Saturday, January 8, 2011

Another Utica Shale Test Possible in NY:
Norse Spuds the Aarismaa 1 Near Norwich

Hey, we have another vertical shale gas test possible in New York's own Middle Ordovician Utica Shale.

Pretty much the only driller still active of late in the central part of upstate, Norse Energy, quietly spudded the Aarismaa 1 on Christmas Eve 2010.  The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation wells database describes Norse's new well — on County Road 18, a/k/a Bogers Road, in the Town of Preston, Chenango County
, about five miles due west of Norwich — as all vertical, and with Utica Shale as the objective formation.  Here's a link to Google Maps for the exact Aarismaa 1 location.

This is not necessarily Norse's first or only Utica shale drilling permit in New York.  But it is the first time Norse has decided to get its bit in the ground, officially aiming for this target.  This may or may not represent a break from the frack-moratorium-induced reluctance to vertically test for Utica or Marcellus shale gas, as espoused by new CEO Mark Dice as recently as November, when he publicly reviewed the over-the-counter stock's third-quarter results.  (My long-winded, upstate-filtered version of this then-current State of Norse is still readable here.) 

If I were getting paid to write this blog (and, for those of you who have wondered, I'm not), then maybe I would be making some midday phone calls to Norse, out in Buffalo.  My first question would be whether the Dec. 24 event out in Preston merely represents a spud by the company's second "hole-starting" rig — in order to exercise a permit which was otherwise due to expire Dec. 31.   In other words, does Norse still plan to hold back from a currently permissible vertical test until New York State finally works up the political nerve for issuing its new regulations covering full-on horizontal shale gas exploration?  (Which — not to belabor the obvious — could easily continue to be a long wait.)

If Norse is ready for a test, well then, what sort of completion timetable might be expected?  And also what sort of hydraulic fracturing test is planned, and also has New York State yet permitted any such test frack?  (And also — given that Gastem wound up trucking its latest volume of test frack flowback water from Otsego County 400 miles out of state all the way to Warren, Ohio, for treatment and disposal — what's the plan for any wastewater?)

But, again, I'm not getting paid.  As a consequence, I got bigger fish to fry.  I got some snow to shovel.  I got some firewood to stack.  So you guys are on your own.  Truly, my Chenango County information resources at this point consist entirely of the Internet, the pro-gas CNY Landowners' Coalition (which is my kinda organization, by the way), one or two Norwegians on Twitter, and a very colorful farmer from the Earlville area named Tom.  But, given the right kind of motivation, maybe Melissa deCordova at the (Norwich) Evening Sun, or Jon Campbell at the Binghamton Press could be coaxed into action on this latest move by the folks from Norse.

Just to put this in perspective — outside of some stuff in way western Erie County — DEC records show there are only five previously drilled wells which list Utica Shale as either the "objective formation," or the "producing formation." 

The Olson 1-C (625335), owned by Chesapeake, was completed 4/29/2008 in the Town of Fenton, Broome County.


The Butkowsky 1-B (625331), another $CHK asset, is listed as an active well producing from Utica Shale in the Town of Kirkwood, Broome County.  It was completed 6/17/2008, but I was not able to flesh out any publicly available production data.

Two Gastem USA Inc. wells in Otsego County — the Pullis 1 (Town of Springfield) and the Sheckells 1 (Town of Cherry Valley) — are listed as capable of producing from Utica Shale but currently shut-in.  Both were completed way back in 2007 (although I'm pretty sure Gastem was sending around press releases regarding having been granted a state permit to frack at least the Sheckells this past fall).

A third Gastem well, the Ross 1, was completed 11/11/2009 in the Town of Maryland, Otsego County.

All five of these are vertical wells, and all five presumably would only have qualified for a low-volume frack — although New York State's currently perpetually temporary ban on high-volume hydraulic fracturing did not technically begin until 7/23/2008.

The point is — after you sweep aside all the hype and speculation — very little is actually proven or known about the true potential of Utica Shale for gas production, pretty much anywhere in Appalachia, but especially in New York State.  Compared to the Marcellus Shale, the deeper Utica Shale has consistently been a less desirable target.  Most of what is known about the Utica Shale remains closely held in private hands.  But with every one of these test wells, very important locally relevant information is getting collected by people who know what they're doing — examining the cuttings of this rock, and sampling for natural gas.

Norse's Aarismaa 1 represents that company's first crack at this onion.  For the sake of all the unwitting landowners out there, sitting atop this rock, I hope those wily Norwegians move forward, safely get it done, and that the results are everything you'd ever want in a gas well — and maybe even more.

