EQT Swallows Range Resources in $50B Merger: Biggest M-U News Ever!
Twenty-two years ago today, Range Resources’ Renz #1 well in Washington County, PA, unlocked the Marcellus Shale and kicked off the shale revolution here in the Northeast. This morning, on that very anniversary, Range agreed to sell itself to EQT Corporation in an all-stock deal that creates the largest natural gas producer in the country, period. MDN has been writing about the Marcellus/Utica since Jan. 2009, and we can’t think of a bigger piece of news to hit the region. The company that started it all is being folded into the company that turned it into an industrial powerhouse. Below we give you the deal numbers, then the best stuff from this morning’s 8 a.m. conference call with analysts—including what this means (for now) for landowners and the midstream. Read More “EQT Swallows Range Resources in $50B Merger: Biggest M-U News Ever!”
Eight weeks. Same number. The Marcellus/Utica held at 33 rigs yet again for the week ended October 23, and this time the national count joined the party, holding at 603 for a third straight week. Underneath that flat national total, oil rigs added one and gas rigs lost one. Frac spreads slipped by five, a second straight weekly drop. On the price board, the gap between oil and gas went from wide to ridiculous: WTI climbed to settle at $103.27 a barrel, while natural gas tumbled 15% for the week to roughly $2.64 per MMBtu. And new this week: MDN’s Marcellus/Utica Rigs by County, a county-by-county map in table form showing exactly where all 33 of our rigs are drilling, which will now be a regular part of this weekly update. (Spoiler: Susquehanna County is at zero.) Plus: Antero takes over the top spot on the Enverus permit list, and National Fuel Gas shows up on the rig list. 
State Sen. Gene Yaw (R-23), who has chaired the Senate Environmental Resources & Energy Committee since 2013, wants Pennsylvania’s data centers to pay their own version of the shale impact fee. On Thursday (Oct. 23), Yaw sent a co-sponsorship memo to all Senate members announcing plans for an annual, statewide “data center impact fee” modeled on Act 13 of 2012, the law that created the impact fee drillers have paid every year since. Yaw says the fee would be based on each facility’s size and electricity demand, and would be paid every year a data center operates. That’s different from today’s system, where towns rely on one-time deals negotiated with developers. The money would go to host communities and statewide programs, just like the shale fee. What’s not in the memo? Any dollar figures. Here’s the memo, followed by what it means (and what it doesn’t say). 
Early last week, we told you Europe blinked on its crazy methane import rules, with the European Commission (the EU’s executive branch) proposing a one-year delay (see 
Back in April, MDN told you about Enbridge’s ~$300 million job to move the natural gas lines that hang off the Bourne and Sagamore bridges and run them under the Cape Cod Canal instead (see 
Did the ground rumble in Westmoreland County on Sunday, October 4, because of fracking? The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) asked that question, checked EQT’s nearby Porter well pad, and found nothing abnormal. EQT’s pressure logs for that day were clean, no violations were cited, and DEP asked for more paperwork. That’s good news for EQT, even if the headline you may have seen elsewhere makes it sound much more ominous. 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: With a trifecta, PA Democrats would pass energy reforms and rein in data centers; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: NY’s fracking ban is pure evil — but Hochul refuses to lift it; QatarEnergy in talks with Venture Global to buy LNG in long term supply deal, sources say; Mitsubishi Power doubles footprint in Chatham County, GA; NATIONAL: U.S. natural gas futures fall on mild near-term weather; Hedge funds are record short natural gas on mild winter outlook; We served opposing presidents, but we agree on how to fix the data-center mess; Exchanges urge CFTC to block Kalshi’s perpetual oil futures plan; Energy abundance means a bright American future — if Dems don’t get in the way; INTERNATIONAL: Brent tops $116 as Middle East risks grow; Physical oil prices drop in Mideast; Why Trump and Carney haven’t touched energy in their tariff war; Global warming may have halted an emerging ice age, study suggests.