Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA
Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against EQT for Nonpayment of Royalties
Yesterday two Pennsylvania residents filed what they hope will turn into a class action lawsuit against EQT, the largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The lawsuit claims EQT has not made required royalty payments to the two residents nor to many (hundreds? thousands?) others. The lawsuit claims, among other things, a violation of PA’s Minimum Royalty Act that guarantees payments to all rights owners of at least 12.5% of the value of the produced gas.
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Imagine Hershey Park getting fined for smelling like a Hershey’s chocolate bar. Or Starbucks getting fined because the businesses next door can smell the coffee. The Shell cracker plant is getting fined for smelling like…maple syrup? Last week residents in several Beaver County, PA municipalities neighboring the Shell ethane cracker complex reported smelling something like a strong whiff of maple syrup. Shell immediately hired a third-party investigator and believes they now know what caused the smell.
In May MDN told you about one of the oddest combinations in recent memory–the merger of Permian oil driller Cimarex Energy with Marcellus gas driller Cabot Oil & Gas (see 
Reuters is reporting Chesapeake Energy has decided to elevate Domenic Dell’Osso Jr., the company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), to become the next Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Dom has been with the company, as its CFO, since 2008 when Aubrey McClendon was CEO. As near as we can tell Dom is the only surviving senior management person left in the company from the McClendon and follow-on Doug Lawler years.
In August the Virginia Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued a draft Section 401 of the federal Clean Water Act permit that would approve plans to let the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) finish its work in the state (see 
Yet another entrant in what is becoming a crowded field of programs aimed at reducing methane leaks from natural gas systems. A coalition of major U.S. natural gas operators, including Devon Energy, EQT, Sempra, Southern Company, and Williams, have signed on to something called the Veritas project, created by research firm GTI. How will Veritas reduce methane emissions and how is it different from Project Canary and other similar programs?
You knew the NYMEX (and spot) price for natural gas couldn’t go up forever. There will be days when it falls, or “corrects.” Yesterday was a big correction as the NYMEX futures price dropped 7.36% (down $0.40)–the biggest single-day drop in the NYMEX price in nine months. Despite the big drop, most experts we’ve read believe this is a temporary correction and the price will continue to climb.
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Haynesville gas production hits record high as US market tightens, prices surge; NATIONAL: Record operating costs are slowing the U.S. shale drilling revival; President Biden’s ‘green’ obsession is already a disaster; INTERNATIONAL: OPEC says India will be hooked on oil for years; China’s Shanghai gas exchange launches spot pricing for imported LNG.