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LOLA Energy Files 2nd Lawsuit Against EQT for Trespass in SWPA
Last July MDN broke the news that LOLA Energy had filed a lawsuit in Greene County, PA against EQT for allegedly drilling shale wells under property EQT formerly leased, but property for which the leases had lapsed and were subsequently scooped up by LOLA Energy II (see LOLA Energy Sues EQT for Trespass, Drilling Wells Under LOLA Land). LOLA said they are the owners of those leases now and that EQT has drilled under some of their properties. In another MDN exclusive, LOLA has just filed a second lawsuit in Greene County against EQT for the same thing: trespassing on LOLA-leased property.
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In mid-November Gulfport Energy, one of the biggest drillers in the Ohio Utica Shale (210,000 acres), announced they are laying off 13% of their workforce, ending (for now) their stock share buy-back program, and “refreshing” the board with three new members (see 
Good news for oilfield services companies that offer fracking services in the Ohio Utica Shale. The Tenth District Ohio Court of Appeals recently ruled that an amendment to an existing law granting tax exempt status for oil and gas equipment not only applies to equipment purchased by frackers from now on, it also applies to equipment they’ve purchased (and paid sales tax on) going back in time too. In other words, some frackers are owed refunds on the sales tax they’ve paid in the past.
If you use the number of active rigs operating in a given shale play/state as the measure for “success,” 2019 wasn’t such a good year for the Marcellus/Utica. In January, Pennsylvania entered 2019 with 48 active rigs. In December that number was cut nearly in half, to 25 active rigs. It was a similar story for Ohio, which entered 2019 with 17 active rigs and exited with 12 rigs. West Virginia, on the other hand, entered 2019 with 15 rigs and exited the year with the same number. But at one point during the year WV had 21 active rigs. We have the monthly rig stats below for all three states.
With a decrease in rig counts/new drilling in 2019 (see today’s companion story), it was inevitable we would see layoffs in the Marcellus/Utica industry in 2019. The Pittsburgh region alone saw over 400 layoffs from three companies: EQT, Range and CNX. But that wasn’t the whole story.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Tone-deaf Democrats risk handing western Pennsylvania to Trump; Falling NY population is part of Cuomo’s plan; Range Resources director to resign; NATIONAL: US oil, gas rig count down by 4 to 836, lowest since early 2017; Natural-gas slide continues to start 2020; The Top 10 RBN energy prognostications for 2020 – Year of the Rat; Hamm, McClendon — and other names behind a fracking great decade for american oil and gas; INTERNATIONAL: As demand increases, Canada’s most populated province expanding natgas infrastructure; Best decade yet: humanity grew richer and more sustainable in the 2010s.