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37 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Oct 30 – Nov 5
New shale permits issued for Oct 30 – Nov 5 in the Marcellus/Utica saw a significant increase. It almost felt like old times again! There were 37 new permits issued last week, versus 26 the week before. Last week’s permit tally included 24 new permits in Pennsylvania, 11 new permits in Ohio, and 2 new permits in West Virginia. Coterra Energy was the top permittee for the week, drawing 9 permits in Susquehanna County, PA. This will really rub the antis raw: Coterra received several permits to restart drilling in Dimock Township. 🙂
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On Friday, MDN brought you the news that CNX Resources CEO Nick DeIuliis had signed a voluntary deal with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to expand drilling setbacks and several other regulatory steps not mandated for shale drillers under PA law (see 
We have to confess this news came suddenly out of left field. And we’re still struggling with what to make of it. Yesterday, CNX Resources CEO Nick DeIuliis, author of 
Yesterday, CNX Resources issued its third quarter 2023 update. Even with a crash in the price of natural gas this year, CNX generated $21 million in net profit during 3Q23 versus losing $427 million in 3Q22. The company also managed to generate $19 million in free cash flow in 3Q23. Of particular interest for us is that of the 13 new wells brought online during the quarter, four of them were drilled under runways at Pittsburgh International Airport. CNX has a public-private partnership with the airport to drill wells on airport property. The original plan called for 45 wells, but as of last year, only 14 wells had been drilled (see 
A dozen residents from Greene County, PA, filed a lawsuit on Monday against the East Dunkard Water Authority and several private companies, including CNX Resources, claiming (among other things) that wastewater from CNX’s fracking work in the Marcellus Shale “tainted the water supply in Dunkard Creek” and that the tainted water has affected the health of those drinking and using it. Just remember, anyone can sue anyone for anything. That doesn’t mean the party being sued is culpable in any way, nor the lawsuit is legitimate.
According to an analysis by S&P Global Commodity Insights, large U.S. shale gas drillers (namely Marcellus/Utica drillers) have hedged (pre-sold at a specific price) an average of 50% of anticipated shale gas production for the second half of 2023. The average price of the hedges is $3.35/Mcf, far above the average NYMEX Henry Hub price that has been bumping along between $2.25 and $2.75. CNX Resources is the top hedger, hedging 80% of its production in 2H23 at $3.04/Mcf.
Investors in shale oil and gas companies suffered for years with little or no returns for the money they invested. Five of eight large Marcellus/Utica drillers saw their share prices decrease by an astonishing 85% or more from 2008 to 2019 (see 
Newly-elected Gov. Josh Shapiro, who appears to be completely ineffective since taking office (which is not necessarily a bad thing), appointed a working group in April to help guide him on what he should do concerning the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax and the broader issue of global warming (see 
Very quietly, without issuing a press release, CNX Resources, headquartered in Canonsburg, PA (near Pittsburgh), filed a Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission to say that on June 15, the company entered into a “definitive purchase sales agreement” to sell various non-operated producing oil and gas assets primarily located in the Appalachian basin to a third party for $125 million. And that’s about the sum total of what we know.
For individuals, discretionary income is what’s left after you pay your taxes and fixed costs like housing, food, and clothing. For shale drillers, the equivalent to discretionary income is cash flow from operating activities (CFOA), which is the net income a company generates adjusted for non-cash expenses like depreciation and stock-based compensation, and for changes in working capital. Drillers can use their extra cash to grow production by spending more for drilling new wells (capital expenditures or capex). Or drillers can send some of the extra cash back to investors via share buybacks and dividends. How did Marcellus/Utica drillers spend their CFOA during the first quarter of 2023?