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36 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 7 – 13

Last week was an interesting week for new permits issued to drill new shale wells in the Marcellus/Utica. For the week of Apr 7 – 13, the number of permits issued soared, up 15 from the previous week. Last week, 36 new permits were issued. The surprising thing is just how few of those new permits were issued in the Keystone State (PA). Just five new permits went to PA. CNX Resources had four of PA’s new permits, all for the same well pad in Westmoreland County. The other permit went to EQT in Fayette County. Read More “36 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 7 – 13”

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KM Pipes Update: Expand Elba to SC; SSE4 Survey Work Done

We have some exciting news to share from Kinder Morgan. As part of the company’s quarterly update, KM provided details about eight pipeline projects that are currently being planned or built. Four of the eight will flow Marcellus/Utica molecules. One of the four is brand new: A new greenfield expansion of the Elba Express pipeline into South Carolina to serve growing demand for natural gas in the state. The $431 million Elba Express Bridge project is designed to provide 325 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of firm transportation capacity. KM CEO Kim Dang said on a conference call that the project is “easily expandable to over a Bcf a day.” Read More “KM Pipes Update: Expand Elba to SC; SSE4 Survey Work Done”

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OH Supreme Court Case Allows Surface Owners to Keep Mineral Rights

Yesterday, the Ohio Supreme Court issued a ruling dismissing a case that leaves in place a ruling from the Seventh District Court of Appeals. The case, Darrell Crozier et al. v. Pipe Creek Conservancy LLC et al., involves a decision on who owns the oil and gas rights underlying a property in rural Belmont County. The case revolves around the Ohio Marketable Title Act (MTA), something we’ve written about multiple times (see our MTA stories here). The issue of who owns the mineral rights is vitally important for surface owners, rights owners, and drillers. The MTA provides a way for surface owners to reclaim subsurface rights that had been severed under certain conditions. That’s what this case was about. Read More “OH Supreme Court Case Allows Surface Owners to Keep Mineral Rights”

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Surging Interest in Building Data Centers in PA; 6 Announced So Far

In early April, MDN brought you the exciting news that THE largest gas-fired power plant in the country, along with a MASSIVE data center complex, will be built at a former coal-fired power plant site in Indiana County, PA (see Largest Gas-Fired Power Plant in the U.S. Coming in Western Pa.). The site will be transformed into a more than 3,200-acre natural gas-powered data center campus, complete with a 4.5 gigawatt Marcellus-fired power plant. Not long after, we told you about another announced data center and gas-fired power plant, this one coming to Washington County, PA (see ‘Another Data Center Announced for SWPA; Range to Provide NatGas’). Liberty Energy Inc., Imperial Land Corporation, and Range Resources announced a strategic alliance to support the development of a state-of-the-art gas-fired power plant and data center within the Fort Cherry Development District in Robinson Township. However, those aren’t the only two announced data center projects in the Keystone State. Read More “Surging Interest in Building Data Centers in PA; 6 Announced So Far”

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EIA Annual Energy Outlook: Oil & NatGas Demand Peaks in 2027/2032

Et tu, Brute? We’ve poked fun at “peak oil” and “peak gas” quacks for years (over a decade). People like Art Berman who pronounce, on a regular basis, that we’ve finally hit peak oil (or gas) production and/or demand, and that from here on out, fossil fuels will decline. They’re wrong every single time. Yet now, none other than the number crunchers at the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) are making their own “peak” predictions. In its latest Annual Energy Outlook (AEO) for 2025, the EIA says we will likely see U.S. crude oil output hit a peak of 14 million barrels per day by 2027. Natural gas has a longer fuse, hitting a high of 43.44 trillion cubic feet per annum in 2032. Read More “EIA Annual Energy Outlook: Oil & NatGas Demand Peaks in 2027/2032”

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Shakeup at Rice-Backed Net Power; President and CFO Both Out

Net Power, backed by the Rice brothers (of Rice Energy and EQT fame), is on a mission to develop and deploy revolutionary new technology to capture every last molecule of carbon dioxide from natural gas-fired power plants (see Dan Rice Buys Co. that Builds Zero-Carbon Gas-Fired Electric Plants). In March, MDN brought you Net Power’s 4Q24 and full-year update (see Net Power Makes Progress with Tech, High Costs a Challenge). There’s been a major shakeup at the company. Two days ago, Net Power issued a press release stating that the company’s President and the CFO have both been “relieved of their day-to-day responsibilities and will officially depart the Company on May 1, 2025.” Read More “Shakeup at Rice-Backed Net Power; President and CFO Both Out”

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Mass Exodus at U.S. EIA Casts Doubt on Future Energy Reports

It seems our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), was populated by a lot of swamp creatures. Multiple sources are whispering to Reuters that 100 or more of the agency’s 350 employees (somewhere between 25% and 40%) either already have or soon will leave their jobs at the agency. They have opted to accept President Trump’s offer to government workers to leave with generous benefits now or risk being fired later. Reuters, which is typically an unbiased news source (one of the few), is throwing shade that important reports produced by EIA will no longer be produced, given the lack of manpower. Read More “Mass Exodus at U.S. EIA Casts Doubt on Future Energy Reports”

MDN’s Energy Stories of Interest: Thu, Apr 17, 2025 [FREE ACCESS]

OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Consumers Energy starts work on Four Cities Metro Pipeline; Trump halts NY offshore wind project work amid sector review; NATIONAL: Here’s the ‘green’ fuel the left refuses to celebrate this Earth Day; U.S. LNG developers make progress with big projects; Going fossil-fuel-free – surprise expenses, reams of red tape, higher bills; Lee Zeldin’s national good-neighbor tour; New documents show Joe Biden negotiated O&G deal to benefit Hunter, Burisma; INTERNATIONAL: US inventory drop, OPEC action lift oil prices; OPEC+ efforts at oil quota compensation look flimsy as ever; A U.S.–Japan fossil fuel alliance to counter China; Mexico’s Achilles’ heel as it faces Trump is reliance on natgas; Thailand plans to import more US LNG over next five years; EU shelves idea of sanctions on Russian LNG imports; B.C. loosens net-zero rules for LNG proposals amid hydroelectricity uncertainty. Read More “MDN’s Energy Stories of Interest: Thu, Apr 17, 2025 [FREE ACCESS]”