Ohio Village in Belmont County Offered $7,500/Acre Signing Bonus
It’s not often we get insight into the latest lease offers floating around. Leasing activity is definitely picking up in the Ohio Utica. We came across what has to be one of (if not THE) highest per-acre bonus offers we’ve seen in Ohio. The Village of Barnesville, in Belmont County, sought lease offers for 177 acres of village-owned property. The village received two offers. One of the offers came from Gulfport Energy, which offered $7,500 per acre as a signing bonus plus 20% royalties. Barnesville turned it down!
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This is precisely what companies going through a merger DON’T want to happen. Last Thursday, both Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern Energy, which previously announced a deal to combine back in January (see 
Martins Ferry (OH) Mayor John Davies continues to make noise about the currently shuttered Austin Master Services (AMS) frack waste processing facility in his city. Two weeks ago, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost took legal action seeking to force AMS to correct “egregious violations of Ohio law” regarding the storage of oil and gas waste that he says threatens the Ohio River and Martins Ferry’s drinking water supply (see 
In reviewing the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) Oil and Gas Workload Report for the week ending March 29, David Hess from the PA Environment Digest Blog discovered there is currently only one new shale permit under review for approval by the department. That is really low. Hess also discovered so far this year PA has received just 95 applications for new shale permits. At that rate, the state will only issue around 380 new permits in 2024 — the lowest since the modern shale era began.
This year’s presidential election may well turn on the results in the “swing state” of Pennsylvania. The Wall Street Journal has an intriguing story that looks at PA voters, who they support for president, and why. In the article ‘Now They’re Voting Red’: A Pennsylvania Fracking Boom Weighs on Biden’s Re-Election Chances, the WSJ says a slim majority of voters give Donald Trump a 3-point lead over Joementia if the election were held today. (How ANYONE could vote for Biden is a complete mystery to us.) “Economic churn” and Biden’s actions like his infamous LNG pause are pushing voters toward Trump in the Pittsburgh area, potentially overwhelming the Democrats’ base of college-educated workers. Could it be that pro-frackers in PA will hand the White House back to DJT?
Last week, the Baker Hughes rig count dropped another rig. The count went from 621 active rigs two weeks ago down to 620 last week. This is the third week in a row the national count has lost rigs. Since last October, the national count has gone as low as 616 and as high as 629. And that’s it. No higher and no lower. The Marcellus/Utica remained the same last week at 42 active rigs. However, there were some musical chairs. Pennsylvania gained one rig and now operates 22 rigs. West Virginia lost a rig and now operates 8 rigs. Ohio remained steady with 12 active rigs.
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: TVA’s Kingston plant is being replaced; NATIONAL: House Freedom Caucus wants natgas to flow in exchange for Key Bridge funding; INTERNATIONAL: Saudi Arabia hikes key oil prices further as market tightens; Chief commodities analyst says OPEC+ is in full control; Short-side portfolio players seek to turn the tables on LNG trade.