14 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jul 21 – 27
For the week of July 21 – 27, the number of permits issued to drill new wells in the Marcellus/Utica decreased from the previous week. There were 14 new permits issued across the three M-U states last week, three fewer than the 17 issued two weeks ago. The Keystone State (PA) issued 13 new permits. Expand Energy received seven new permits, spread across two pads in Wyoming County. EQT received four new permits for a single pad in Lycoming County. Formentera Operations received a single permit in Lycoming County. Rounding out PA, Coterra Energy received a single permit in Susquehanna County. Read More “14 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jul 21 – 27”

Antero Resources, which is 100% focused on the Marcellus/Utica with over 500,000 net acres under lease (and the largest M-U driller in West Virginia), issued its second quarter 2025 update yesterday. The company reports net production in 2Q25 averaged 3.43 Bcfe/d, up ever-so-slightly from 3.42 Bcfe/d in 2Q24. Natural gas production averaged 2.23 Bcf/d, a 4% increase from the same period in 2023. Liquids (NGLs & oil) production averaged 200 MBbl/d, a 6% decrease from the year-ago period. A little less liquids, a little more gas. Antero achieved a net income of $157 million and adjusted net income of $110 million. Free Cash Flow was $262 million. For the full year, Antero increased production guidance to 3.4 to 3.45 Bcfe/d, driven by strong well performance. 

A group of 26 financial officers (state treasurers) from 21 states sent letters to 18 major financial institutions this week, including BlackRock, warning them to abandon environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices if they wish to continue doing business with their states. Notably, Pennsylvania’s Treasurer, Stacy Garrity, was one of the signatories on the letter. West Virginia’s Treasurer, Larry Pack, signed, too. Unfortunately, Ohio’s Treasurer, Robert Sprague (a Republican), was NOT one of the signatories. Curious.
Freeport LNG has become something of a punchline with respect to the frequent outages experienced at the facility. Except, it’s no laughing matter. Outages at Freeport have happened so frequently that we’ve lost count. Wednesday, the facility was offline again, affecting gas flows to (and from) the facility on Wednesday and Thursday. This time, the reason for the outage was that power to the City of Freeport and surrounding communities, including the LNG plant, was out. Which raises the question, doesn’t Freeport LNG have a backup generator for times like that? Apparently not. When Freeport goes down, it affects natural gas prices here at home and around the world. Yes, this one facility has that kind of impact.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: We expect rapid electricity demand growth the mid-Atlantic; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Sempra and JERA announce agreement for LNG from Port Arthur LNG Phase 2; CP2 and Pelican highlight recent spate of FID’s for Gulf Coast gas market; NATIONAL: The rise of the Climate Right; NETL determines naturally occurring signals can help improve O&G production and safety; Strong returns, low costs attract investors and consolidators to mineral/royalty firms; INTERNATIONAL: Oil dips on inflation, geopolitical jitters; What should the long-run oil price be?; India tells refiners to draw up plans for non-Russian crude; EU considers pooling demand from companies to buy more US gas.