Tilden Marcellus Files for Voluntary Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Tilden Marcellus LLC, a Canonsburg, Pa.-based oil and gas company, filed for chapter 11 protection last Friday in the Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Tilden is a “sister company” to Rockdale Marcellus. You may recall Rockdale went through bankruptcy last year, resulting in the sale of substantially all of its assets (in Pennsylvania) to Repsol for $220 million in cash (see Sale of Rockdale PA Assets to Repsol Closes – $220M Cash, $2M Debt). Tilden, while tightly related to Rockdale, has its own assets separate from Rockdale (less than $50 million).
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Last June, Range Resources announced it had joined the Project Canary TrustWell™ Responsible Gas Program (see 
We’re not quite sure what to think of this. The West Virginia State Legislature passed House Bill (HB) 2581 on the last day of the annual WV legislative session in April 2021. HB 2581 required the State Tax Commissioner to develop a revised methodology to value oil and natural gas properties for the purposes of assessing property taxes. The State Tax Department submitted an emergency rule over the summer that was, quite frankly, a mess. The rule created a complex system that is currently mired in controversy with both drillers and landowners confused about how much of a tax bill they will owe this year. The legislature is doing it again.
Pennsylvania has already received the first $25 million payment from the so-called infrastructure bill, a down payment on what will eventually be $330.6 million (see 
According to S&P Global Platts, spot gas prices across the northeast and Appalachia were “trading sharply lower Feb. 7.” It is, says Platts, “a dynamic that could continue into the second week of February, as stronger regional gas production and higher temperature forecasts loosen supply and demand fundamentals.” How much lower are prices trading? The Eastern Gas South trading hub (formerly Dominion South) fell by almost $1/MMBtu yesterday. The Columbia Gas, Appalachia trading hub fell more than $1.
According to numbers published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2020 Pennsylvania generated and sent more electricity to neighboring states than any other state in the union. More than 230 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity was generated in Pennsylvania during 2020, and nearly 78 million MWh of that electricity was delivered to neighboring states. If PA Gov. Wolf’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax scheme is adopted, much of that electric production will disappear. PA’s neighbors should be VERY concerned.
Venture Global LNG expects to load the inaugural cargo at its Calcasieu Pass LNG export facility in Louisiana on or after February 9. This is fantastic news! In addition, Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass export facility (a competitor with Calcasieu Pass) received FERC clearance to start commercial production on its sixth processing train. The best part for both bits of news? Marcellus/Utica molecules flow to Sabine Pass and either already do, or will flow to Calcasieu Pass in the future. New markets for our gas!
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Utica Shale Academy to fall short of funding expectations; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Bechtel to start construction of $30B Driftwood LNG plant in April; Vermont gas utility has a new service helping electrify homes; NATIONAL: Growing U.S. LNG output has influenced global logistics, pricing; Biden is disconnected from American’s reluctance to be regulated out of fossil fuel prosperity.