Got Gas?

[pajeff02]

Last week, our life in the pristine rural setting of northcentral Pennsylvania went straight to hell. We knew it was coming, we dreaded it, but there was nothing we could do to stop it. The "it" is Marcellus Shale drilling. Marcellus Shale is a layer of rock about 5,500 feet beneath the surface that is loaded with natural gas. Through directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies, companies are now able to effectively tap this natural resource.

In 2007, several companies started a flurry of leasing activity. A representative from Chesapeake Energy knocked on our door and offered us $200 per acre to lease our properties. That was simply unheard of in this area as past gas leases could be had for as little as $5 per acre. It wasn't long before people figured out what was happening and the price jumped to $2,500 per acre in our area. At that point, I signed up our 13 acre vacant lot that is located northeast of our residence. As of yet, we have not leased out residential property.

Last summer, three wells went in on the back side of our hill, with the closest being about a mile to the north. A few months ago, we noticed stakes in the neighbor's field, directly across from our house. It was not long after that we received notice of a well site with the wellhead being placed about 500' out our front door. Last Thursday, the heavy equipment arrived and work began. Needless to say, we are not pleased with how close everything is to our house -- and the other six houses in our immediate area.

One of the first things they did is drop an on-site diesel fuel tank across the road. The second day, they moved it to within 50 yards from our water well. Granted, the company installed a temporary retention liner around the fuel tank, but I have little faith in that should an accident occur. They also are parking all their heavy equipment in this same area, and there is no question that they are leaking oil, fuel and hydraulic fluid on the ground. Can you tell how thrilled I am about all this?

Fortunately, we had our water well tested beforehand both privately and by the gas company with a chain of custody for the samples. In the event of a problem, under Pennsylvania law, the gas company is obligated to fix it as our water well is within 1,000 feet of the wellhead. Of course, my understanding of "fixing it" is that they simply install a holding tank and supply you with water.

I am going to document and photograph the entire process for anyone that is interested. Here are pics of what happened the first two days that were taken from out our master bathroom window, looking north:




















That is our mailbox in the bottom right corner of the last picture. It sets about 50 feet from the front door of our house.

[Z28Thunder]

What a way to destroy a great view...

[KMdef9]

What a way to destroy a great view...

Was nice and rural. Hopefully they'll at least try and hide it with some foliage.

You should make that suggestion to them.

We had a gas company pass their gas line through our property as they discovered natural gas, but that was up north on the hunting property. Made some nice coin till the lease expiered and no one has renewed it yet.

[MrMasterCraft]

Well Jeff, I'm sure you have some good friends in the business that'll take care of you, in the event that the situation on hand turns sour

As for the here and now, that seems liek enough to piss the pope off

[Nhra Firebird]

we have 240 acres and signed a lease a few months ago for 3k per acre and 15% royalties.

[67CamaroRSSS]

Nothing lasts forever...

[Nhra Firebird]

A lot of companies from Texas are coming up here to drill, because the gas up here is much cleaner.

[Zapper2003]

It's all about making money.

[Sarge]

Been there done that. It is the smell that will drive you out Jeff. They pump all kinds of nasty ass stuff down the hole that stinks all to hell for days on end. Sorry to be a buzz kill.....but I have been right where you are.

[Nhra Firebird]

Been there done that. It is the smell that will drive you out Jeff. They pump all kinds of nasty ass stuff down the hole that stinks all to hell for days on end. Sorry to be a buzz kill.....but I have been right where you are.

They pump it down to force the gas up right? I thought it was just water and then it needs to be treated after they do it, but I'm sure it stinks like a swamp.

[Nhra Firebird]

It's all about making money.

It's making a lot of people rich that didn't have shit before.

[ls1camino]

Sorry to hear about this, Jeff.

How long are they going to be there? In other words, how long is it going tot take to extract the gas? And do they leave after it's done, or does the gas slowly replenish itself and they're there for years?

[pajeff02]

Was not aware of any potential smell issue so I'll be curious to see what happens. Our prevailing winds are out of the west - northwest, so at least we are not downwind from the wellhead.

The fracturing process -- called "frac'ing", involves pumping sand, water and unknown chemicals into the well bore under high pressure. The goal is to break the rock formations apart deep underground to release the flow of gas.

Right now, the heavy equipment fires off at 6:00 a.m. or so to warm up before they actually start moving dirt some time around 6:30. We're up by 5:30, so that is not much of an issue. Once the drilling rig goes into operation, they run it 24/7 and I understand that is not a quiet process. The comapny is simply drilling a vertical shaft for the first round as they are trying to lock up as much land as they can in drilling units before the first sets of early leases begin to expire. This way they can avoid having to pay lease extension or new lease signing bonuses to landowners.

The company will then come back at a later date and drill out in 6 or 8 different directions for the horizontal legs of the well before frac'ing. Once that is completed, they will suck out (supposedly) all the nasty frac material and gas will begin to flow. That's when they light the stack to burn off any contaminants and flow test the well. We'll basically have a 20 to 30' flickering flame just outside our bedroom window that burns for about a week. You can hear the flame -- kind of like a jet engine -- from a few miles away, so next to it the sound will be stupid loud.

[Spaz]

well... on the good side won't this lower the local taxes???

[raynor139]

well... on the good side won't this lower the local taxes???

I'm sure there home value will suffer.

[Nhra Firebird]

I'm sure there home value will suffer.

I don't think it will change the home value.

[Spaz]

I don't think it will change the home value.

agreed... they are leasing not owning the land... unless he goes to sell while they are there it more than likely won't do a thing...

[Smittro]

Jeff,

You have'nt seen anything yet man..

Once they are ready they will work around the clock to get that thing rolling.

You will have, a shit ton of noise and I mean ear splitting noise..

Then in come the boom lights like more than a dozen sodium lights shining all night everynight..

Everthing within eye shot will become a mud hole.. God forbid they don't finish in time for our spring rains..

Soory to hear your property value just got damaged (eye sore) too man.. WOW!

[Smittro]

I don't think it will change the home value.

agreed... they are leasing not owning the land... unless he goes to sell while they are there it more than likely won't do a thing...

If the well is within eye shot of your ground you can bet it will negatively effect your property value.. I've used it as leverage before..

Hell if you have a single wide trailer within eye shot it hurts your prop value let alone a full blown gas well with a 1000 gal presure tank sitting there.. Which they will paint a shad of green or brown that matches nothing in it's surroundings..lol

We lease ground on the farm to Dominion Peoples for a royalty.. First thing we did was make sure it was nowhere within eye shot of our summer place..

[pajeff02]

Probably will not impact our local taxes. The effect on the value of our home will depend upon what it looks like across the street after everything is done. My biggest concern is the siting of a compressor station in the area. The well prep and drilling is all temporary, whereas a compressor is a permanent fixture.