| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

17 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Feb 26 – Mar 3

There were 17 new permits issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica during the week of Feb. 26 – Mar. 3, down 1 from 18 permits issued the prior week. Pennsylvania issued 8 new permits last week. Ohio issued 4 new permits. And West Virginia issued 5 new permits last week. Four companies tied for the top slot of receiving 3 permits each: Chesapeake Energy (Susquehanna County, PA), Seneca Resources (Tioga County, PA), Gulfport Energy (Harrison County, OH), and Antero Resources (Ritchie County, WV). Arsenal Resources received 2 permits (Taylor County, WV). Three companies received a single new permit: Laurel Mountain Energy (Butler County, PA), Campbell Oil & Gas (Westmoreland County, PA), and EOG Resources (Noble County, OH).
Continue reading

| | | | | | | | | | | | | |

DT Midstream 4Q – M-U Pipeline Operations Expand, Looking for M&A

DT Midstream (DTM), headquartered in Detroit, owns major assets in the Marcellus/Utica region and other regions like the Haynesville. DTM issued its fourth quarter 2023 update last Friday. The Marcellus/Utica region (which they call Northeast in the report) received several prominent mentions during a conference call with analysts. Also of note were comments by DT CEO David Slater, who said he’s positioning the company to take advantage of “bolt-on” opportunities in the regions where they operate. Meaning he’s on the lookout for mergers and acquisitions.
Continue reading

| |

Leasing Activity Picks Up in Noble & Guernsey Counties in Ohio

According to an article in Ohio Country Journal, interest and activity in eastern Ohio’s oil and gas leasing has been growing in some new areas. Those areas include, says Clif Little, Ohio State University Extension educator in Guernsey County, portions of Guernsey and Noble counties where there hadn’t been interest in the past. Little specializes in, among other things, oil and gas leases. He’s the author of “Important aspects of an oil and gas lease” (copy below), chock full of good tips for landowners either leasing for the first time or looking to re-lease.
Continue reading

| | | | | | | | | | | |

17 New Shale Well Permits Issued for OH-WV (Not PA) Jul 10-16

We’re trying not to sound too PO’d (personally offended) here, but once again, in what seems to be an every month or two occurrence, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) online oil and gas permitting database is throwing an error. So, we are left with no permit numbers for PA for the week of July 10-16. Neither the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) reporting system nor the West Virginia DEP reporting system have these problems. It is only the PA DEP that routinely goes “off the air.” Why is that? [Rant over] Even without PA’s numbers, OH and WV combined issued 17 permits last week, versus the pathetic 11 total from the prior week that included PA.
Continue reading

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

39 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jun 26-Jul 2

New shale permits issued for Jun 26 – Jul 2 in the Marcellus/Utica saw a dramatic increase, thanks to a bump in Pennsylvania’s numbers. There were 39 new permits issued last week, way up from 11 issued the previous week. Last week’s permit tally included 30 new permits in Pennsylvania, 8 new permits in Ohio, and just 1 new permit in West Virginia. Coterra Energy scored the most new permits with a whopping 12 issued in Susquehanna County, PA (for two well pads). Range Resources had the second most new permits, with 7 permits issued in Washington County, PA (for one pad).
Continue reading

| | | | | | | | | | | | | |

21 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jun 12-18

New shale permits issued for Jun 12-18 in the Marcellus/Utica gained one. There were 21 new permits issued, up from 20 the previous week. Last week’s permit tally included 12 new permits in Pennsylvania, 6 new permits in Ohio, and 3 new permits in West Virginia. Snyder Brothers scored the most new permits, with 9 issued in Armstrong County, PA. INR had the second most new permits, with 4 permits issued in Carroll County, OH.
Continue reading

| | |

9th Request to Frack Under OH State Land – Wolf Run State Park

Two weeks ago, shale drillers could, for the first time, begin to apply for permits to drill under (not on top of) Ohio state lands and state parks under newly formulated rules established by the Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management (OGLM) Commission (see Ohio State Lands Now Open for O&G Leasing – Virtual Ribbon-Cutting). Last week we brought you the list of the first eight “nominations” (requests) to drill under Ohio state land once the door opened (see 8 Ohio State Land Locations Nominated for Utica Shale Drilling). We now have a ninth nomination/request to drill–this one a request to drill under 2,000 acres of Wolf Run State Park in Noble County.
Continue reading

