 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
Rev. Keith Belt was on the sick list and missed his regular appointment at the Burning Springs M. E. Church.
Last Sunday saw sleet and then followed by a very slippery and snowy Monday with many missing their work, schooling, etc. All this was followed by warmer weather and only where snow was piled up does much remain. The robins are all out & about, daffodils, jonquils & other Easter flowers are all up. Whistle pigs are out running around and folks have been out on their four wheelers.
Mary "Jenny" Belt is home after an extended stay in Cleveland.
Nancy Engelke continues to wait for her surgery. Now she was told that a machine needed is broken and the hospital is still waiting for parts. Under Obamacare there is the "Independent Payment Advisory Board" which will say what tests can be done and will prohibit citizens paying with their own money for medical care that is denied by Big Brother. There is to be one uniform national standard from which there shall be no variance [except for the nomenklatura].
The government decreed fast time started again fouling up local residents' biological clocks.
Local residents have, like many elsewhere, been receiving letters wanting to buy oil and gas interests for "big money". That is said to be the business of Siltstone, the firm that bought the old Union Trust & Deposit bank building in Parkersburg. Siltstone has yet has to become authorized to do business in West Virginia. One firm offered $12,000/acre for 'choice' oil and gas but Noble paid CNX $17,600/acre for 44 net acres of Marcellus on Goose Creek. The folks from Texas or wherever who go around buying minerals ahead of the drilling know what they are doing, work for others and pay only a fraction of the real value which they, or their principals, know.
Aubrey McClendon who formerly headed up Chesapeake formed a new company, American Energy Partners which now has $5 billion in capital. In the last announced deal, Aubrey purchased 74,000 acres of dry Utica from Hess (formerly Amaranda Hess) for $924 million or just under $12,500/acre. It was noted that the acreage was in the dry gas section of the pay. Some feel that Aubrey must feel that there will be a market for dry gas soon. Based on the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, western Europe may be begging for natural gas to keep from freezing.
It was reported that Magnum Hunter (Triad) has already completed one of the laterals on their Utica well in Tyler County and that it is wet and that the W. Va. Utica, at least north of Creston is wet, that is rich in 'gas liquids'. In Calhoun & Wirt Counties the Utica is 1100 feet thick.
Antero announced that they have hedged some of their gas (after being stripped of the goodies) for $4.62/MMBTU or dekatherm. Even with the declining price of ethane, propane, butane, iso-butane, etc. the super wet gas is worth over $7/mcf and Antero said their cost for the gas is about $1 for Marcellus gas with Utica being quite a bit lower.
The flim flammers who were trying to get money from Creston residents for Publishers Clearing House "winnings" apparently moved on to "more fertile pastures" since, apparently, they conned no one. Those who have e-mail get notices almost daily of winning huge lotteries in nations they have never visited and great deals from Nigerian princesses, etc. All one has to do is give them all your financial data.
When goes to the state capitol of another state one oftimes learns about matters close to home. It was pointed out that while Broadway Joe Manchin is the Big Eared One's errand boy down in the swamps of the Lower Potomac for gun control/confiscation and infanticide, etc. he is still the boss down at the Mouth of the Elk and that Earl Ray & the boys check first before they act. As a reflection of his power, W. Va. Executive magazine featured the first daughter, Heather Bresch as West Virginia's leading lady. Presently she is CEO of Milan Puskar's Mylan Labs a firm that makes drugs in China & India and is Pittsburgh based. Heather made the news some while back when a Pittsburgh newspaper discovered that she had a bogus degree from WVU and daddy knew nothing about it. Puskar was one of the long time sugar daddies for her pappy.
Mark Lytle, Butch Deer, Bob Gertz & Bob Matthey were among those who attended the Ohio Oil & Gas meeting in Columbus. A number of speakers, including a representative of CrossTex (EnLink) talked about the take away for all the new production. The REX (Rocky Mountains Express) that did bring Rocky Mountain gas to the east is now taking gas to the Midwest and more pipelines are being refurbished to take ethane and the other goodies such as propane to the gulf coast. The CrossTex representative said he doubted if any crackers would be built in the area noting that all the infrastructure and such was already available in the gulf.
There was quite a bit of discussion about the "anti-fracking" crowd and problems some folks had encountered. It was stressed that the companies should aim to be good citizens, a lesson that some firms in West Virginia obviously don't believe. It was noted that the Emirates funded one anti hydrofrac film and that the Russians funded other "environmental" groups. George Soros who has gas to sell from New Guinea and Russia was the leader in trying to stop the development of the various shale plays in America. Of course now America can export natural gas in addition to the gas liquids, etc. that are presently said to be going to China.
The price for local grade Pennsylvania grade crude is $101.58, Appalachian light sweet (drip) is $81.47 while Marcellus & Utica light fetches $90.52 & medium $100.58/bbl. It was noted that gasoline has taken a 30 cent/gallon jump.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Hur Herald. | 
