Marcellus Drilling News

Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

IFO 1Q24 Report – PA NatGas Production Increases Slightly YOY
June 4, 2024June 4, 2024

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Yesterday, the Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) released its latest quarterly Natural Gas Production Report for January through March 2024 (full copy below). There were 100 new horizontal wells spud (drilled) in 1Q24, a decrease of 20 wells (-16.7%) compared to 1Q23. That number was also down from the 110 wells spud in 4Q23. This was the sixth consecutive quarter with a year-over-year (YOY) decline in new wells spud. Natural gas production volume was 1,881 billion cubic feet (Bcf) in 1Q24, up 36 Bcf (1.9%) from the 1,845 Bcf produced in 1Q23. However, 1Q24’s 1,881 Bcf was down 3.0% from 4Q23’s 1,939 Bcf.
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Energy Services | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Statewide VA | Statewide WV | Virginia | West Virginia

Test Records from March Show 130 Potential Problem Areas Along MVP
June 4, 2024June 4, 2024

Newly released information gathered from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request shows that as Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) tested its 303-mile pipeline from Wetzel County, WV, to Pittsylvania County, VA, some 130 potential problem areas were located. Running a PIG (pipeline inspection gauge) device through the pipeline to check for dents and other weaknesses found 50 “anomalies” that required further excavation work to check. Another 80 excavations were needed after tests using an electric current to probe for weaknesses in the pipeline’s special anti-corrosion coating.
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Guernsey County | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio

Mystery Driller Asks Ohio to Lease More of Salt Fork State Park
June 4, 2024June 4, 2024

In February, the Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) met to award contracts to drill under (not on) several Ohio state parks, including 5,700 acres of the 20,000-acre Salt Fork State Park in Guernsey County (see Ohio Awards Drilling Contracts for State Parks – Salt Fork Surprise). The big news for us was that Encino Energy, which has long coveted the Salt Fork State Park property, did NOT win the contract for it. At some point, Encino pulled its proposal for Salt Fork and instead concentrated on several other parcels. The contract for Salt Fork was awarded to Infinity Natural Resources. This just in… The OGLMC has received a new nomination to drill under another 2,300 acres of Salt Fork State Park.
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Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Equinor/Statoil | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | M&A | Monroe County | Ohio | Pennsylvania

EQT & Equinor Land Swap in Pennsylvania & Ohio Now Completed
June 4, 2024June 4, 2024

In April, EQT Corporation and Equinor (formerly known as Statoil) announced a deal to swap land in Pennsylvania and Ohio (see Equinor Swaps Acreage with EQT in PA & OH, Exits Operated US Shale). EQT filed an SEC report to announce that the deal was done as of last Friday. As we highlighted in our previous post about this deal in April, Equinor has (with this deal) completely exited all operated assets in U.S. shale.
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Wastewater

Radium Found in Mussels Downstream from PA Frack Wastewater Plant
June 4, 2024June 4, 2024

Researchers from Penn State analyzed the composition of mussels downstream of a wastewater treatment facility in Western Pennsylvania that had accepted and treated fracking wastewater. Credit: Poornima Tomy/Penn State

A new scientific study published in the June issue of Science of the Total Environment by two Penn State researchers confirms what everyone has known for the last 13 years: Recycling brine (frack wastewater) and releasing that recycled brine into groundwater supplies is not a good idea. The researchers sampled freshwater mussels downstream from a centralized wastewater treatment facility in western Pennsylvania that had accepted and treated fracking wastewater from the oil and gas industry for “two decades.” They found low levels of radium in the mussels, radium that can be attributed to fracking wastewater.
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CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

Unsurprisingly, Freeport LNG Experiences More (Brief) Outages
June 4, 2024June 4, 2024

Why are we not surprised? We’ve been tracking the up down up down up down situation at Freeport LNG since it came online in 2019. Freeport was mostly offline this year following an episode of cold temps in January (see Freeport LNG Repairs Won’t be Done Until May – 2 Trains Offline). Freeport announced that two of its three trains (Trains 1 and 2) would remain out of service for testing and repairs through May. Train 3 came back online in late March, but just as quickly, it went down again. Then came back up. Then went down. Etc. As of Friday, April 26, Train 3 was down again. Then several weeks ago, in mid-May, Reuters reported a miracle of miracles — all three trains were back up and running (see Problem-Plagued Freeport LNG Fully Online Again … For Now). And then, late last week, Train 2 went down again.
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Best of the Rest

Other Stories of Interest: Tue, Jun 4, 2024
June 4, 2024June 4, 2024

NATIONAL: Environmentalism in America is dead; U.S. natgas jumps with much hotter weather expected in western states; INTERNATIONAL: EU, Japan hydrogen players ink partnership agreements; Oil tumbles as OPEC plan adds to bearish momentum; LNG investments to jump over 50 percent in 2029; Europe’s natgas prices soar on sudden supply outage in Norway.
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