| | | | |

Stop Press! EQT Buying Equitrans Midstream in All-Stock Deal

We’ll be darned. We’ve been writing the MDN blog/news site since 2009, and a LOT has happened over those years. One of the more noteworthy events was when so-called activist investors forced EQT Corporation to split itself into two companies, which ultimately became EQT Corporation and Equitrans Midstream in November 2018 (see It’s Here! EQT Midstream Division Now Split into Standalone Co.). Equitrans became a new, completely separate company with its own board of directors and its own set of investors. And now, five-and-a-half years later, EQT dropped the bombshell announcement this morning that it has cut a deal to buy back Equitrans in an all-stock deal that creates a new company worth $35 billion. We wonder what the “activist” investors think of that.
Continue reading

| |

WV Mineral Rights Group Cut Out Landmen, Deal Direct w/Drillers

Cutting out the middleman

In the early days of the Marcellus/Utica, landowners often formed groups to negotiate lease terms on behalf of all members. It’s a smart move as it tends to deliver better lease terms — more money for a signing bonus, better royalty rates, and better language in the contract. In fact, MDN got its start when editor Jim Willis noticed a group of 300 landowners (many of them farmers) in nearby Deposit, NY, signed a lease deal with XTO Energy for $90 million (see this story). It made more than one millionaire! Some of the leases signed by landowner groups years ago are now expiring and in one case — in Marshall County, WV — group members are once again shopping their land as an entire block, looking for drillers who will give them the best terms.
Continue reading

| |

Encore Energy Provides Update for Shale Oil Drilling in Kentucky

Lawrence County, KY

Kentucky is not known as a hotbed of shale drilling activity. The Marcellus/Utica does not extend under the Bluegrass State. However, as we wrote about back in 2017, Kentucky does have the Berea Sandstone which contains oil deposits (see Fracking Comes to Kentucky – Encore Drills First Horizontal Oil Wells). In 2017 we brought you the news that Encore Energy was just beginning to drill shale wells looking to extract oil from the Berea. Fast forward to today, and there are over 100 horizontal wells permitted, drilled and/or producing in the Berea in Lawrence County. The horizontal Berea play is the most active and prolific oil and gas field operation in Kentucky.
Continue reading

| | | |

New Resource for WV Landowners on Leasing for Pore Space

In February, MDN brought readers the news that Tenaska, one of the largest privately operated companies in the U.S., is building a carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) hub spanning tens of thousands of acres in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia (see Landmen Knocking Doors in PA, OH, WV to Sign for CCS, Pore Rights). Landmen are “knocking on doors again” in all three states, looking to sign up landowners to store carbon dioxide deep underground. The West Virginia Surface Owners’ Rights Association (WVSORA) has done some research and is offering its advice to landowners about leasing pore space.
Continue reading

| | | | | | |

Baker Hughes U.S. Rig Count Loses 7 @ 622, M-U Even @ 44

Last week, the Baker Hughes rig count lost seven rigs after gaining three rigs the week before. The count went from 629 active rigs two weeks ago to 622 last week. The national count has consistently stayed between 620 and 625 (or one or two above or below that range) since last October until recently, when it went higher for a few weeks. But now it’s back in the same long-term range. The Marcellus/Utica remained the same last week with Pennsylvania at 24 rigs (the most since last June), Ohio with 12 rigs, and West Virginia with 8 rigs. The M-U combined is running 44 rigs, which it has run in four of the last five weeks.
Continue reading

| | |

Dog Research Debunks Link Between Fracking and Cancer

Last year, University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) researchers released three studies commissioned by the State Dept. of Health supposedly investigating whether or not there is a connection between shale drilling and childhood diseases, including cancer (see Pitt Releases Fake Research, Claims PA Fracking Linked to Kid Cancer). It was fake research, as we pointed out in a follow-up post (see Serious Flaws Revealed in Pitt’s So-Called Fracking/Cancer Studies). A new set of researchers with access to real data about cancer rates in dogs decided to see if a connection exists between dogs with cancer and their nearness to fracking operations. The new research finds no such correlation.
Continue reading

Other Stories of Interest: Mon, Mar 11, 2024

NATIONAL: Will election year finally make Biden admin get serious about natgas?; The hidden Qatar-backed ‘influencer’ pushing the Biden LNG pause; If you think energy policy is on wrong track, you may be accused of hate crime; INTERNATIONAL: Aramco announces $121 billion profit in 2023, 2nd highest on record; Aramco sees China demand growing, eyes more investments; For U.S. exporters, avoiding Panama, Suez Canals comes at a cost.
Continue reading