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31 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV May 27 – Jun 2
Two weeks ago, 18 new permits were issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica region. Last week, May 27 – June 2, the number increased dramatically by 72% to 31 new permits. Most of the new permits came from two drillers. Range Resources scored the most with 11 new permits spread over two pads in Washington County, PA. EQT received nine new permits for a single pad in Wetzel County, WV. Chesapeake Energy received five new permits, all in Bradford County, PA. In fact, the rest of the new permits were all in PA, which handed out 22 new permits last week — a huge increase over the typical numbers for PA over the past few months.
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The merger of EQT Corporation and Equitrans Midstream into a single company took one giant leap forward in May when the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Act waiting period expired and the federal government (by not objecting) blessed the re-union (see 
While oil-focused and large diversified drillers in the U.S. made healthy profits during the first quarter of this year (January through March), such was not the case for natural gas-focused drillers. RBN Energy tracks 43 exploration and production (E&P) companies that are publicly traded and reports of those 43 that the 16 oil-focused and 15 diversified E&Ps were solidly profitable in 1Q24, earning $20.65/boe (barrels of oil equivalent) and $18.49/boe, respectively. However, the 12 gas-focused E&Ps were “under siege,” posting a loss of $1.65/boe.
In April, EQT Corporation and Equinor (formerly known as Statoil) announced a deal to swap land in Pennsylvania and Ohio (see 
The country’s largest natural gas producer, EQT Corporation, headquartered in Pittsburgh and solely focused on drilling in the Marcellus/Utica, previously announced it had sliced 1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of its production as of late February because of the ongoing low price of natgas (see 
Back in the summer of 2020, MDN told you about a lawsuit brought by an Ohio rights owner called TERA, an organization that owns the royalty rights for a number of leases with wells in Belmont County, OH, drilled by different producers, suing the producers for drilling into the Point Pleasant shale layer when the lease only mentions the Utica layer (see 
A group of landowners in Belmont County, OH, filed a lawsuit against Rice Drilling (now EQT Corporation) in July 2021, alleging the company had shorted them on royalty payments by (a) selling the gas extracted to an affiliated (instead of unaffiliated) third party, and (b) deducting post-production costs specifically disallowed under the signed contract. Several landowners who are part of what was originally known as the Smith-Goshen Landowners Group have requested a federal court in Ohio to elevate the lawsuit to class-action status.
EQT Corporation, the largest natural gas producer in the U.S. (100% focused on the Marcellus/Utica), released its first quarter 2024 update yesterday. The company produced 5.87 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) of natural gas in 1Q. Executives said they will continue the current curtailment (reduction) of 1 Bcf/d, in place since late February, until at least the end of May. A major focus of CEO Toby Rice’s comments is the coming demand for natgas from gas-fired power plants in the Southeastern U.S. Among the bigger pieces of news is that once EQT buys out and merges back in Equitrans (which it used to own), EQT plans to expand the Equitrans-owned Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) by another 0.5 Bcf/d.
Following yesterday’s conference call with analysts to discuss EQT’s first quarter performance, CEO Toby Rice appeared on CNBC to answer questions (watch the segment below). As he did during the quarterly update call, Rice once again zeroed in on new demand markets coming from gas-fired power plants in the Southeastern U.S. He also said the market is currently oversupplied with natural gas, but he sees two catalysts to help lower the excess gas in inventory: hot summer weather and gas-fired powergen. And the powergen doesn’t just come from homes running AC to keep cool. He’s talking about new data centers appearing that operate artificial intelligence and need huge new amounts of electricity to operate all those computers.