This book is dedicated to the members and staff of the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association,

past and present, all of whom contributed to a century of service to the oil and natural gas industry
in West Virginia, the United States of America, and the World.

A CENTURY OF SERVICE
West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association

19152015

Pipelining the
early days. Much
work done by man
and horse.

16

WEST VIRGINIA OIL AND NATURAL GAS ASSOCIATION

Pre-1915

Benjamin A. Hardesty

Industry and Community Leader

Ben Hardesty has been a recognized leader in the oil and gas
industry in the region for more than 35 years. For thirty of those
years he has served on the board of WVONGS as an advocate
of the industry he knows so well. Ben Hardesty comes by his
interest in the oil and gas industry honestly. In his office is a
photograph of one of the first oil wells drilled in West Virginia
by the South Penn Oil Company (Pennzoil) in the early 1900s
on the farm of his great-grandfather, R. R. Hardesty. His great
uncle, David J. Carter, was a Harrison County native and early
wildcatter in the Williston Basin in Montana and North Dakota.
Interests Carter acquired are still in the family and managed
by Ben. Further, his two brothers have been in the oil and gas
business for many years.
During his career, Ben held progressively important
i>>>`>>}ii>} i]
Inc., Development Drilling Corp., Stonewall Gas Company
(19821995) and Dominion E & P, Inc. (19952010.) Over the
years he witnessed first hand many of the economic booms
and disruptions that have marked the Appalachian oil and gas

industry. While at Dominion, the firm drilled some of the first

test wells in the Marcellus Shale that led to the development
of this prolific resource in West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Upon retiring as President of Dominion E&P in 2010, Ben
vi`
> i}
]>ii}V}Li
focused on oil and gas in the Appalachian Basin and on-shore
United States. He now serves on the board of directors of two
publicly held companies, Antero Resources, a major operator
i>Vi->i]>`8]V]V`iwi`
services across the country. Prior board memberships include
Blue Dot Energy Services and Huntington Banks.
Mr. Hardesty is widely respected and recognized for this
expertise in land, drilling, production, gas transportation
and oilfield services. Policy makers often seek his advice and
counsel and he has, at many different times during his long
career, served as a spokesperson for the industry. He currently
serves as a member of the visiting committee of the WVU
Department of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering. He
has been recognized as Oil and Gas Man of the Year, and
President of both WVONGA and IOGA. In 2009, he was
inducted into the West Virginia Business Hall of Fame, and in
2007 was honored by Whos Who in West Virginia Business.
Mr. Hardesty has served his nation, state and community as
a volunteer and leader throughout his career. His civic efforts
include leadership positions with The Nature Conservancy
of West Virginia, the Harrison County and West Virginia
Chambers of Commerce, the Episcopal Diocese of West
Virginia, and the Central West Virginia (Allohak) Council of the
Boy Scouts of America. His record of civic engagement is both
sustained and significant.
Ben Hardesty, who became an Eagle Scout at a young
age, is also well know for this love of the outdoors and his
avocation, mountain climbing. He has teamed with other
local alpine mountaineers to climb mountains in North and
South America, Europe and Africa. His climbing expeditions
include the Matterhorn, Mont Blanc, Mt. Elbrus in Russia, Mt.
Kilimanjaro, and Pico de Orizaba in Mexico, and many of the
major peaks in the Rockies and Cascades.
Mr. Hardesty is a native West Virginian who was raised in
Shinnston. A graduate of WVU, he returned to our state after
serving as an active duty officer in the U.S. Army Security Agency
and working in Washington as staffer for a member of Congress.
During that time, he earned a M.S. degree from The George
Washington University. While in Washington, he met and married
his wife, Jean Mann Hardesty, a native of Jacksonville, Florida.
The two returned to Clarksburg in the mid-seventies and have
remained active in the community since that time. Ben and
Jeanie have three children and three grandchildren.
written by David C. Hardesty, Jr., President Emeritus and
Professor of Law, West Virginia University

