This week’s most important shale gas stories:

( 1 ) Antero Resources Adds Another Drilling Rig

According to the Akron Beacon-Journal, Colorado-based drilling company Antero Resources, is adding a fifth rig to its Utica shale fleet in southeast Ohio.

Antero Resources has drilled 12 wells in Ohio, with another 12 wells currently in some stage of being drilled.

This is a move that makes sense for the company, which has drilled some of the most productive wells in Ohio to date.

Read it:

“The company’s first 12 Utica wells have averaged 24-hour peak rates of 5,635 barrels of oil equivalents per day and are among the best reported in Ohio, said chairman and chief executive officer Paul M. Rady.

Its top eight wells are producing between 5,000 to 9,000 barrels of equivalents per day, he said.”

The company holds 104,000 net acres of land in the Utica shale.

» Via: The Akron Beacon-Journal » Antero Resources to add fifth drilling rig in Utica shale in southeast Ohio

( 2 ) Pipelines, Pipelines, Pipelines

Last week, we reported on several recent drilling mud spills in Ohio and West Virginia. The spills occurred during pipeline construction, infrastructure needed to sustain the Utica and Marcellus shales.

This week, The Review  has listed, in chronological order, every pipeline accident to happen throughout the Upper Ohio Valley in the past two years.

Not all pipelines are the same, however.

Read it:

“In the natural gas industry, there are both transmission pipelines and gathering pipelines. Transmission lines are ones that lead to, for example, an interstate pipeline to carry gas across the nation. Gathering lines carry the gas from the wellheads to a processing plant or compressor station, from which it will then go to the transmission lines.”

Read the entire list of accidents at The Review.

» Via: The Review Online » Pipeline problems mounting

( 3 ) Economists Question Shale Jobs Claims

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett, who just launched his re-election campaign, has said that Pennsylvania’s energy industry is supporting over 200,000 people. Some economists question that number, according to State Impact Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania’s state Department of Labor and Industry shows 28,155 people are working directly in the oil and gas industry. The 200,000 number includes workers in related industries, that means, according to Corbett’s numbers, that for every person working in oil and gas there’s seven more who work in a related industry.

 » Via: State Impact Pennsylvania › Economists question Corbett’s Marcellus Shale jobs claims