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37 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jul 4-10

For the week of July 4-10, the three Marcellus/Utica states issued 37 permits to drill new shale wells. Pennsylvania led the way, as it typically does, by issuing 25 new permits. Three PA drillers tied with six permits each, all six (in each case) on the same pad: Olympus Energy in Allegheny County, Repsol in Bradford County, and Clean Energy Exploration in Tioga County. Ohio issued five new permits, with four going to Encino Energy for a single pad in Carroll County. West Virginia issued seven new permits, all of them to Antero Resources in Doddridge County but spread across three pads.
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34 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jun 13-19

We finally started to see more permits issued again last week. After the Marcellus/Utica was in the permit doldrum for nearly a month, bumping around at 20 permits or below, last week the number increased to a total of 34 permits issued to drill new shale wells. Pennsylvania issued 13 new permits, with seven of them going to Coterra Energy in Susquehanna County on the same pad. Ohio issued 14 new permits, with 12 of them going to Ascent Resources distributed across four different counties. And West Virginia issued seven new permits, all of them to Antero Resources, all in Doddridge County.
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WV Supreme Court Rules Against Antero in Well Tax Valuation Case

In a court case that stretches back to 2019, Antero Resources, the biggest driller in West Virginia, challenged how its wells had been valued for tax purposes in Doddridge and Richie counties for 2016 and 2017. Antero said the combined value of its wells for those years should have been $1.488 billion. The state tax commissioner reckoned the value to be $1.513 billion. The controversy of well valuations not only for Antero but other drillers led to a reworking of how the state law values shale wells (see WV Supreme Court Tweaks Shale Well Property Tax Calculation). That whole process is still playing out with a newly passed bill (see Bill to Fix WV NatGas Property Tax Rule Close – Will Gov Sign?). However, there’s still the outstanding issue of valuations back in 2016/2017 to resolve. Last week the WV Supreme Court resolved it…
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34 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 4-10

Last week Pennsylvania issued 15 new shale well permits (up one from the prior week), with Repsol taking five, and both Range Resources and Seneca Energy grabbing four each. All permits for each of the three were on a single pad. Ohio issued five new permits last week, with all five going to Ascent Resources. West Virginia issued a big 14 permits (after issuing no permits in the prior week). Antero Resource received six permits, with Southwestern Energy and HG Energy each receiving four permits in WV.
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20 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Mar 14-20

We’re back to covering just a single week of new permits issued. The good news is that the PA DEP’s reporting site was still up and online over the past week, so we have numbers! In Pennsylvania, 11 new permits were issued last week, with Coterra Energy (formerly Cabot Oil & Gas) getting the lion’s share (nine permits), all of them in Susquehanna County on two well pads. Ohio issued seven new permits last week, with Gulfport Energy scoring four of the seven, all on the same pad. West Virginia issued just two new permits, one to Antero Resources and the other to Tug Hill Operating.
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37 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Feb 28-Mar 13

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) finally got their reporting system back online after it had gone down for a second time in three weeks. We have collected the permits issued over a two-week period in this report, to catch things up (and because PA didn’t issue any permits for one of the two weeks). This current report shows permits issued from Monday, Feb. 28 through Sunday, Mar. 13. PA issued 15 new permits over the two-week period. The top permitees in PA were EQT and CNX, both with five permits each. In Ohio, 11 new permits were issued, with Encino Energy receiving four and Gulfport three permits. West Virginia also issued 11 new permits for the two-week period. Antero received six of WV’s permits, and both Southwestern Energy and Arsenal Resources scored two each.
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18 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Feb 14-20

The wild roller coaster continues of up, down, up, down, up, down. Last week the number of permits issued to drill new shale wells is down again–to 18 total. Pennsylvania had 16 new permits last week, nine for Repsol and three for Coterra Energy. All of Repsol and Coterra’s permits issued for Susquehanna County. West Virginia had two new permits, one each for Southwestern Energy and Antero Resources, in Marshall and Doddridge counties. Ohio? A big, fat, goose egg. No new shale permits issued last week in the Buckeye State.
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MPLX (MarkWest) Expands in Marcellus/Utica in 2022, New De-ethanizer