A CENTURY OF SERVICE

65

2006

NATURAL GAS
EXPLORATION
GOES FROM
VERTICAL TO
HORIZONTAL
A CENTURY OF SERVICE

81

92

WEST VIRGINIA OIL AND NATURAL GAS ASSOCIATION

The Future

The Marcellus is now the second largest natural gas field on the planet.
Since the shale revolution natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica is so now
so abundant that natural gas from our Marcellus and Utica wells is flowing
OUT of the northeast in all 4 directions. Natural gas is flowing north to
Canada in pipes that used to bring gas in from Canada. The Rocky Mountain
Express is now carrying natural gas west so that it can be shipped to Chicago
and Wisconsin. Natural gas is being shipped to eastern cities and into
Virginia. Soon our West Virginia natural gas will be shipped east to the
LNG export terminal at Cove Point, Maryland to be shipped halfway
around the world to India and Japan. All those transmission lines that
have been bringing natural gas into the northeast from the gulf coast for
decades have all been turned around to take natural gas and natural gas
liquids from the northeast to southeast USA markets, gulf coast LNG
terminals for shipment to global markets and the natural gas liquids to
chemical plants on the gulf coast.
In just seven short years the United States has become the Energy
Super Power of the world. We are the leading natural gas producer in the
world with more than a 500 year supply, by many estimates. The United
States is now the second leading producer of oil and we could be number
one by the end of 2015. While many Americans, including our political
leaders are struggling to understand the landscape of energy has gone from
scarcity or finite reserves to abundance our rules and laws need changed.
Our role has changed from importer of resources to having the ability to
export energy to our strategic partners throughout the world. The geopolitical power of energy is shifting away from OPEC and Russia to the
United States and West Virginia as an energy leader. West Virginia energy
is changing the world.
This may be only the beginning. West Virginia and the United States
may have far more energy than anyone ever considered. The Marcellus
drilling and fracturing technology is now being used to drill shallow
horizontal wells. Reservoirs like the Berea, the Injun, the Lower Huron
and others once thought to be depleted are being drilled and fraced using
Marcellus technology and seeing incredible production increases. We
knew that we hadnt drained all of the oil and gas from these fields but
until now we had no way to economically drain additional hydrocarbons.
We have been drilling shallow reservoirs in West Virginia for nearly 200
years. Estimates from geologists in the industry estimate that we may
have left as much as 8090% oil and natural gas is still in the ground.
These old reservoirs can now be unlocked with horizontal drilling and
hydraulic fracturing.
WVONGA needs to continue to look out for the best interests of the O&G
industry. One of the most important lessons learned from WVONGAs first
100 years is that the oil and gas industrys ability to find and economically
develop natural gas and oil in West Virginia is essential.
Many of the anti-fossil fuel groups are devastated by our success
and our now abundant natural gas and oil reserves. What this means
is that economically wind and solar will never replace natural gas and

oil. Anyone with common sense already knew this

couldnt happen but with the abundance and low cost
of natural gas and oil the antis know they can never
compete. So what they couldnt achieve technically
or economically they will try to achieve by additional
restrictive and expensive anti-industry regulations and
continuing to sow and promote lies, junk science and
half truths about the oil and gas industry. Sadly they
public really doesnt know or care where their energy
comes from as long as the light and heat come on
when needed and gasoline is abundant and cheap. The
good news is that the public is open to the truth about
us. The antis have been caught in lies already.
The challenge for WVONGA and its member
companies is to never become complacent.
WVONGAs primary functions for the next 25 years
probably need to be lobbying, public relations and
public energy education. We are a big industry now.
We will continue to get a lot of media, government
and public attention. With what government and the
antis have done to the nuclear and coal industries the
oil and gas industrys role has changed. We are it! If
we dont come a lot of good people freeze in the dark.
Millions of people are now depending on us and they
dont even know it. They need to understand how
essential we are to their everyday lives.
We can be proud of WVONGAs first 100 years.
We need to celebrate our accomplishments. We can
look to the future with excitement. Our industry
through American ingenuity, technology and hard
work has turned energy scarcity into abundance and
prosperity that will last hundreds of years.

Natural Gas from West Virginia

has Worldwide Benefits

At Cove Point, the natural gas will be super-cooled to minus

260 degrees Fahrenheit, turned into a liquid and pumped onto
`Lii`V>}>>>``>]i Li
changed back into a gas to generate electricity, among other
Thanks to its vast and growing reserves, the United States
industrial and food-production uses.
has been called the Saudi Arabia of natural gas. The U.S.
This is important because, for example, India is home
Energy Information Administration projects that the domestic to one-quarter of the worlds undernourished population.
supply of the clean-burning fuel will surpass demand by 2016. According to the latest reports from the United Nations
The agency also says the United States will produce enough
Food and Agricultural Organization, 194.6 million Indians are
natural gas that some of the surplus can be exported with
undernourished. Also, 51 percent of women between ages
minimal impact on domestic natural gas prices.
15 and 59 are anemic; 44 percent of children under 5 are
Along with being part of the presidents plan to help the
underweight. Thousands die of starvation every year.
world shift to cleaner fuels, the exportation of natural gas will
Currently, the country uses coal for 70 percent of its
create thousands of jobs and shore up our relationships with
electric generation. But it suffers from chronic fuel shortages
two key allies, India and Japan, said Mike Frederick, vice
and blackouts. In July 2012, one such blackout left about
i`i] "i>>]ivi>
700 million people without electricity for two days. Homes,
largest energy companies.
offices, emergency services and hospitals lost power. Trains
Some of the gas designated for India will come from the
could not run. Traffic lights clicked off.
Marcellus and Utica shale fields in West Virginia, which has
The natural gas from West Virginia will help prevent that. It
huge reserves and has been on the front line of an accelerating will help produce reliable and clean-burning electricity. And by
U.S. economic recovery, Frederick added.
replacing outdated coal stations with natural gas for electricity
Beginning in 2017, the natural gas will move via the nations generation, the country could help reduce global greenhouse
ii>ii
i*  emissions by millions of tons a year.
iv>Vv>VL]`
f{LqfnL
When completed, Cove Point will produce about 5.25 million
facility, Cove Point will be the largest natural gas exporting
tons of liquefied natural gas annually for India and Japan. These
operation on the East Coast. It will use its existing seven tanks shipments are projected to reduce the U.S. trade imbalance by at
iiiwi`>>}>  >V>`i` least $2.8 billion and possibly as much as $7.1 billion every year.
by a dike engineered for safety and hold 110 percent of the
written by Thomas N. Kazas, public relations, Dominion Resources
tanks contents.

A CENTURY OF SERVICE

93