Gastar Awarded Lease to Drill under Ohio River

On Friday West Virginia awarded Gastar the lease to drill under the Ohio River.  This article says at the Marshall/Wetzel County line. 

http://www.theintelligencer.net/page/content.detail/id/615450.html

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Permalink Reply by Philip Brutz on October 26, 2014 at 1:42am

http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20141025/GZ01/141029437/200407122

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Marcellus expert says more scrutiny needed of fracking near Marshall chemical plant

By Ken Ward Jr., Staff writer

One of the nation’s best-known experts on the Marcellus Shale concluded that more investigation is needed before a Houston firm is allowed to move forward with natural gas wells near the site of a “near-catastrophic” fracking incident at a Marshall County chemical plant.Penn State geologist Terry Engelder, who did groundbreaking work about the gas reserves available in the Marcellus formation, testified in a Pennsylvania case in which Axiall Corp. was trying to delay and force a more detailed review of its plans for hydraulic fracturing wells at Axiall’s manufacturing plant in Natrium.“There are certainly things that can be done to gather more information that would help in understanding,” Engelder testified during a June hearing in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. “One would hope that information would be gathered.”Engelder and another Axiall expert, petroleum engineer Brun Hilbert, testified concerns that Gastar’s wells could lead to a repeat of an incident last year that Axiall blames on high-pressure fracking fluids being used by another company, Triad Hunter, to release natural gas from the Marcellus Shale at a well site across the Ohio River.In court documents, Axiall says that increased underground pressure from the fracking at Triad Hunter traveled under the river and somehow made contact with brine wells Axiall uses to obtain saltwater, one of the key materials used in its manufacturing process. Axiall says those pressures led to a blowout in which one of its brine wells at its plant “began spewing flammable natural gas.”No injuries were reported, but parts of Axiall’s brine production were closed for more than six months for repairs and the company had to set up several large flares to burn off excess natural gas. Axiall was “fortunate to have been able to limit the environmental impact of the Triad Hunter incident and avoid bodily injury or loss of life due to a natural gas explosion or other disaster,” the company says in court records.Last week, Allegheny County Judge Christine Ward refused Axiall’s request for a preliminary injunction against Gastar.Gastar said it was pleased with the ruling, believes Axiall’s allegations in the case were without merit, and planned to move forward with its fracking “in the near future.” In a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Gastar said that leases adjacent to the Natrium plant account for nearly one-fifth of its total gas reserves.The judge’s decision dropped the issue squarely in the lap of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, which had already issued several permits for Gastar’s operations in the area and has several other permits pending. DEP met with Axiall and was considering options for adding some conditions to Gastar’s permits to try to prevent any problems.Public disclosure of the situation and contact from Axiall on the issue prompted Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to schedule a meeting Oct. 23 with DEP Secretary Randy Huffman to find out more. Chris Stadelman, Tomblin’s communications director, declined to say if the governor shares Axiall’s concerns about Gastar’s planned operations, but said Tomblin “decided it was important enough to be briefed about.” “The DEP is responsible for permitting issues and will continue to monitor activity related to that site,” Stadelman said Friday.Details of the controversy emerged last week as Tomblin and the Commerce Department continue to review bids on the governor’s proposal to lease rights for private companies to drill and produce natural gas from state-owned reserves under portions of the Ohio River, including at two sites near the Natrium plant.Environmental groups oppose the idea, and have urged the governor to drop his proposals. Stadelman did not indicate that the Axiall situation had given the governor any second thoughts about the Ohio River leasing proposals, The Natrium plant leases with Gastar were agreed to by PPG Industries two years before PPG sold the facility to Axiall in January 2013. The plant’s operations date back to the 1940s, when the facility was opened to tap into a huge salt deposit located far beneath the surface. The plant uses salt mined from these subsurface deposits to produce chlorine, caustic soda and hydrogen, as well as hydrochloric acid and calcium hyperchloride.Hilbert, Axiall’s engineer, testified that the Hunter Triad incident “demonstrates the presence of a highly conductive zone in the Marcellus Shale that allowed frack fluid under very high pressure to travel through the Marcellus Shale from Triad Hunter’s wells, under the Ohio River” to the Natrium plant. This, Hilbert said, provided evidence of “a preexisting natural high conductivity path” that allowed for “communication between Triad Hunter’s natural gas wells and” the Natrium plant’s brine wells.Engelder testified that Gastar’s wells could pose a similar “risk” to the Natrium facility, and recommended a “first-class” three-dimensional seismic study be conducted to examine that possibility. Axiall wanted the judge to order such a study, but Gastar argued that “potential” or “possible” risks were not enough to warrant a “sweeping, mandatory injunction.”Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kward@wvgazette.com, 304-348-1702 or follow @kenwardjr on Twitter.

Permalink Reply by searcherone on October 26, 2014 at 4:17am

http://www.wvgs.wvnet.edu/www/geology/geoldvsa.htm

"Until World War II, only salt brine(entrapped sea water), was used for salt production. However in 1942, the Defense Plant Corporation built an electrolytic caustic soda plant at Natrium in Marshall County to extract rock salt.  Water is sent down the wells to the rock salt, at depths of about 7,000 feet, where the water dissolves the salt.  The salt-saturated water is then forced back to the surface where it is evaporated and the salt removed.  Today there are three principal salt-producing companies in the State,  two in Marshall County and one in Tyler County.  All three companies extract salt, most of which is sent, to chemical companies along the Kanawha River.  West Virginia has large reserves or rock salt at depth, providing great potential for use."

