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29 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 20-Jan 2
This edition of the Marcellus/Utica permits report covers the past two weeks as MDN was taking a break during the last week of 2021. For the period of December 20 through January 2, there were 29 permits issued to drill new shale wells in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. PA had 16 new permits (most of them located on two well pads), OH had 12 new permits (spread across five well pads), and WV had just one new permit. Must be WV DEP took the last two weeks of the year off.
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A reporter with the New Philadelphia (OH) Times Reporter recently chatted with both Mike Chadsey, director of public relations for the Ohio Oil and Gas Association (OOGA), and with MDN friend Jackie Stewart, director of external affairs for Encino Energy. The topic? What’s happening right now in the Ohio Utica Shale, and what do they see coming in the near future for shale energy in the Buckeye State. We’d sum it up by saying the industry is cautiously optimistic.
Ascent Resources, originally founded as American Energy Partners by gas legend Aubrey McClendon, is a privately-held company that focuses 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. Ascent is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The company issued its third quarter 2021 update yesterday. The company produced 1.98 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d) during 3Q–nearly all of it, 1.83 MMcf/d–was natural gas, the rest was oil and NGLs. Ascent generated $28 million of free cash flow, but like other M-U drillers, hedging bets on derivatives resulted in a huge loss of $1.3 billion for the quarter.
A healthy number of permits were issued to drill new shale wells across the Marcellus/Utica region last week. Pennsylvania issued 19 new permits in both southwest and northeast PA. Ohio issued 8 new permits, all of them to a single driller (Ascent Resources) for two well pads in two different counties. West Virginia issued 9 new permits–all but 2 of them were issued to Antero Resources in Tyler County.
So-called ESG (environmental, social, governance) programs are popping up everywhere–kind of like spring dandelions. Especially programs aimed at the E (environmental) part of that acronym. EQT Corporation, the country’s largest natural gas producer (focused 100% on the Marcellus/Utica) has recently gotten the ESG religion. EQT has joined (by our count) no less than four ESG programs this year. The latest is a program sponsored by LNG export king Cheniere Energy, aimed at monitoring and cutting down on methane emissions at drill sites. Two other M-U drillers are joining the Cheniere effort too.
Ascent Resources, originally founded as American Energy Partners by gas legend Aubrey McClendon, is a privately-held company that focuses 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. Ascent is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The company announced yesterday it is floating new “senior notes” (we call them IOUs) to retire or pay off other notes coming due.