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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).
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Ascent Resources Shift in Strategy in 2024: Less Gas, More Liquids

Ascent Resources, founded as American Energy Partners by gas legend Aubrey McClendon, is a privately held company focusing 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. Ascent, headquartered in Oklahoma City, OK, is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The company issued its fourth quarter and full-year 2023 update yesterday. The update contains a statement by CEO Jeff Fisher that says we should look for a shift in the company’s strategy in 2024 for less gas production and more liquids production.
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Sale of East Ohio Gas Co. from Dominion to Enbridge Now Complete

Last September, Dominion Energy and Enbridge co-announced that Dominion had agreed to sell the company’s remaining natural gas local distribution companies (LDCs) that Dominion owns to Enbridge for $14.0 billion, which includes $9.4 billion in cash plus the assumption of debt (see Dominion Energy Loses Mind – Sells Remaining LDC NatGas Businesses). The deal includes three LDCs — The East Ohio Gas Company, Public Service Company of North Carolina, and Questar Gas Company (along with Wexpro Company). The first of the three, the East Ohio Gas Company, officially changed hands yesterday. Of the $14 billion being spent for all three, East Ohio Gas represents $6.6 billion — roughly half.
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Rhode Island Neighbors Prefer Gas Outages to Permanent LNG Plant

In 2019, the Rhode Island Energy Facility Siting Board waived a licensing requirement for a “temporary” LNG storage facility in Portsmouth to prevent another gas outage episode from happening again (see With “Backs Against Wall” Rhode Island Approves LNG Facility). Board members complained they had no choice, that “we have our backs against the wall” and “people’s lives could be in danger” if they didn’t approve the LNG facility. The “temporary” facility has remained operating since that time. Rhode Island Energy recently submitted a proposal to make the facility permanent instead of an ongoing temporary installation. The people who live nearby and for whom it keeps them warm in the winter oppose the plan. They prefer to freeze.
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Maine U-Turn: Bill Banning New Gas Hookups Changed to Study Issue

In January, we told you the State of Maine was actively considering a new law, L.D. 2077, that would prohibit natural gas companies from charging ratepayers for the construction and expansion of gas service mains and gas service lines beginning Feb. 1, 2025 (see Maine Debates Democrat Bill to Limit New Natural Gas Customers). Under the bill, business and residential customers who seek new gas mains and service lines would pay the entire cost to hook up for the service themselves. In other words, nobody would pay to connect (far too expensive), resulting in a de facto ban on connecting new customers for natural gas service. However, the bill’s language has been altered drastically to remove that provision and instead requires three different, separate studies of the issue.
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DRBC’s Disappointing Executive Director Steve Tambini is Retiring

DRBC Executive Director Steve Tambini

Wow, does time fly! Exactly ten years ago, MDN reported that the Executive Director of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), Carol Collier (a hardened leftist), was retiring. In her place, the DRBC had selected Steve Tambini, then the vice president of operations at Pennsylvania American Water (see DRBC Selects Steve Tambini as New Leader, Enviro Groups Unsure). Big Green was unsure of Tambini and concerned about how he would lead the commission, which gave us hope he might be a good change. As it turned out, Big Green had nothing to worry about. Tambini turned out to be a patsy for their cause.
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PA DEP Claims Progress in Reducing Out-of-Control Permit Backlog

Permitting in Pennsylvania, especially permits overseen by the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), has been broken for years. A Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation permit sometimes takes two, three, or even six to eight months for approval — instead of the law-mandated 14 days. It got so bad that in the fall of 2019, PA State Sen. Gene Yaw introduced a bill to allow third-party reviews of these permits in an attempt to speed it up (see PA Sen. Yaw Intros Bill to Allow 3rd Party Review of Erosion Permits). In June 2023, then-DEP Sec. Rich Negrin told lawmakers at a Senate hearing that he was making good progress on his 10-point plan to speed up permits and cut down on red tape (see DEP Sec. Negrin Focused on Cutting Red Tape, Speeding New Permits). PA Gov. Josh Shapiro introduced a “money-back guarantee” on slow permits last November, which we exposed as bogus (see Shapiro’s DEP Money-Back Guarantee for Permit Delays is Bogus). The DEP says thanks to the guarantee and other changes, the agency is getting much better with turnaround times for permits.
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Other Stories of Interest: Fri, Mar 8, 2024

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation spring grant cycle now open; NATIONAL: John Kerry mocked as ‘climate clown’ for comments on Russia, Ukraine, and climate; U.S. natural gas futures fall on growing storage surplus; Industry groups pitch plenty of alterations to hydrogen’s ‘three pillars’; Saudi Aramco, UAE’s ADNOC in talks to invest in US LNG projects, sources say; U.S. oil, gas producers say President Biden ignores energy leadership; INTERNATIONAL: A series of uncommon events threatens Chevron buyout of Hess.
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