If you go to the link about the history of salt in WV,  you will see the last paragraph is quoted above. And yes, the article was written in 1996 so perhaps Axiall is the only company still producing the salt brine,  HOWEVER,  the underground/underriver areas where the salt was mined are still present. 

IMHO this entire situation is one of safety for those living in the Upper Ohio Valley as well as those employed in the oil and gas industry and those employed at Axiall.   And as the article Philip posted states this has all been playing out for the past year behind the scenes away from the public until October 23. 

The PPG/Axiall salt production facility has been in existence since 1942, that is 72 years and yes, Gastar as a responsible O/G company you should want to do seismic testing for your own protection.  That is what Axiall is asking you to do.

Permalink Reply by Philip Brutz on October 26, 2014 at 4:44am

Is any of the salt used for human consumption or is it just for industrial use?

Permalink Reply by searcherone on October 26, 2014 at 5:32am

Philip 

I have never heard that there is any salt produced for human consumption at Natrium.  There is not an underground mine that workers enter.  It is done by wells.

The article you posted says chlorine, caustic soda, hydrogen, hydrochloric acid, calcium hyperchloride.

Interesting to note that there was a salt well drilled to a little over six thousand feet in the riverfront area of Monroe County Ohio in 1962 and paid for by the Appalachian Regional Commission.  but no development came from that drilling.

Permalink Reply by searcherone on October 26, 2014 at 5:49am

This is link to ODNR well card for the Ormet well belonging to Magnum Hunter which is said to have made contact with the salt wells at Axiall/Natrium.

https://gis.ohiodnr.gov/Website/DOG/WellSummaryCard.asp?api=3411124...

Permalink Reply by Philip Brutz on October 26, 2014 at 5:55am

How far apart is Ormet well from the salt well?

Permalink Reply by searcherone on October 26, 2014 at 7:47am

Philip,

I am not tech savvy to post a pic from a map. The Marshall/Wetzel County line if extended across the Ohio River would cut across one of the laterals for the Ormet  well.    Axiall and the Ormet well pad are on a diagonal from each other across the Ohio River.  In crow miles it could be less than a half mile, I am estimating.    At Axiall there is more than one salt well.

And I am just sayin' the other question is how far do those brine wells extend, only within the WV boundary, under the Ohio River or where?

I remember last fall when there was a fire at Axiall and WV Rt 2 was closed to all traffic for a significant amount of time.  I cannot locate an article online to link to that.    That event would be in the same time frame as the fracking.

Permalink Reply by searcherone on October 26, 2014 at 8:05am

This is the first discussion I posted with references to the Court Docs.   Article is worth reading and if you want to know the basic facts of the case read at least the first six pages;  they lay out who the parties are; that there is a north and south well field at Axiall  and it was the south field that was damaged;  500 people work at Axiall;  and Axiall believes there should be no fracking with two and a half miles of those brine wells.   All of these facts are stated plainly and not in garbled legal terms. it is worth reading.

http://gomarcellusshale.com/forum/topics/drilling-under-ohio-river-...

Permalink Reply by searcherone on October 26, 2014 at 12:13pm
Permalink Reply by Philip Brutz on October 27, 2014 at 3:21am

It looks like the salt mine property is about 1500 feet from the Ormet lateral.

Permalink Reply by searcherone on October 29, 2014 at 12:52pm

Some info regarding what chemical plants are located where:

In the pic I posted the large white area bordering the Ohio River is the now defunct Ormet aluminum mill.  This site was at one time was  on the Superfund list and the toxic material remains on site.

Ormet well pad is by the yellow pin on the pic.   This pad is where the lateral was drilled from  that eventually caused frack fluid  as well as natural gas to rise in Axiall's/Natrium brine wells.

Now on the pic Philip posted one sees a closer image of the Ormet well pad as well as Ormet.  On the right hand side of the pic going north on WV Rt 2 the first chemical complex if Bayer/Mobay;  Tthe second one is the Axiall/PPG chemical complex where the frack fluid and natural gas came in contact with the brine wells.  The next complex is the newly constructed Blue Racer natural gas processing plant where there was a fire in Sept. 2013.

Now bordering both sides of the Ohio River within a five mile length are three chemical complexes and one former Superfund site.  I only cite this info to show that while drilling under the Ohio River may be completely safe in specific locations, drilling under the Ohio River  in the vicinity of brine wells in the vicinity of this chemical complex may not be in the best interests of anyone, general public or oil and gas companies. 

Permalink Reply by The Hiker on October 30, 2014 at 10:25am

If Axiall wants to exclude drilling within a radius of 2.5 miles, it shows you that they have an idea about how large their underground salt cavern is.   That's certainly a large area, and I'll bet ya Axiall doesn't have mineral leases to cover all the land they are plundering.   Wouldn't those landowners love to see a 3-D seismic survey of the site?   If it happens, it will never be made public.

I got a laugh reading the characterization of the huge underground void/cavern/hole... as a "highly conductive zone".  No kidding.

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