By Jeff Alexander
Michigan is just one of dozens of states that have geologic formations that have natural gas now reachable via hydrofracturing techniques. (Graphic courtesy of the U.S. Energy Information Administration)
Energy firms from California to Canada are making major bets on natural gas locked in Michigan’s shale formations. The major players, according to Oil & Gas Financial Journal, include:
Encana Corp.: Based in Calgary, Alberta, Encana is the biggest natural gas producer in Canada. Encana spent $37 million to acquire 250,000 acres of mineral rights in the Utica/Collingwood formation. Encana drilled the first two hydraulically fractured wells into the Utica/Collingwood formation. Those wells are located near Lake City and Indian River.
Chesapeake Energy: The Oklahoma-based company is one of the biggest independent natural gas producers in the United States. Chesapeake spent $325 million to lease 75,000 acres of mineral rights in the Utica/Collingwood formation. The company later nullified some of those leases, triggering lawsuits by property owners.
Breitburn Energy: The California-based company has acquired 90,000 acres of mineral leases in the area above the Utica/Collingwood formation.
Chevron Corp.: The California-based company is one of the world’s largest energy companies. Chevron recently acquired Atlas Gas & Oil, which had acquired 70,000 acres of mineral rights in the Utica/Collingwood formation. Atlas was the largest operator of natural gas wells in northern Michigan’s Antrim Shale, with 2,400 wells.
Special report: Modern gas rush stirs controversy in Michigan
Additional information on hydrofracturing and the energy industry can be found at:
2 Comments
I the author, Jeff Alexander, the same person that wrote the book Pandora’s Locks?
If so, please have him contact me about doing a presentation for the League of Women Voters in Benzie County and maybe even for the Grand Traverse Area League of Women Voters on Fracking.
Contact me via email or my phone is (231) 352-5328
Oh, please, please, Michigan. Let’s not ruin the bedrock of our state by mixing 800 million gallons per well of fresh drinking water with polluting chemicals to try to get gas out of the bedrock of our state!
Do you know 400 million gallons of that now polluted water comes back up and needs to be trucked away by huge trucks to some dumping ground in Michigan or some other state?
Please consider reading “Raising Elijah” written by Sandra Steingraber, Ph.D. (biologist and environmentalist) who has thoroughly studied the problems in Pennsylvania where the water coming out of the farmer’s faucets above ground can be lighted on fire with an ordinary match!
Help! Help! Sandra Steingraber won the very distinguished Athena Award at the University of Michigan this year and came back to speak about the huge dangers to our health, our children, our drinking water supply, and the bedrock of our nation that fracking can cause. We need to tell our Michigan governor and congressman to halt any talks with large companies offering to ruin our state and our people in this endeavor!