28 New Shale Well Permits Reported for PA-OH-WV Jun 29 – Jul 5
The Marcellus/Utica region received 28 new drilling permits last week, June 29 – July 5, down 3 from two weeks ago. Last week, Pennsylvania issued 18 new permits. Ohio issued 4 new permits. And, West Virginia issued 6 new permits. The drillers who received new permits included: Antero Resources (6), CNX Resources (10), EOG Resources (4), EQT (1), Expand Energy (3), and Range Resources (4). Read More “28 New Shale Well Permits Reported for PA-OH-WV Jun 29 – Jul 5”

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, EQT CEO Toby Rice declared that natural gas is poised to surpass petroleum as America’s top energy source by 2030, ending oil’s 75-year dominance that began in 1950 when it overtook coal. In 2025, gas accounted for 36% of U.S. energy consumption, compared with petroleum’s 37%, with Rice predicting a crossover within a couple of years. The shale revolution’s cheap gas has displaced coal in power generation, fueled economic electrification, and complemented intermittent renewables, while flat gasoline demand — partly due to EVs — has stalled oil consumption. The EIA projects gas demand growing 3.4% through 2027 versus 0.6% for petroleum, and booming LNG exports add further momentum.
Following its May merger with Coterra Energy, Devon Energy is positioning AI as central to integration efforts while targeting $1 billion in annual pre-tax synergies by the end of 2027. The combined company—valued at over $60 billion with 1.6 million boe/d production—is concentrated in the Delaware Basin (70% of oil output), recently bolstered by a $2.6 billion New Mexico acreage acquisition, and includes Coterra’s 190,000-acre Marcellus position, which reportedly drew an $8 billion offer.
Shell, which dropped “Royal Dutch” from its name after leaving the Netherlands in 2022 due to high taxes and overregulation, is one of the world’s supermajors (oil and gas driller). Shell is also one of (perhaps THE) largest producers and vendors of LNG, or liquefied natural gas, worldwide. The company has just released its tenth annual LNG Outlook 2026 (full copy below), which highlights key trends in 2025 and hauls out the crystal ball to predict where things are heading over the next 25 years. Shell’s annual LNG outlook says shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz from the Iran war—which shut in roughly one-fifth of global monthly LNG supply—could keep 2026 global LNG trade flat if flows normalize within three months, with growth resuming in 2027.
EQT Corporation, the largest driller in the Marcellus/Utica (based on M-U production), recently achieved two records with the same Marcellus well. EQT drilled not only the “deepest” shale well in the continental U.S. (by “measured depth”), but also the longest horizontal shale well (by lateral length). EQT’s Longwell 9H well, located in Wetzel County, West Virginia (near the Pennsylvania border), eclipses a record set by Expand Energy in 2025 in Marshall County, WV.
In February, Expand Energy fired its CEO, Nick Dell’Osso, the guy who grew the company into the largest natural gas producer in the U.S. (see
Yesterday, the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) voted to open another 14,953 acres of publicly owned state land in eastern Ohio to safe fracking. At the same meeting, the OGLMC rejected applications to open about 8,000 acres of land in the same area for development, given the overlap between those parcels and some that were bid out. Anti-fossil fuel nutters showed up at the meeting and made asses of themselves, as they so often do. One anti (who should have been arrested and removed) shouted that the Commissioners should “jump off a bridge.” Sounds like a threat to us. Is anyone investigating?
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 June 27th Pennsylvania Bulletin that the SRBC approved and/or renewed 34 general water use permits in May for individual shale gas well drilling pads in Bradford, Clinton, Lycoming, McKean, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, and Wyoming counties.
In early May, Devon Energy completed its buyout of and merger with Coterra Energy, paying $21.4 billion in Devon stock (see
This is a momentous occasion. Yesterday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a “Notice to Proceed with Construction” order authorizing Mountain Valley Pipeline (owned by EQT Corporation) to proceed with construction of MVP Southgate pipeline in North Carolina. This follows FERC granting permission to begin building Southgate in Virginia in April (see
Seneca Resources, National Fuel Gas Company’s exploration and production arm, and Evolution Well Services announced a three-year strategic agreement to deploy electric hydraulic fracturing technology (e-fracking) across Seneca’s Appalachian Basin operations, including the Marcellus and Utica shales. The companies said Evolution’s electric frac systems, in-house power generation and field-gas conditioning will use Seneca’s own responsibly sourced natural gas to power completions. This isn’t the first time Seneca has used e-fracking.
Devon Energy completed its merger with Coterra Energy just over one month ago, on May 7, paying Coterra $21.4 billion in Devon stock (see
Norway’s Equinor (formerly Statoil) held its Capital Markets Day 2026 on Tuesday, offering investors and analysts a chance to hear directly from the company’s top management and ask questions. The event made clear that, while the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) remains the company’s center of gravity, its Appalachian (Marcellus) gas position is being repositioned from a quiet, low-cost cash-flow engine into a strategic linchpin connecting upstream gas to the fast-growing U.S. power and data-center economy. Equinor is in love with the Marcellus.