SRBC Approved 35 Shale Gas Well Pad Water Use Permits in August
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 September 26th Pennsylvania Bulletin that the SRBC approved and/or renewed 35 general water use permits in August for individual shale gas well drilling pads in Bradford, Clinton, Elk, Lycoming, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, and Wyoming counties. Read More “SRBC Approved 35 Shale Gas Well Pad Water Use Permits in August”

An activist hedge fund that has been quietly leaning on Devon Energy since June has now put its demands in writing, and it’s asking for a lot more. Toms Capital Management sent Devon a letter earlier this month urging the company to explore “strategic alternatives, including a sale.” In other words, sell the whole company, not just a few pieces. Toms says it’s now one of Devon’s five largest shareholders. Why do we care here in Appalachia? When Devon swallowed Coterra Energy in May, it got the old Cabot Oil & Gas Marcellus position in Susquehanna County along with it. If Devon itself gets sold, the future of that NEPA gas acreage (and the royalty checks it generates) is up for grabs.
Accounting giant Ernst & Young dropped its annual reserves benchmarking study yesterday, and while the press release leads with oil, the real story for our part of the country is buried in the tables: EQT is now the largest holder of proved natural gas reserves in the United States, and Appalachian-focused producers control roughly a third of all the gas reserves booked by America’s 30 biggest publicly traded drillers.
Devon Energy’s Coterra unit is asking Pennsylvania regulators for permission to lay 18.4 miles of 20-inch freshwater pipeline across three Susquehanna County townships — which is a strange thing to spend money on if you’re about to sell the place. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) published the notice in the September 5 Pennsylvania Bulletin, opening a comment window that closes October 5. The project is the Brooks to Forwood Temporary Waterline, running through Springville, Lathrop, and Lenox townships.
With Devon Energy’s first full quarter as a combined Devon-Coterra company now in the books, the numbers on the former Coterra Marcellus assets tell an interesting story — one that lines up with what MDN has been reporting for months about activist pressure to sell the Appalachian position. Devon reported second-quarter 2026 earnings on August 4, followed by an analyst call on August 5. Buried in the supplemental tables and sprinkled through management’s answers to Wall Street analysts is a clear picture of how the Marcellus fits (or doesn’t) into the new, Permian-obsessed Devon. Below we break down what the company said — and didn’t say — about its Northeast Pennsylvania gas position, plus the latest on the broader portfolio review that has investors like Kimmeridge Energy pushing for a Marcellus sale.
Peregrine Energy Partners, the Dallas-based royalty buyer we’ve been tracking since 2019, is back in the Marcellus/Utica with its checkbook open. Yesterday (Aug. 4), the company announced it closed five separate mineral and royalty deals — two of them right here in the M-U — totaling roughly 3,680 net royalty acres and interests in more than 1,240 producing wells. The first Appalachian deal is a cash-flowing overriding royalty portfolio in Susquehanna County, PA, covering about 936 gross acres and 86 producing horizontal Coterra Energy (now Devon Energy) wells, with more than 50 DUCs and PUDs behind them in both the Upper and Lower Marcellus.
In February, MDN brought you the big news that Devon Energy is buying out and merging with Coterra Energy, paying $21.4 billion in Devon stock (see
If you live in Auburn Township in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, it’s a pretty safe bet that either there is or soon will be shale well drilling going on near you. The PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) published notice in the May 16 Pennsylvania Bulletin announcing it has issued a permit for one aboveground water pipeline for one driller and is seeking comments on a request for a second aboveground water pipeline for a second driller, both in Auburn Township.
In February, MDN brought you the big news that Devon Energy is buying out and merging with Coterra Energy, paying $21.4 billion in Devon stock (see
On April 5 (Easter Sunday), Coterra Energy reported that approximately 400,000 to 704,000 gallons of freshwater were released from an impoundment at the Brooks shale gas well pad in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. The release began at 8:02 a.m. when all six stanchion valves opened simultaneously, flowing by gravity into a pasture and reaching Meshoppen Creek before being discovered by a landowner’s relative that evening. Coterra attributed the incident to a corrupted software configuration file, which also prevented remote valve closure and disabled electronic notifications.