In late 2015 MPLX (i.e. Marathon Petroleum) bought out and merged in the Utica Shale’s premier midstream company, MarkWest Energy, for $15 billion (see MarkWest Energy Investors/Unitholders Approve Merger with Marathon). The “new” MarkWest, aka MPLX, plays on a much larger stage now, including ownership and operation of major assets in the Permian Basin and in the Bakken Shale, in addition to the Utica/Marcellus. Last week MPLX issued its fourth quarter and full-year 2021 update. Among the good news is that MPLX will increase spending in 2022, and some of the increase will go to projects in the M-U.
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61 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 17-23

Holy smokes! What just happened? For months (and months and months) the cumulative number of weekly permits issued to drill new shale wells in the Marcellus/Utica has fluctuated from the low teens to perhaps 30 total on the upper end. Last week, from Jan. 17-23, an amazing 61 permits were issued to drill new shale wells. Double the usual. Wow! Pennsylvania issued 24 new permits, Ohio issued 9, and blow-the-doors-off-we’ve-never-seen-so-many-permits-issued-in-one-week for West Virginia, the Mountain State issued 28 new shale permits.
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29 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Nov 29-Dec 5

There was a healthy number of new permits issued in all three actively drilling Marcellus/Utica states last week. In Pennsylvania, 14 new shale well permits were issued across the state. In Ohio, five new shale permits were issued, four of them to a single driller (Ascent Resources) in a single county (Jefferson). West Virginia came roaring back after getting skunked with no permits two weeks ago. WV issued 10 new shale permits last week with five going to a single well pad in Monongalia County.
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Unplanned Outage at 2 WV MarkWest Plants Knocks 2.4 Bcf/d Offline

MarkWest Sherwood Complex (click for larger version)

It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s disconcerting. We’re talking about an “operational event” (i.e. outage) at not one but two MarkWest Energy natural gas processing plants–both in West Virginia. MarkWest’s Sherwood plant in Doddridge County and Mobley plant in Wetzel County are affected. According to NGI’s Daily Gas Price Index, four pipeline receipt locations affected by the outage are scheduled to go to zero beginning today “until further notice.”
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Peregrine Buys Royalty Rights from Doddridge County, WV Landowners

Peregrine Energy Partners, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, continues a program to buy royalty rights in the Marcellus/Utica. Peregrine announced yesterday the company has cut a deal to buy “producing royalties in Doddridge County, West Virginia from several private sellers.” The private sellers are landowners/rights owners with wells drilled by Antero Resources and Jay-Bee Oil & Gas. No details on how much the deal was for.
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EQT Provides More Details on DGO Asset Sale, 1.4 Bcf/d Curtailment

EQT announced yesterday it has closed on a deal to sell “certain non-strategic assets” to Diversified Gas & Oil (DGO) for $125 million, plus another potential $20 million later on. MDN first told you about this deal on May 13 (see Diversified Buys 900 EQT Wells (67 Shale Wells) for $125M). This is the first time EQT has commented publicly on the DGO deal. EQT’s statement differs from previous news accounts about the deal.
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Antero Idles WV Frack Wastewater Plant Launched 2 Years Ago

Antero Clearwater Treatment Facility – Pennsboro, WV (click for larger version)

Ace reporter Paul Gough at the Pittsburgh Business Times is reporting an exclusive: Antero Resources, which built and launched an innovative frack wastewater recycling facility in Doddridge County, WV less than two years ago at a cost of $300 million, has idled the plant and is considering selling it. Say what?
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PHMSA Issues Warning to Atlantic Coast Pipeline – 7 Months Late

There is currently no construction happening along the 600-mile Dominion Energy Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project due to several lawsuits brought by disgusting Big Green groups that have blocked the path of the pipeline (see Dominion 2Q Update: The Battle to Build Atlantic Coast Pipe). Even though there is no current construction happening, a federal agency has just sent a “warning letter” to the builders citing violations of certain “unsafe construction practices at work sites”–related to work done last December.
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WV Supreme Court Tweaks Shale Well Property Tax Calculation

Last Wednesday the West Virginia Supreme Court issued a consolidated opinion lumping together seven similar lawsuits filed by Antero Resources and CNX Resources against the WV state tax commissioner and the Doddridge County Commission. The lawsuits take issue with the way gas well valuations are calculated for property taxes.
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