Marcellus Drilling News

Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues

M-U Spot Prices Near $1 Push Drillers to Curtail Production
October 6, 2026October 6, 2026

The pipeline got fixed. The price didn’t. In midday trading on Monday, Eastern Gas South (the M-U pricing point formerly known as Dominion South) sold for $1.005 per MMBtu, while Henry Hub in Louisiana sat at $2.960. That’s a $1.955 haircut. Gas sold in our backyard fetched about one-third of the national benchmark price. And M-U drillers are doing what smart business people do: leaving gas in the ground until someone offers a fair price for it. Read More “M-U Spot Prices Near $1 Push Drillers to Curtail Production”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | Exxon Mobil | Industrywide Issues | Litigation

Supreme Court Weighs Boulder Climate Suit; Shale’s Future at Stake
October 6, 2026October 6, 2026

Yesterday was the first Monday in October, which means the U.S. Supreme Court opened a new term. The very first case the justices heard may be the most important case for the oil and gas industry, including Marcellus/Utica drillers, in a generation. The case is Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County. It asks whether a city or county can haul energy companies into its own state court and make them pay for the costs of climate change. If the answer is yes, Chief Justice John Roberts predicted a copycat lawsuit from “a municipality in every single state.” That’s not a scare tactic. It’s a business plan for trial lawyers. Read More “Supreme Court Weighs Boulder Climate Suit; Shale’s Future at Stake”
AI | Crime | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

FERC Slams Brakes on PJM’s ‘Deeply Flawed’ Data Center Power Auction
October 6, 2026October 6, 2026

FERC Chairman Laura Swett

Well, that didn’t go as planned. PJM Interconnection, the outfit that runs the electric grid in all or part of 13 states (including Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia) plus D.C., was all set to open a one-time “emergency” auction on Sept. 30 to buy 6,831 megawatts (MW) of brand-new power supply, mostly to feed data centers. The day before, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) accepted the plan—and then promptly froze it for five months. FERC Chairman Laura Swett called it “deeply flawed.” PJM pulled the auction. Here’s what happened, and what it means for gas-fired power in our backyard. Read More “FERC Slams Brakes on PJM’s ‘Deeply Flawed’ Data Center Power Auction”
Energy Companies | Energy Services | EQT Corp | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Montgomery County | Pipelines | Virginia

MVP Boost Update: FERC Decision Near, State Permit Frozen
October 6, 2026October 6, 2026

Mountain Valley Pipeline’s (MVP) plan to push more natural gas through its existing pipe, a project called MVP Boost, is closing in on a federal decision. FERC staff have already given the project a clean bill of environmental health. But back in Virginia, Boost is stuck in neutral, all because one county can’t seem to make up its mind. The centerpiece of Boost is a brand-new compressor station in Elliston (Montgomery County), Virginia. It’s called the Swann Compressor Station, named after Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Famer Lynn Swann (MVP’s operator is based in Pittsburgh). Right now, Swann is having trouble getting off the line of scrimmage. Read More “MVP Boost Update: FERC Decision Near, State Permit Frozen”
AI | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

Alpha Compute Walks Back Oil Claims, Adds a Marcellus Test Well
October 6, 2026October 6, 2026

On Sept. 22, Alpha Compute Corp. (Nasdaq: ALP) said it was buying an old Pennsylvania oil field (county not named) for $5.5 million and planned to put a second 200 MW data center on it (see Alpha Compute’s 2nd PA Data Center Site Comes with 75 Oil Wells). On Tuesday (Sept. 29), the company issued an “update” on the deal. Then it issued the same update again, 86 minutes later. The big news: the property comes with a drilled but not-yet-completed Marcellus “test well,” which the company now says can power that 200 MW data center. The company also now concedes that its 10,000-barrels-per-acre figure is oil in place, not oil anyone can actually get out. What’s still missing: the county, the seller, a closing, and a DEP bond. And some of the new math doesn’t add up. Read More “Alpha Compute Walks Back Oil Claims, Adds a Marcellus Test Well”
AI | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Pennsylvania

Next NEPA Data Center Land Rush? PPL JV Eyes 29% of Fell Twp.
October 6, 2026October 6, 2026

Fell Twp, Lackawanna County, PA

Over the past seven months, MDN has told you about landowners in Salem Township (Luzerne County) getting rich by selling their land for AI data centers, at prices reaching $250,000 to $300,000 per acre. Now the land rush appears to be spreading about 50 miles northeast, to the “Upvalley” area of Lackawanna County, above Scranton. Invitium Energy, a joint venture (JV) between utility owner PPL Corp. and Blackstone Infrastructure, is under agreement to buy about 2,800 acres in Fell Township. That is nearly 29% of the entire township! All told, Invitium has deals to buy close to 7,200 acres across five northern Lackawanna County municipalities. The plan? Build big natural gas-fired power plants, possibly with data centers sitting right next door. Read More “Next NEPA Data Center Land Rush? PPL JV Eyes 29% of Fell Twp.”
CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

22 Months, ~500 Cargoes Later, Plaquemines LNG Says It’s “Ready”
October 6, 2026October 6, 2026

Well, well, well. Venture Global (VG) has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to place Phase 1 of its Plaquemines LNG export plant in Louisiana “in service.” In plain English, VG says the plant is finally ready to start shipping LNG to the customers who signed long-term contracts with it, beginning October 31. Never mind that the plant has already shipped at least 417 full cargoes since December 2024 (and probably closer to 500 by now). VG made a killing selling those cargoes on the spot market at sky-high prices. Its contract customers, the folks whose signatures got the plant financed, have been waiting. We’ve called this practice disgusting before, and we haven’t changed our minds. Read More “22 Months, ~500 Cargoes Later, Plaquemines LNG Says It’s “Ready””
Best of the Rest

MDN’s Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, Oct 6, 2026
October 6, 2026October 6, 2026

OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Two federal judges sink New York’s version of the Superfund law; NATIONAL: Natural gas settles higher on storage build projections; Wright says Trump was “well aware of the risks to energy flows” before launching Iran war; With an energy executive order, Trump could solve ‘affordability’ once and for all; Energy services employment adds 5,421 jobs in September; INTERNATIONAL: Oil slides on Saudi price cut; Aramco CEO says oil supply buffer is ‘scarily thin’; Middle East oil exports top pre-war levels for part of September but tanker attacks increase; US LNG exports reach 518.6 Bcf in July, with Asia ahead of Europe; Quebec has second thoughts on oil and gas development bans; Africa’s poorest countries need energy, not empathy. Read More “MDN’s Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, Oct 6, 2026”