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Weekly Shale Drilling Permits for PA, OH, WV: Oct. 12-16

What do you know? All three M-U states issued new shale drilling permits last week! That’s the first time in perhaps the last two months all three states issued new shale permits in the same week. Pennsylvania issued 9 new permits, Ohio issued 3 new permits, and West Virginia issued 8 new permits.
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PA Court Shuts Down Anti Request for ME2 Emergency Plan

Anti-fossil fuelers are predictable and their motives transparent. A movement anti in Chester County (liberal, far-left Democrat) wanted to expose confidential safety information about the Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline public. Specifically, he wanted to reveal “blast radius” information in hopes of inflaming opposition against the pipeline in his near-religious effort to get the pipeline permanently shut down. It’s a holy war for these people. Zealotry.
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NYMEX NatGas Price Breaks $3/Mcf Thanks to LNG Shipments

The price of natural gas trading at the Henry Hub terminal in southern Louisiana, the national benchmark price used for NYMEX futures contracts, has been on a rocket ship ride up over the past two days. Two days ago the price added $0.12 in a single day (see Louisiana LNG Begins Moving Again, Forecast Colder, Gas Price Jumps). Yesterday the price added *another* $0.11, passing the $3/Mcf mark for the first time in over a year.
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American Energy Partners Buys 230+ SWPA Conventional Gas Wells

American Energy Partners, Inc. (AEPT), based in Allentown, PA, is a small but diversified company. They have their fingers in a number of different oil and gas pies, including subsidies in drilling, remediation, water, valuation services, and education. AEPT announced a new deal yesterday to buy a producer with 230+ conventional natural gas wells in western Pennsylvania.
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Wall St. Wants No 3Q Spending/Production Growth from M-U Drillers

We are on the cusp of the quarterly earnings reports issued by all publicly-traded companies. In fact, EQT, the largest natural gas-producing company in the U.S., released their numbers and held a conference call this morning (we’ll report on it tomorrow). As Marcellus/Utica drillers get ready to release their third-quarter numbers, analysts on Wall Street are signaling what they want to see.
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With Petchem Demand Higher, Ethane Getting “Rejected” Less in M-U

The mighty Mariner East pipeline system (ME1 and ME2) flows up to 345,000 barrels per day of NGLs, including propane and ethane, to the Philadelphia area where most of the ethane gets exported. Enterprise Products Partners’ 1,200-mile Appalachia-to-Texas (ATEX) ethane pipeline flows 145,000 barrels per day of ethane to the Gulf Coast. Even with all that ethane flowing out of our region to other markets, and even with some ethane sold and used in our region, most of the ethane produced in the M-U gets “rejected.”
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Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Oct 22, 2020

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Trump blasts Biden’s fracking plans at rally; Cabot Oil & Gas: poised to generate nearly $700 million in positive cash flow in 2021; Energy Transfer awards $34,700 grant to protect Lower Chichester volunteer firefighters; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Texas oil trade group launches online career center as layoffs mount; NATIONAL: EIA forecasts slightly higher U.S. propane consumption this winter season; Trump commands energy sector’s financial backing, but Biden makes inroads; Five largest US oil and gas companies lost $307bn in market cap YoY, a 45% plunge amid COVID-19 crisis; INTERNATIONAL: Climate experts fly more often than other scientists.
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