Gas Drilling Needs to Improve, Chesapeake Official Says
Charleston Gazette
22 March 2012
By Ken Ward Jr.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The natural gas industry needs to keep
working to reduce the on-the-ground impacts of the Marcellus Shale
drilling boom in West Virginia's Northern Panhandle, a top
official from Chesapeake Energy said Thursday.
"With natural gas, everybody likes the blue flame," Chesapeake
vice president Scott Rotruck told a business conference in
Charleston. "Making it can be problematic. Nobody likes that part.
"I can tell you this: The sausage-making will get better and
better and better."
Rotruck was among the speakers at the close of a two-day
conference the West Virginia Manufacturers Association sponsored
to promote the prospect of landing a cracker plant and
"downstream" facilities that would turn natural gas wastes into
marketable products.
West Virginia political leaders and business boosters continue to
push the idea, despite last week's announcement that Shell
Chemical had picked a site in western Pennsylvania for further
study as a potential cracker plant location.
Rotruck said he believes Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and other state
officials did everything they could to land the Shell facility,
and that West Virginia is well positioned to secure one of several
other similar projects being considered by other companies.
Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake itself has had an up-and-down
relationship with West Virginia.
Four years ago, the company dropped plans for an eastern regional
headquarters in Charleston after a Roane County jury awarded $400
million to land and mineral owners who sued alleging Chesapeake
cheated them on gas royalties. Some state officials worried their
efforts to land a cracker plant would be harmed by Chesapeake's
agreement last year to a long-term contract to ship ethane from
its wells to the Texas Gulf Coast.
Also, Chesapeake and other companies have recently cut back on
their natural gas drilling and production, but Rotruck noted those
reductions were among so-called "dry gas" sites.
West Virginia's section of the Marcellus is primarily "wet gas,"
which includes various liquid byproducts that would be target
ingredients for a cracker plant.
"We're really pretty well situated," Rotruck said.
Last month, Chesapeake disclosed in financial reports that
it was facing a criminal investigation of Clean Water Act problems
at three of its sites in West Virginia.
Rotruck did not discuss those situations, but said Chesapeake is
working hard to improve environmental performance at its
operations.
"It's no longer wildcatting," Rotruck said. "It's perfecting the
technique and the methods and the execution."
Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702.