Marcellus Drilling News

Gradiant alkaLi | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County | Wastewater

Integrated Lithium Production Plant Coming to PA Marcellus in 2026
June 25, 2025July 3, 2025

A Boston-based company, Gradiant, issued a press release to make a really big, really important announcement: The company’s lithium business, called alkaLi, will design, build, own, and operate a commercial lithium production facility in the Marcellus Shale Formation of Pennsylvania beginning in early 2026. The ~~unidentified~~ site, which is already built and in testing, will be “the world’s first to Extract, Concentrate, and Convert (EC²) lithium in a fully integrated, end-to-end process from oilfield produced water,” according to the announcement. The company stated that this facility in the PA Marcellus “could supply 50% of U.S. lithium demand.” Wow! UPDATE: We now have a fix on the location of this facility thanks to a sharp MDN reader. Read More “Integrated Lithium Production Plant Coming to PA Marcellus in 2026”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | INR/Infinity Natural Resources | M&A | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA

Infinity Natural Resources on the Hunt for More Ohio Utica Assets
June 25, 2025June 25, 2025

Infinity Natural Resources (INR), headquartered in Morgantown, WV, focuses 100% on the Marcellus/Utica. The company went public earlier this year with a $265 million ($20/share) initial public offering, giving INR a $1.18 billion market capitalization (see INR IPO Does Better than Expected, Stock Trading Pops 10% Higher). Hart Energy’s Nissa Darbonne recently interviewed INR CEO Zack Arnold at the 2025 SUPER DUG Conference and Expo. He had some VERY interesting things to say about both the Ohio Utica and the Pennsylvania Marcellus. Read More “Infinity Natural Resources on the Hunt for More Ohio Utica Assets”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Kinder Morgan Projects to Boost Deep South Access to M-U Gas
June 25, 2025June 25, 2025

Ever so gradually, pipeline capacity to transport Marcellus/Utica molecules to other markets, particularly the Deep South, has been increasing. And it continues to grow, gradually. Two projects from Kinder Morgan aim to help that effort. The 2.1-Bcf/d Mississippi Crossing (MSX) and 1.3-Bcf/d South System Expansion 4 (SSE4) projects will move more Marcellus/Utica gas into Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. RBN Energy connects the dots. Read More “Kinder Morgan Projects to Boost Deep South Access to M-U Gas”
Industrywide Issues | LDCs | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Largest Fuel Cell Backup Program in U.S. Rolling Out in WV Marcellus
June 25, 2025June 25, 2025

The WATT HOME system is an advanced solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology that operates efficiently on readily available natural gas.

A fuel cell manufacturer located in Westmoreland County, PA — WATT Fuel Cell — manufactures Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (“SOFC”) stacks and systems that operate on common, readily available fuels such as natural gas and propane. Instead of burning and combusting natural gas (or propane), those fuel sources are subjected to an electrochemical process that produces electricity. In July 2023, the company announced it would distribute 500 of its units to customers of Hope Gas, a West Virginia-based natural gas utility (see NatGas-Powered WATT Fuel Cells Provided to 500 West Virginia Homes). Hope Gas announced last October another 5,300 WATT units will be distributed to its customers as part of the hydrogen hub award given to West Virginia and its partners (see Hope Gas to Use ARCH2 $$ to Distro 5,300 Hydrogen Fuel Cells in WV). It’s time to roll out the program to Hope Gas customers. The number has increased to 7,250! It is the largest residential fuel cell initiative in the entire country. And it’s happening in the WV Marcellus. Read More “Largest Fuel Cell Backup Program in U.S. Rolling Out in WV Marcellus”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP Launches Pay-More-and-Get-Your-Permit-on-Time Program
June 25, 2025June 25, 2025

Environment-related permitting in Pennsylvania, overseen by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), has been a hot mess for years. A Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation permit sometimes takes two, three, or even six months for approval, instead of the policy-mandated 14 days. According to a DEP press release from last November, the problem was fixed (see PA DEP Claims Permit Backlog for O&G Now Completely Eliminated). But was it? Also from that November press release, the DEP announced it would soon implement the SPEED (Streamlining Permits for Economic Expansion and Development) program. We’re now seven months later, and the “speedy” DEP has announced that it will begin accepting permit applications from the SPEED program starting June 30, 2025. Read More “PA DEP Launches Pay-More-and-Get-Your-Permit-on-Time Program”
CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Philadephia

Crowley LNG-Powered Ships Connect Philly Port & Central America
June 25, 2025June 25, 2025

Crowley LNG-powered Copán

Here’s some exciting news! Shipping giant Crowley, which employs more U.S. mariners than any other company, announced a significant expansion of ocean shipping services with its first-ever route between the U.S. Northeast and Central America. Using Crowley’s new, state-of-the-art LNG-powered Avance Class vessels, the five-day transit between the Port of Philadelphia’s Gloucester Marine Terminal (in New Jersey) and ports in Guatemala and Honduras enables the most timely deliveries of food, apparel, industrial products and consumer goods to and from the Central America Northern Zone, which also includes El Salvador and Nicaragua. Read More “Crowley LNG-Powered Ships Connect Philly Port & Central America”
Best of the Rest

MDN’s Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Jun 25, 2025 [FREE ACCESS]
June 25, 2025June 25, 2025

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Delaware estuary now under pressure from Trump administration; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Cheniere makes positive FID on Corpus Christi Trains 8 & 9 project; NATIONAL: Biden EPA press aide joins climate think tank; U.S. LNG feedgas drops but likely to rise this week; Senate parliamentarian rejects offshore oil, gas drilling provisions in GOP megabill; AEA launches six-figure advocacy initiative to end the IRA credits; INTERNATIONAL: Oil prices plunge on Trump ceasefire push; Oil market concerns almost exclusively focused on Strait of Hormuz; One-fifth of global LNG trade flows through the Strait of Hormuz; US energy expert Robert Bryce warns Australia is ‘acting like an energy weakling’; LNG freight rates hit 8-mth top on tight tanker availability, Mideast conflict. Read More “MDN’s Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Jun 25, 2025 [FREE ACCESS]”