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Chesapeake Energy Puts Most of its Chips on Northeast PA Marcellus
When Chesapeake Energy issued its first-quarter update a month ago, MDN pointed out that the company has finally turned from its dalliance with oil drilling (having fired CEO Doug Lawler) and is now training its sights back on its first love, natural gas drilling (see Chesapeake 1Q21: Returning to Its Roots of Drilling for NatGas). Northeastern Pennsylvania plays a key role in the company’s plans for the future. In 2021, some 45% of Chessy’s production will come from four northeastern PA counties: Bradford, Sullivan, Susquehanna, and Wyoming.
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So-called ESG (environmental, social, governance) programs are popping up everywhere–kind of like spring dandelions. Especially programs aimed at the E (environmental) part of that acronym. EQT Corporation, the country’s largest natural gas producer (focused 100% on the Marcellus/Utica) has recently gotten the ESG religion. EQT has joined (by our count) no less than four ESG programs this year. The latest is a program sponsored by LNG export king Cheniere Energy, aimed at monitoring and cutting down on methane emissions at drill sites. Two other M-U drillers are joining the Cheniere effort too.
Williams, Kinder Morgan, and other giant midstream companies with major assets in the Marcellus/Utica are looking at, investigating, and actively considering blending in hydrogen with natural gas in their interstate pipelines. Sounds easy, right? Just hook up to a handy source of hydrogen and let the molecules flow and mingle with methane molecules. But adding hydrogen (H2) to existing methane (CH4) pipelines is not a simple thing. There are major roadblocks to flowing H2 through CH4 pipes. At present, it’s still just a pipe dream.
In March we told you about House of Representatives (HR) Bill 1512, the Climate Leadership and Environmental Action for our Nation’s Future Act (or CLEAN Future Act). The bill gives vast powers to the unelected bureaucrats at the EPA to set new regulatory demands before permits can be approved for facilities that produce plastics or the raw materials used to produce plastics, such as ethylene or propylene (see 
The Enverus U.S. rig count is once again breaking one-year records. For the week ending June 9, the rig count stood at 560–the highest number it has seen since April 2020, just as the pandemic was starting to really take hold and shut everything down. The Marcellus play gained one rig over the past week, while the Utica lost a rig. Collectively the M-U is currently running 45 rigs.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Coal plants in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ohio to shut down; Sen. Yaw visits Shell petrochemical plant in Beaver County; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Aethon Energy announces collaboration with Cheniere Energy on GHG emissions; NATIONAL: Oil prices get boost from inflation data; Why are they celebrating the Keystone XL cancellation?; New technology on display at the Shale Energy Conference and Tradeshow; Biden looks at financial rules to deprive oil of capital, shift country on climate.