As for the chart below, again, I'm just trying this out as a possible way of cutting through all the clutter to summarize recent well-permitting or drilling activity in New York.  Just so you know, I'm focusing for now on areas outside of the state's historically most active oil and gas counties (Erie, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, and Allegheny).
Date
Event
Well type — Formation (orientation)
Well Name
Operator
County (Town)
Map It

1/2/2011
Reached Total Depth
Herkimer (horizontal)
Disciascio 1H
Norse Energy Corp USA
Madison (Lebanon)
31053264780000 

12/29/2010
Spudded
Herkimer (horizontal)
Morse 1H*
Norse Energy Corp USA
Chenango (Smyrna)
31017264800000 

12/24/2010
Spudded
Utica (vertical)
Aarismaa 1
Norse Energy Corp USA
Chenango (Preston)
31017264640000 

12/22/2010
Plugged and Abandoned
Geoexchange
W-3
471 VE LLC
New York (Manhattan)
31061237580001 

12/21/2010
Plugged and Abandoned
Geoexchange
W-2
471 VE LLC
New York (Manhattan)
31061237570001 

12/21/2010
Permit Requested
Herkimer (horizontal)
Anderson J 1H
Norse Energy Corp USA
Chenango (Smyrna)
31017300010000 

12/20/2010
Permit Issued
Herkimer (horizontal)
Davis, TK. 1H
Norse Energy Corp USA
Chenango (Smyrna)
31017264790000 

12/20/2010
Permit Issued
Herkimer (horizontal)
Parry, B. 1H***
Norse Energy Corp USA
Chenango (Smyrna)
31017264810000 

12/20/2010
Permit Issued
Herkimer (horizontal)
Parry, B. 2H
Norse Energy Corp USA
Chenango (Smyrna)
31017264820000 

12/20/2010
Permit Issued
Storage — Onondaga (horizontal)
IW 6A
Wyckoff Gas Storage Co., LLC
Steuben (Jasper)
31101264670101 

12/17/2010
Permit Requested
Stratigraphic — (vertical)
Tilcon West Nyack Quarry 1
Sandia Technologies, LLC
Rockland (Clarkstown)
31087270180000 

12/17/2010
Permit Requested
Stratigraphic — (vertical)
NYSTA Tandem Lot 2
Sandia Technologies, LLC
Rockland (Clarkstown)
31087270170000 

12/17/2010
Permit Requested
Stratigraphic — (vertical)
NYSTA Tandem Lot 1
Sandia Technologies, LLC
Rockland (Clarkstown)
31087270160000 

12/9/2010
Permit Issued
Herkimer (horizontal)
Chiulli 161**
Norse Energy Corp USA
Chenango (Smyrna)
31017264840000 

12/9/2010
Permit Requested
Storage — Syracuse (vertical)
Finger Lakes 1
Finger Lakes LPG Storage, LLC
Schuyler (Reading)
31097264850000 

12/8/2010
Reached Total Depth
Herkimer (horizontal)
Sweezy, J. 2H
Norse Energy Corp USA
Chenango (Smyrna)
31017264760000 

12/5/2010
Reached Total Depth
Storage — Onondaga (horizontal)
IW 6
Wyckoff Gas Storage Co., LLC
Steuben (Jasper)
31101264670000 

12/5/2010
Spudded
Storage — Onondaga (horizontal)
IW 6A
Wyckoff Gas Storage Co., LLC
Steuben (Jasper)
31101264670100 

12/2/2010
Permit Issued
Herkimer (horizontal)
Chiulli 160**
Norse Energy Corp USA
Chenango (Smyrna)
31017264830000 

11/18/2010
Permit Issued
Vernon (vertical)
Spinelli 1-437
Norse Energy Corp USA
Chenango (Smyrna)
31017239080002 

11/18/2010
Permit Issued
Sauquoit (vertical)
Spinelli 1-437
Norse Energy Corp USA
Chenango (Smyrna)
31017239080001 

11/18/2010
Permit Issued
Herkimer (vertical)
Howe1
Norse Energy Corp USA
Chenango (Preston)
31017239980001 

11/15/2010
Permit Issued
Vernon (vertical)
Hare 2
Norse Energy Corp USA
Chenango (Smyrna)
31017238870001 

11/15/2010
Reached Total Depth
Herkimer (horizontal)
Davis 1H
Norse Energy Corp USA
Chenango (Smyrna)
31017264380001 

11/12/2010
Spudded
Herkimer (horizontal)
Smyrna Hillbillies 6H
Norse Energy Corp USA
Chenango (Smyrna)
31017264770000 

11/6/2010
Reached Total Depth
Oriskany (vertical)
Strong 1
Inflection Energy, LLC 
Tioga (Owego)
31107264660000 

11/5/2010
Plugged
Herkimer (vertical)
Branagan M-99-11
Norse Energy Corp USA
Madison (Lebanon)
31053228160000 

11/2/2010
Completed
Brine — Salina (horizontal)
Texas Brine Company 104
Texas Brine Company, LLC
Wyoming (Middlebury)
31121276400000 

11/1/2010
Spudded
Oil — Fulmer Valley (vertical)
Edlind 9
Nathan Petroleum Corp. 
Steuben (West Union)
31101264730000 

11/1/2010
Spudded
Oil — Fulmer Valley (vertical)
Edlind 10
Nathan Petroleum Corp. 
Steuben (West Union)
31101264700000 

* Compulsory integration hearing scheduled 1/12/2011.

** C
ompulsory integration hearing scheduled 2/9/2011.

*** C
ompulsory integration hearing scheduled 3/9/2011.

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