Expand 3Q: NE PA Gas Throttled Back, Rigs Cut, New CEO Begins
Expand Energy, the nation’s largest natural gas producer (for now, anyway), released its third quarter 2026 update on Tuesday and held its earnings call on Wednesday. It was new CEO Danny Brown’s third day on the job. Expand produced 7.54 Bcfe/d (billion cubic feet equivalent per day) in 3Q, up 2.8% from a year ago. Net income came in at $519 million ($2.24/share), down from $547 million ($2.28/share) in 3Q25. But adjusted net income, which strips out hedging paper gains and one-time items, jumped 44% to $338 million ($1.46/share). Expand’s Northeast PA operations were deliberately throttled back (“curtailed”) because in-basin prices stunk, and those curtailments are carrying into 4Q. Below we sort out what matters for landowners, competitors, the supply chain, and investors. Read More “Expand 3Q: NE PA Gas Throttled Back, Rigs Cut, New CEO Begins”
Mike Rowe, of “Dirty Jobs” fame, sat down with EQT CEO Toby Rice for a 77-minute episode of his podcast, 
EQT, the biggest driller in the Marcellus/Utica, released its third-quarter 2026 numbers after the market closed yesterday. Normally we’d also have a call where CEO Toby Rice and CFO Jeremy Knop take analysts’ questions. Not this time. Two days after agreeing to buy Range Resources (
Range Resources, the company that drilled the very first Marcellus Shale well back in 2004 on the Renz farm in Washington County, filed its third quarter 2026 update yesterday. It’s likely one of the last quarterly reports Range will file as an independent company. EQT announced Monday that it will buy Range in an all-stock deal worth about $13 billion (see 
On Monday, we brought you the news that EQT Corporation is swallowing Range Resources in an all-stock deal that values Range at roughly $12.8 billion and creates a combined company worth more than $50 billion, including debt (see 
There’s a new name in shale with “Appalachia” on its list of regions, and we’re not sure yet what it owns here. It’s called NEQ Operating. Last May, we told you that NextEra Energy, the Florida utility giant, was buying a Quantum-backed shale investor called Caliber Resource Partners for $1.3 billion, and that it was setting up a 50/50 joint venture with Quantum to run its oil and gas business (see 
Here’s a story that made us smile this morning. EQT, about to become the country’s biggest natural gas producer once its ~$12.8 billion takeover of Range Resources closes, is leasing two brand-new LNG tankers. And EQT is naming them… wait for it… the Marcellus and the Utica! The ships arrive in 2028. Meanwhile, EQT plans to start trading LNG cargoes as soon as next year, open offices in London and Singapore, and possibly lease up to 10 more ships. Appalachian gas, on EQT-leased ships, with the names of our two great shale plays painted on the side. What’s not to love? 
National Fuel Gas (NFG) is laying more pipe in Tioga County. Its gathering subsidiary, NFG Midstream Covington, has asked the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for a stream-and-wetland crossing permit for two natural gas pipelines, 24-inch and 20-inch, running side by side through Farmington, Deerfield, and Chatham townships. The notice also mentions a 16-inch water line. The filing comes just 10 days after NFG’s board approved splitting the company in two, and it strongly suggests NFG’s Seneca Resources drilling arm is gearing up for more Utica production in Tioga County. 
Every Saturday, the Pennsylvania Bulletin publishes pages of DEP permit notices that almost nobody reads. We read them so you don’t have to. Taken one at a time, most look routine: an erosion permit here, an air permit there. Lined up side by side, they tell you which drillers are building, and where. Last weekend’s edition (Oct. 24) shows Expand Energy busy across the Northern Tier, Repsol and Seneca/NFG working in Tioga County, Devon still building in Susquehanna County, and XTO getting a new pad ready in Butler County. 
The highly functional and responsible Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), unlike its dysfunctional and irresponsible counterpart, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), continues to support the shale energy industry by approving water withdrawals and consumptive use requests for responsible, safe shale drilling. The SRBC published a notice in the October 24th Pennsylvania Bulletin that the SRBC approved and/or renewed 33 general water use permits in September for individual shale gas well drilling pads in Bradford, Lycoming, McKean, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, and Wyoming counties. 
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. 
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. 
The Marcellus/Utica region received 12 new shale well permits last week, October 12-18, up 3 from 9 the week before. Pennsylvania issued 9 of the new permits. Ohio issued 2. And West Virginia issued a single new permit. The drillers who received new-well permits last week were: Antero Resources, Ascent Resources, Expand Energy, Range Resources, and Seneca Resources. Before we go further, a quick housekeeping note: Starting this week, MDN counts only permits for brand-new wells in the headline number. State agencies also issue renewals (more time to drill a well that was already permitted), modifications (changes to a well that was already permitted, like a new wellbore path), and in Ohio, “deepen” permits. Those wells were already counted the first time around, so counting them again would double-count. We now list them separately, in their own section below. 
JKLM Energy, the private drilling company run by Buffalo Bills and Sabres owner Terry Pegula, has applied to drill a shale well in Salem Township, Westmoreland County, PA, next to the Totteridge Golf Course. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s story on the permit says the well would tap a “1,000-acre pool of methane.” Um, no. There is no underground lake of gas sitting beneath Salem and Hempfield townships, waiting for someone to stick a straw in it. What JKLM has put together is a pooled drilling unit. That’s a legal arrangement, not a geological feature. The difference matters a great deal to the 64 landowners who will someday be cashing royalty checks from this well. 