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

26 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV May 8-14

New shale permits issued for May 8-14 in the Marcellus/Utica rose from the prior week. There were 26 new permits issued last week, up from 20 in the prior week (and 18 the week before that). Last week’s tally included 13 new permits for Pennsylvania, 10 new permits for Ohio, and 3 new permits in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits was CNX Resources, with 7 permits issued (5 of them in Westmoreland County, PA, and 2 in Greene County, PA). Encino Energy, showing up as EAP Ohio in the report, had the second-highest tally with 5 permits (issued in Harrison County, OH).
Continue reading

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

32 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Mar 20-26

New shale permits issued for Mar. 20-26 in the Marcellus/Utica dropped by two from the prior week. There were 32 new permits issued in total last week, including 22 new permits for Pennsylvania, 8 new permits for Ohio, and 2 permits in West Virginia. (Note we recently updated last week’s report to include WV permits after the WVDEP fixed its database.) Last week the top receiver of new permits was CNX Resources with 10 new permits spread across two PA counties: Greene and Allegheny. Snyder Brothers received 8 permits in Armstrong County, PA.
Continue reading

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

59 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 23-29

New shale permits issued for Jan. 23-29 in the Marcellus/Utica soared! There were 59 new permits issued in total, including 34 (!) new permits for Pennsylvania, 24 (!) new permits for Ohio, and just one measly permit issued in West Virginia. Chesapeake Energy was the runaway winner by grabbing 13 permits, all of them for wells in Bradford County, PA. EOG Resources was the runner-up, receiving eight permits for drilling in Noble County, OH.
Continue reading

| | | | | | | | |

Ascent Resources Donates STEM Program to 2K Elementary Kids in OH

STEM kit drop-off in Harrison County, OH (click for larger version)

Ascent Resources, Ohio’s largest natural gas producer and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S., recently donated STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) curriculum and supplies to some 2,100 elementary students in eastern Ohio, where the company works. The materials in the curriculum boxes that Ascent staff assembled came from the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP). The kiddies can now learn about the wonders of fossil energy and contemplate one day working in the Utica oil and gas industry, using STEM every day in their jobs.
Continue reading

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

Weekly Shale Drilling Permits for PA, OH, WV: Sep 27-Oct 3

Last week Pennsylvania issued just 8 new permits for Marcellus/Utica drilling, down a bit from previous weeks. Ohio issued 10 new permits. We don’t often see Ohio issue more permits in a week than Pennsylvania. Finally, West Virginia issued just 1 permit for new shale drilling last week.
Continue reading

| | | |

OH Court Rules Adverse Possession of Shallow Minerals Includes Shale

Ohio’s Seventh District Court recently delivered a ruling that affects landowners/rights owners as well as drillers. In Tomechko v. Garrett (full copy below), the justices ruled that “adverse possession” of shallow gas rights expands to include deep gas rights (i.e. shale rights) in cases where shallow production “modified the subterranean structure.” According to the legal experts at Frost Brown Todd, “the Seventh District’s ruling strains credulity” and has the potential to “have unintended consequences and will almost certainly result in greater uncertainty and litigation.”
Continue reading

| | | |

AEP Retains Drilling Rights for 31K Acres of Park Land Sold to OH

American Electric Power (AEP) recently sealed a deal to sell more than 31,000 acres of land in eastern Ohio to the state of Ohio for $47 million. The state will use it for a state park. However, subsurface rights are not part of the deal. AEP will wisely hold on those rights. At some point AEP may want to drill and frack the land, and that has antis in a tizzy.
Continue reading

| | | | | | |

Pin Oak Buys Protege Energy’s Utica Assets in Ohio, W.V.

Listen up landowners in Washington County, OH: For some of you, your shale lease may now be owned by someone else. Pin Oak Energy Partners, a relatively young Marcellus/Utica driller based in Akron, OH, has purchased all of Protégé Energy’s Utica Shale leases (and other assets) located in Washington and Noble counties in Ohio, and Wood County in West Virginia. The vast majority of the lease transfers are in Washington County.
Continue reading

| | | | | |

Exploded Tetco Pipe in Ohio Back Online – 10 Weeks Later

A 30-inch segment of Enbridge’s Texas Eastern Transmission Company (Tetco) interstate natural gas pipeline exploded in January, sending two people to the hospital and destroying two nearby homes when fires from the blast spread (see Texas Eastern Pipeline Explodes in Noble County, OH – Injuries). The pipeline is now, after 10 weeks, fully back online and flowing at 100% capacity. We have an update on how the outage affected flows in the region, and the likely cause for the explosion.
Continue reading