Posts Tagged ‘exploratory natural gas’

By Elizabeth Skrapits (Staff Writer)
Published: July 26, 2010

HARVEYS LAKE – The natural gas company planning two exploratory natural gas wells in Noxen is steering clear of nearby Harveys Lake.

“Carrizo has no intention of drilling under Harveys Lake or anywhere near Harveys Lake,” Carrizo Marcellus LLC spokesman Phillip Corey said. “Our first well, the closest point to the lake as the crow flies, is almost 3 miles away.”

The company leased more than 3,000 acres of Sterling Farms, property belonging to the Sordoni family. While most of the property is in Noxen Township, some is in Harveys Lake Borough, he said. However, the company does not have rights to drill under Harveys Lake and doesn’t want to, anyway, Corey said.

“You can’t just go out there to drop a hole wherever you please,” he said.

Harveys Lake resident Guy Giordano, who is vocal about keeping contaminants out of the lake, said it’s good news that Carrizo is not drilling in the borough – but it’s still a little too close for him.

“That still doesn’t give me a lot of comfort. Thirty miles, yeah, but 3 miles, I’m not so sure,” he said.

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly called “fracking,” involves blasting millions of gallons of chemical-treated water thousands of feet underground to break up the shale and release the natural gas.

The fact that some of these chemicals are not disclosed bothers Giordano.

“Why can’t they use something non-toxic?” he asked. “I can’t believe the government would let anyone put anything in the ground that’s secret.”

State law allows natural gas companies to drill up to 100 feet away from a water source. State Rep. Karen Boback, R-Harveys Lake, wants to expand the buffer to 2,500 feet away from drinking water sources, as well as lakes and other bodies of water that are governed by boroughs or second-class townships. She also wants to prohibit drilling beneath them.

Boback has also signed on as a co-sponsor to state Rep. Phyllis Mundy’s bill calling for a one-year moratorium on natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania.

Corey said Carrizo will test the drinking water of residents around the drilling site, as required in the lease, which also calls for staying at least 500 feet away from any structure or water source.

He said Carrizo has not decided which direction, if at all, to drill horizontally. The company might just stick with a vertical well to see what’s there, he said.

“We’re going to play this very conservatively,” Corey said.

Giordano stressed that he does not oppose natural gas drilling.

“I’m glad these people got the money for these drilling leases, God bless ‘em. They deserve it,” he said. “But I wish they didn’t have to drill. If it’s rural, it’s OK, the risk is not that great. But when you’re talking about a densely populated area, it’s not worth it. I don’t see how they can take the risk.”

Ceasetown connection

Giordano pulled his minivan to the side of the road to get a better look at the Ceasetown Dam, slightly misty in the summer rain and surrounded by lush green foliage.

This is one of the main reasons he worries about Harveys Lake becoming contaminated.

“A few years ago I had a sample of lake water tested at the Kirby Health Center,” Giordano confessed. “It passed as drinking water.”

Harveys Lake is the source of Harveys Creek. Pennsylvania American Water Co. spokesman Terry Maenza said the company uses Harveys Creek as a backup water supply for the Ceasetown Reservoir. It isn’t used often but it’s there for emergencies, he said.

The Ceasetown Reservoir in Lehman Township serves about 70,000 people in all or parts of Ashley, Courtdale, Conyngham Township, Edwardsville, Hanover Township, Hunlock Township, Larksville, Nanticoke, Newport Township, Plymouth, Plymouth Township, Pringle, Salem Township, Shickshinny, Wilkes-Barre and Wilkes-Barre Township.

“We have done some sampling from Harveys Creek to get some baseline data, so we have that information on file if and when any drilling does take place in the future,” Maenza said.

The Susquehanna River Basin Commission, which regulates large water withdrawals from sources within the river basin, has not issued permits for any natural gas companies to take water from anywhere in Luzerne County, including the Ceasetown or Huntsville reservoirs.

