Last week, Chesapeake Energy donated $50,000 to help Lackawanna College expand its Natural Gas Technology Program at its New Milford Center campus in Susquehanna County. The college plans to use the money for capital-equipment costs in fitting out their new facilities for the program that began last fall.

“We’ve been an eager partner in these efforts,” said Brian Grove, director of corporate development for Chesapeake Energy.

Milliken said that in the short time the program’s been up and running at Lackawanna, the partnership has seen tremendous interest from potential students and positive feedback from the industry.

The companies reflected praise for the two-way-street relationship it has with the local schools.

Grove said “crafting an effective educational infrastructure will benefit the community far beyond its borders by equipping locals with skills they can market within the industry. A highly skilled work force is critical to our success as a company and the community’s long-term economic success as well.”

Brundage said that while the program at Penn Tech is still “in its infancy,” she, too, feels confident that the college’s programs have progressed nicely in a short period of time. “I think we’ve positioned ourselves pretty well with the industry. We’re not going to be able to meet all of their needs but we can help with a lot of them,” Brundage said.

So far 65 students have taken a course, including 14 who have completed welding courses. One course was created specifically at the request of the gas industry.

“They told us what they need as far as some of the welding components, so we aligned some things internally to meet those needs,” Brundage said.

Wendy J. Wiedenbeck, a spokeswoman for Denver-based EnCana Oil and Gas, said it’s too early to discuss her company’s needs because it is still in the exploratory stages. The company is looking at drilling specifically in Luzerne County.

“If we are successful and determine we would like to develop additional wells in the area, an important first step will be to understand what work-force development programs already exist in the area and how the curriculum aligns with business needs,” she said.

“New curriculum and training programs often come into existence after we’ve been operating in an area for some time,” Wiedenbeck added. “They evolve from the relationships we build along the way and are very much the result of a collaborative approach. In areas where we have established operations, we’ve collaborated with local colleges to create or build upon programs that help community members build the skills needed to compete for industry jobs.”

Andrew M. Seder, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 570-829-7269.

Copyright: Times Leader

Tunkhannock expecting $439,975 check in March from Chesapeake Energy.

By Rory Sweeneyrsweeney@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

Tunkhannock Township in Wyoming County announced this week it received the signed agreement for its gas-drilling lease with Chesapeake Energy for about 76 acres of public land.

The up-front bonus check for $439,975 is expected in early March.

The township board had signed the lease in October, but the process was delayed because of municipal regulatory requirements.

“We were part of the Wyoming County land group, but we had to put it out for bid being a municipality,” said Judy Gingher, the township’s secretary.

The bid stipulated, however, that the winning bidder had to have at least 1,000 acres already leased in the township, and no one entered a bid.

The township received $5,762 per acre, which was $12 per acre more than for private landowners, Gingher said. The township currently has no plans for the money.

“They’re looking possibly just to invest it,” Gingher said.

Gingher said there were minor community concerns about surface-drilling activity because much of the land is in the township’s 42.5-acre Lazy Brook Park, which hosts a variety of community functions.

The land might be off limits to surface activity because of building-setback requirements and deed restrictions.

Much of it was purchased in 2006 through hazardous flood mitigation buyouts, which carry emergency management agency restrictions that prohibit permanent structures.

Township Solicitor Paul Litwin was unsure if drilling would be considered a restriction, though, because the drilling infrastructure is temporary and the resulting well pad likely wouldn’t impede flood flow, which is the purpose of the restrictions.

Structures are permissible “as long as you don’t increase the flood height with the structure, and a pad would basically be flat once you put the structure in,” he said.

“The question we’ll have to resolve if they want to put a pad there is that a permanent structure, and we’ll have to look at that if and when they want to do that. … They haven’t applied yet, so we haven’t looked at it yet. … My guess is it probably would not be considered permanent.”

Brian Grove, the director of corporate development at Chesapeake, declined to comment on the lease or plans for the property.

Copyright: Times Leader

Chesapeake Energy explains protections it practices during drilling for natural gas.

By Rory Sweeneyrsweeney@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

PLAINS TWP. – As negative issues arise related to natural-gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, at least one company is being careful to keep residents informed about the industry’s benefits and distance itself from concerns.

Speaking on Thursday at the “Executive Management Breakfast Series” put on by Penn State Wilkes-Barre, a spokesman for Chesapeake Energy detailed the environmental protections his company uses when drilling and outlined the positive economic effect the industry has had in Pennsylvania.

Chesapeake has paid out $700 million to landowners since 2008, along with $100 million to contractors in the state and $500,000 to community projects in 2009, according to Brian Grove, the director of corporate development for the company’s eastern division.

But the growth – a plan for 200 more wells in 2010 – isn’t at the expense of precautions, he said. Wells receive five layers of protection from ground water, he said, and “all of the chemicals (used in the hydraulic fracturing process) are stuff you will find in your home.”

The statement comes weeks after driller Cabot Oil and Gas was fined by the state Department of Environmental Protection for spilling fluids that contaminated a nearby wetland and a day after the department announced another fine against Cabot and ordered that alternative water supplies be provided to Susquehanna County residents whose water wells have been contaminated with methane.

“Certainly, when an operation isn’t meeting the regulations laid out by the state, it doesn’t reflect well on the industry,” Grove acknowledged, adding that Chesapeake is striving to remain free of such image-tarnishing incidents.

At least one of Chesapeake’s operating practices impressed Mary Felley, the executive director at Countryside Conservancy in La Plume, for its environmental protection beyond state regulations. Drillers must collect water contaminated by drilling activities, but they’re only required to store it in open-air pits. When Grove noted that Chesapeake stores all of it in closed containers, Felley complimented the company on its additional protections.

Grove also assured members of the Wyoming County Landowners Group whose land rights are confirmed will be receiving the full up-front payments the group negotiated, which was a particular concern for Marisa Litwinsky, a financial advisor with Merrill Lynch. Group members and others who have recently signed with Chesapeake have worried that the driller might back out on paying the balance of those deals.

“We’re committed to” the land group, Grove assured. “Anyone who’s got a good title, they’re going to have a lease.”

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.

Copyright: Times Leader