Another Marcellus shale well pad coming to Upper Burrell

Construction of a new Olympus Energy natural gas well in Upper Burrell will start in September, according to company officials.

The so-called unconventional wells into Marcellus shale are used in the natural gas extraction process known as fracking.

Construction of the new Calliope Well pad, at 812 White Cloud Road, is planned from September to December. The drilling of five wells at the Calliope pad is expected in July and August 2022 with the well going online in December 2022, said Manny Johnson, vice president of operations for Olympus.

It will be the second Marcellus shale fracking well pad in the township. The first was the Zeus well pad off of Guyer Road, where Olympus plans to drill three more wells.

Township supervisors recently approved the project after there were no objections during a hearing last week.

The conditional use hearing was necessary for the new well located in area zoned industrial for oil and gas development, according to township zoning rules.

The project will decrease the number of water tankers driving to the site by 95% because Olympus is paying the Municipal Authority of New Kensington to connect additional waterlines to pipe water directly to the site.

The energy company is paying $1.2 million to lay additional waterlines to existing ones, which will benefit residents, according to the municipal authority.

Some residents asked if their water pressure would be impacted during drilling operations.

Johnson assured them there shouldn’t be a problem.

“Residents have primacy over us, and it’s spelled out in our contract with the New Kensington municipal authority,” he said.

Peak demand during drilling operations will run between 2.1 million to 2.2 million gallons a day, Johnson said.