Besides permits from the commission, “There are other permits they would have to get through us before they could start taking our water,” Maenza said.

Last week, there were water tankers at the Huntsville Reservoir, but they were removing sludge, Maenza said. When the filters at the water treatment centers are backwashed, the sludge goes into a lagoon, he explained. About 95 percent of it is recycled, including for agricultural use, he said.

When it comes to natural gas drilling, Maenza said Pennsylvania American Water officials are being vigilant, talking to the state Department of Environmental Protection about permits, keeping in constant touch with legislators including Boback, Mundy, and state Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township.

Maenza said the company has also been in contact with Encana Oil & Gas USA Inc., which started site preparations for a second exploratory natural gas well on Zosh Road in Lake Township on Wednesday, the same day Encana began drilling its first well in Fairmount Township.

“Nobody’s more concerned than us,” Maenza said. “This is our business. Water quality is what we rely on. We don’t want anything to put our water supply in jeopardy.”

eskrapits@citizensvoice.com , 570-821-2072

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Copyright:  The Citizens Voice

By Elizabeth Skrapits (Staff Writer)
Published: July 22, 2010

FAIRMOUNT TWP. – In one Luzerne County municipality, a natural gas drilling rig towers in the background as a guard keeps vigil against unauthorized personnel at the gate that is kept open to allow trucks to pass in and out of the site.

In another Luzerne County municipality a few miles away, new electrified fencing surrounds a meadow and engineers’ trucks kick up dust along the freshly re-graveled road.

On Wednesday, Encana Oil & Gas USA Inc. started drilling the county’s first exploratory natural gas well in Fairmount Township, and also began site preparation for a second well in Lake Township.

Encana spokeswoman Wendy Wiedenbeck said the drilling components have arrived and operations are moving forward on the site owned by Edward Buda in Fairmount Township, on Route 118 behind the Ricketts Glen Hotel. The well will be drilled about 7,000 feet deep, then go out 2,500 to 5,000 feet horizontally.

Asked what motorists can anticipate near the site, Wiedenbeck said, “We would expect some additional truck traffic. There is signage on the road leading up to and away from the location.”

Noise and dust are side effects of the drilling process, which it is estimated will take about 30 days, Wiedenbeck said. Encana will monitor and mitigate both the dust and the noise at the site, and the company is working closely with Fairmount Township officials, she said.

About a quarter of a mile down Route 118 from the drilling site, Good’s Campground owner Frank Carroll was cutting firewood Wednesday afternoon. He noticed there has been a lot of truck traffic at the drill pad.

“Crazy thing is, all I can hear is the backup of the trucks – you know, beep-beep-beep,” Carroll said as he piled the cut wood in the bed of his pickup truck and pulled a blue tarp over it. “It doesn’t bother me, but I can hear it.”

Carroll says he wakes early and sleeps soundly, so he doesn’t expect the 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week drilling operation to disturb him.

“I’d sleep through the end of the world,” he joked.

One thing does bother Carroll: the speculation. Will the well pay off in royalties to landowners who leased mineral rights?

“Everybody’s been talking about it for two years, how they’re going to get rich or they’re going to get nothing,” Carroll said. “And they’re still talking about it. They all think they’re going to be rich – and they can’t all be rich.”

As soon as drilling is complete in Fairmount Township, the rig, from Horizontal Well Drillers of Purcell, Okla., will be taken to the Lake Township site.

“Efficient work operations is to go from one area to the other,” Wiedenbeck said.

In Lake Township, heavy truck traffic warning signs are in place on Meeker, Outlet and other roads to be traveled by the approximately 2,100 total trucks it will take to create the drilling pad, drill the well and bring in the roughly six million gallons of water needed for hydraulic fracturing.

Robert and Debra Anderson live so close to the Zosh Road site that will be transformed into a natural gas drilling pad they could throw a baseball from the front yard of their trailer home and easily have it land over the electrified wire fence surrounding the meadow belonging to Paul and Amy Salansky.

