Ascent Resources Buys Another 27K Utica Acres for $270 Million
Ascent Resources, originally founded as American Energy Partners by gas legend Aubrey McClendon, is a privately-held company that focuses 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. Ascent is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. There have been plenty of rumors swirling about Ascent, one that says Gulfport Energy is interested in selling to Ascent (see Rumor: Gulfport Energy in Talks to Merge with Ascent Resources) and another that the company is close to launching an IPO (see Ohio’s Largest Shale Driller, Ascent Resources, Preps for IPO). Here’s something that’s not a rumor: The company is buying another 26,800 acres in the Ohio Utica for $270 million.
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We finally have some good news to share with respect to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s foolish plan to force PA’s coal- and natural gas-fired power plants to begin paying an obscenely high tax on carbon dioxide emissions as part of the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). After exhausting various attempts to block it, Wolf published a final RGGI regulation in the Pennsylvania Bulletin in April (see 
In 2016 Laclede Group (later renamed to Spire), a St. Louis-based natural gas utility, said it planned to build a 65-mile pipeline from St. Louis through southwest Illinois and connect to the Rockies Express (REX) and Panhandle Eastern Pipeline (see 
In January 2017 Clean Energy Future (CEF), based in Massachusetts, announced it would build a second Utica gas-fired power plant in Lordstown next to the (then) under construction Lordstown Energy Center (see 
Last year Big Green lobbyists using the City of Oberlin, Ohio contested the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) decision to approve the Enbridge/DTE Energy NEXUS pipeline, a $2 billion, 255-mile pipeline from the Ohio Utica Shale into Michigan that’s been flowing for years connecting to a pipeline that exports some of the gas into Canada (see 
Shippers (drillers, utility companies, others that buy and sell natural gas) are now free to buy and sell producer certified gas (PCG), or responsibly sourced gas (RSG), at all pooling points across the Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) system. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved the TGP pooling plan after previously rejecting the plan. FERC decided the pooling plan is precisely what we said it was–a marketing thing–and not an endorsement by FERC of whether or not the methane flowing with that designation meets certain environmental criteria.
We’re catching up the permits issued report, but not for last week. This report is for permits issued two weeks ago–June 27 through July 3. The numbers increased from the prior week (27) to 35. Pennsylvania issued the lion’s share of new permits, 25, with most of them going to Olympus Energy (12 permits in Washington County), and a significant number going to a name we’ve 
Today’s list of our “best of the rest” stories is a bit different. We have a mountain of news from the past week while we were on vacation that we think is interesting and relevant for MDN readers–but not deserving of a full post. Instead of providing excerpts and comments on each BOTR story, we have provided a list of the headlines linked to the articles they represent. Most articles are free and open. Some (like the Wall Street Journal) require a subscription to access. We felt this format would be the best way to give you other news you can use in the quickest, most efficient way possible–to catch you up on all the other news you may find useful. We will return to our normal format tomorrow.