M-U Rigs Stuck at 33 for 3rd Week; Nat’l Hits New Yrly High at 595
Three weeks. Same number. The Marcellus/Utica sat at 33 rigs again for the week ended September 18, while the national count added four to reach 595—a fresh 52-week high, topping the 593 we charted on August 14. Oil rigs up. Gas rigs up. Frac spreads up. And WTI closed at $100.74 a barrel with Henry Hub at $2.91. Everything in this report moved except the Marcellus/Utica. Read More “M-U Rigs Stuck at 33 for 3rd Week; Nat’l Hits New Yrly High at 595”
Columbia Gas Transmission (a TC Energy company) has asked federal regulators for permission to permanently walk away from three underground natural gas storage fields straddling the Pennsylvania/West Virginia line near Majorsville — plugging 71 wells, tearing out a compressor station, and abandoning nearly 20 miles of pipe. On September 9, FERC set the clock on its environmental review. If you’re a landowner in Greene or Washington County, PA, or Marshall County, WV, this one lands in your backyard. Here’s the plain-English version of a very technical filing. 
In a companion post today, we told you that of 22 proposed data center campuses in Northeastern Pennsylvania, exactly one plans to build its own gas-fired power (see Only 1 of 22 NEPA Data Centers Plans Its Own Gas Plant). The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette hands us the mirror image. Reporter Anya Litvak counted 10 new natural gas power plants proposed within an hour’s drive of Pittsburgh — more than 20 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity, most of it chasing data center demand, all of it aimed at the next five years. Pennsylvania’s entire existing generating fleet, every power plant and wind turbine and solar panel in the state, adds up to about 45 GW. Southwestern PA alone is proposing to add 22 GW. That is not an expansion. That is a second Pennsylvania grid. 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: DEP grants 401 water certification for Three Mile Island restart; Fetterman, McCormick back AI, balk at calls for regulation; Permanent CT scanner now at Geisinger Tunkhannock, backed by Devon Energy; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Blakeman slams Hochul’s energy rebates and vows to lift fracking ban; Illinois EPA releases ‘Comprehensive Climate Action Plan’ to reach ‘net zero’ emissions; NATIONAL: Natural gas futures end week with moderate gains; Electricity demand surges as grid rules cut power; INTERNATIONAL: Oil falls as supply fears ease; Hormuz sees more LNG traffic; Trump-Xi talks could mean $6 billion of US gas for China; Hydrogen’s strategic role broadens as investment, demand build.