The Andersons love the area, which is full of wildlife: “I have turkeys, I have deer, I have foxes, I have bear … I even have ducks in my pond,” Debra Anderson said.

Things were quiet on Wednesday afternoon, but in the morning, there was a “big meeting” at the drill pad site, Robert Anderson said.

Just then a pair of engineers drove by in a Borton-Lawson truck, stirring dust from the road as they passed.

But not much dust. The Andersons are pleased with the work Lake Township’s three-man road crew has done on the dirt-and-gravel roads around the site: enlarging them, smoothing them, lining the drainage ditches with rock. Debra Anderson declared she hasn’t seen the roads look that good in the 15 years they’ve lived in the township. Encana’s paying for the road maintenance, Robert Anderson said.

Lake Township will provide dust control with calcium chloride applications on the roads, he said. But what about the noise and light when drilling starts?

“We’ll deal with it. You can’t stop progress,” Robert Anderson said.

He called Encana a “reputable company, not like the one that’s up in Dimock,” and said its representatives are good about telling residents what’s going on. He said he attended the last Lake Township meeting, at which dozens of natural gas drilling opponents showed up, and he said they should go to the company for information, not the supervisors.

“People that go to the Lake Township meetings should be Lake Township residents,” Robert Anderson said. “It’s no one else’s concern.”

eskrapits@citizensvoice.com , 570-821-2072

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Copyright:  The Citizens Voice

By Elizabeth Skrapits (Staff Writer)
Published: July 20, 2010

LEHMAN TWP. – The company drilling the Back Mountain’s first exploratory natural gas well will take care of township roads, but residents should be proactive in reporting problems, supervisors said Monday.

Encana Oil & Gas USA Inc. will start site preparation in August to drill an exploratory natural gas well at 203 Zosh Road in Lake Township, not far from the Lehman Township border.

During the process, trucks leaving the site will use Ide, Meeker and Slocum roads in Lehman Township to reach state Route 118. Encana has agreed to maintain the roads in equal or better condition during the drilling process, Supervisor Chairman David Sutton said in response to a question by resident Joseph Rutchauskas.

Encana paid for repaving the stone arch bridge on Slocum Road, but the township’s road department filled in all the potholes, Supervisor Douglas Ide said. But the company will take that over when work begins, he said.

“The day they start trucks, the maintenance is theirs for the duration,” Ide said.

Rutchauskas said work had already started, because Zosh Road – which becomes Ide Road in Lehman Township – was closed, so Encana should be responsible now. The supervisors disagreed.

Penn State’s Center for Dirt and Gravel Roads is overseeing a project with the Luzerne County Conservation District in which Encana is paying to strip and pave a 100-foot section of Zosh Road to see how it will hold up under heavy truck traffic.

According to plans filed with the Luzerne County planning and zoning department, Encana anticipates 16 to 18 weeks of traffic during which a total of approximately 2,100 trucks will travel on Lake and Lehman township roads: 200 during site preparation, 100 during the well drilling and 1,800 during the completion phase, when tankers will bring in the roughly 6 million gallons of water needed for hydraulic fracturing.

Encana has submitted a $956,844 bond to cover Outlet, Ide, Meeker Outlet and Slocum roads and the Slocum Road stone bridge. Township officials stressed Encana’s willingness to work with them.

“Anything we have billed Encana for, we have been paid within 30 days,” Treasurer Alvin Cragle said.

“They have been nothing but cooperative in everything we’ve asked them to do,” Sutton agreed.

Rutchauskas asked the supervisors to keep an eye on the drill site and coordinate with Lake Township so residents will be aware of issues like road closings.

Sutton said they would, but “we don’t have the resources to watch 24-7,” he said. He said residents need to be proactive and call if they see problems.

eskrapits@citizensvoice.com , 570-821-2072

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Copyright:  The Citizens Voice

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