Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Betty on January 10, 2012 at 11:02am

Ann --   Does Talisman have leased land/wells in Tioga County?   On the other hand, if Talisman has annouced this, perhaps other companies will follow suit.  Capping wells, less drilling.  Except for CHS -- I don't think they can afford not to drill -- even at bottom prices.

Permalink Reply by Brian Day on January 10, 2012 at 12:05pm

I would suspect that Shell has much the same attitude toward vast developement of more dry gas wells. 

Three  or four years ago, when the Marcellus play exploded, the coal bed methane business here in Sheridan, Wyoming rapidly shut down.  Coal bed methane had been a huge economic driving force in this area for 15 or 20 years and had been expected to continue for at least a couple of decades more.  It was shocking how quickly a major operation shut down and vanished.  Unless land is situated over Blackriver-Trenton or the Utica beneath Tioga County has wet gas,  people had better bank and wisely invest their big bonus money for a few years to see what happens.

Permalink Reply by Betty on January 10, 2012 at 12:31pm

Need new US markets.  Although you have to wonder whether all the international money flowing into the us gas companies may have an effect on promoting the export of gas which could also serve to push up the price. 

Permalink Reply by Ann Ticopa on January 10, 2012 at 1:08pm

Talisman shut down new Trenton/Black-River development in NY/PA a couple years ago.  They decided shale wells would be a more profitable use of the land they had leased, much of it at less than $100/acre.  AFAIK, Utica is secondary to Marcellus this far east. 

Permalink Reply by Betty on January 10, 2012 at 1:17pm

so Marcellus is the bigger money maker for TC -- whereas Utica is the cash cow for counties west of TC?

Permalink Reply by Ann Ticopa on January 10, 2012 at 2:37pm

I don't know where the dividing line is cosidered to be, just that we're east of it. 

When the Chesapeake well blew out in Bradford County, one of the news stories mentioned that it was ~11,000' deep.  That seemed strange, so I've since looked at Chesapeake permits in Bradford (and the few in TC).  It's not unusual for them  to run one of the wells on a pad down another 5,000' or so.  The only reason I think of is that they're taking a look at the Utica.  And, Chesapeake being Chesapeake, I think they would be "shouting it from the roof-tops" if the results were all that favorable. And, they would be drilling more wells to that depth. 

Permalink Reply by Betty on January 10, 2012 at 2:51pm

that would be CHK, if they smelled a skunk (a bad metaphor, but I'll use it) we would have heard about it.

Permalink Reply by Lynn Wigglesworth on January 11, 2012 at 1:27am

Brian; I think you are right, that it could be a few years before we see any royalty checks around here. I doubt that Shell would abandon it, since they have so much tied up in it...many wells, all the leased land, all the gathering lines. But things aren't happening nearly as quickly as the East landmen were claiming 3-4 years ago. Does anyone know how many active wells (wells currently producing royalties) there are in TC?

Permalink Reply by Ann Ticopa on January 11, 2012 at 3:45am

In mid-February, the production numbers for the second half of 2011 are due. 

Permalink Reply by Ann Ticopa on January 10, 2012 at 12:32pm

Talisman is actively drilling on DCNR state forest land in TC ... and probably some adjoining privately owned land.  

They also have some leases amd wells in the northern part of the county.   Their initial interest was in leasing (as Fortuna) for conventional Trenton/Black River wells; they were working their  way down from NYS.  They had some sort of arrangement where East drilled at least some of the wells.  I don't know if they ever drilled a T/BR well in TC, but they did subsequently drill some. Some of those wells, drilled by East, have now been transferred from Shell  to Talisman as the operator.   Ah, well, maybe 2013 will be better. 

Permalink Reply by Betty on January 10, 2012 at 2:46pm

I think you may be right about 2013 being our year, several reasons.   We have a warm winter, again adding to the low price of gas, and we have political campaigns with politicians more interested in campaigning nationally than worried about the economy.  I'm curious to see how things play out once we have republicans debating the democrats for the election.  when the politicians start looking for votes in our neck of the woods we may see some action.  Just a thought...  But still, seems like the USA has the least market for this viable fuel while countries like China are looking for it... and investing in it

Permalink Reply by Brian V. on January 10, 2012 at 4:11pm

As far as Tioga County goes there is not a whole lot of open land to lease anymore. I have not heard of an really high lease offers since Williams tried to move in and get a lease hold in this county. Williams went hard and got the attention of the other players in the county but they backed out quick and have done nothing with any of the leases they bought. I've heard rumors that Chesapeake is moving 2/3rds of their Marcellus drilling rigs out to the Ohio Utica play and that the redirection of resources has two causes. 1) The wet/dry gas and liquids in the Ohio play are more valuable and 2) Pipelines are almost maxed in the Marcellus area. That and getting gathering line in is going much slower than they would like. Basically they are drilling faster than they are getting pipelines in.

 

I was looking at the production reports for January to June in Tioga County and Bradford County. Bradford county wells are producing far better. Talisman's DCNR wells in Ward took 3 of the 4 top spots for total MCF for the reporting period. I haven't had the time to break down the daily averages but I did notice that Talisman and Seneca seem to be the only companies actually putting in, completing and producing all 6-8 well of their units. Shell of course is taking the long term approach of drilling and completing (sometimes) 1-2 wells and moving on to the next unit to HBP.

 

2012 is most definitely looking to be a slow year. Not only is the market flooded in the north east but there are new more attractive plays popping up and drawing the attention away from the Marcellus.

 

Has anyone heard of any well water issues lately in Tioga County? I read a lot about problems over in Dimmock and some issues here and there in Bradford County but I have never once heard any issues coming from Tioga County. I'm sure someone has had some sort of issue. Shell and the other operators may be addressing them more quickly and to the satisfaction of the owner than in other counties.

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