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Court Orders Ohio Drillers to Produce Documents in Royalty Dispute
Back in the summer of 2020, MDN told you about a lawsuit brought by an Ohio rights owner called TERA, an organization that appears to own 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 OH Landowners Sue Rice, Ascent, XTO, Gulfport for Drilling Too Deep). That lawsuit continues to grind on. Last week, a judge ruled the drillers being sued must produce certain documents sought by the plaintiff (rights owner).
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New shale permits issued for Dec 4 – 10 in the Marcellus/Utica were up by 2 over the previous week. There were 27 new permits issued last week versus 25 issued two weeks ago. However, there was a major surprise! Last week’s permit tally included 8 new permits in Pennsylvania, 9 new permits in Ohio, and 10 new permits in West Virginia. The pattern is typically the opposite, with PA receiving the most permits and WV the least. The company receiving the most permits last week was EQT Corporation, with all 10 of WV’s permits all on the same well pad in Marion County.
Reuters is reporting a rumor, based on “people familiar with the matter,” that EQT Corporation, the largest natural gas driller in the United States (by production), is shopping its 25% non-operated interest in a number of producing gas wells in northeastern Pennsylvania for $3 billion. Chesapeake Energy is the majority owner and operator of the wells.
There’s been a lot of news coming from the UN COP28 climate event in Dubai. In some respects, we feel like it’s a firehose of news about leftists targeting fossil energy (even though the event is being hosted by the CEO of a fossil fuel company). COP28 runs from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12, so we will bring you important news from the event in due course. Today, we focus on one bit of news: Some 50 oil and gas companies from around the world, representing 40% of global oil production, launched a new initiative called the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter (OGDC). EQT Corporation is one of the 50 participants.
In July 2022, MDN brought you news of a possible frac-out, or “inadvertent return” that happens when drilling mud pops out of places where it’s not supposed to — places outside the borehole being drilled (see 
It’s been a financial roller coaster for oil and gas drillers over the past 15 years. Investors in shale oil and gas companies suffered for years with little or no returns for their invested money. Five of eight large Marcellus/Utica drillers saw their share prices decrease by an astonishing 85% or more from 2008 to 2019 (see 
A lawsuit of interest for all landowners is playing out in West Virginia between a class of landowners and EQT Corporation, the largest natural gas producer in the country. We searched our extensive archives high and low and found no mention of this lawsuit! Somehow, it has escaped our attention — until now. As these cases often are, this one is long and complicated. However, the nub of the case, the essence of the dispute, is whether or not EQT can pay royalties to landowners based on the “raw” gas that comes out of the borehole (methane plus NGLs) or whether, as the plaintiffs argue, EQT should pay royalties based on the post-processed gas and NGLs (presumably at a much higher rate).
EQT Corporation, currently the largest producer of natural gas in the U.S., provided its third quarter update yesterday. And wow! There is plenty to talk about. The company set another drilling world record of 18,264 feet in 48 hours, beating the existing world record set by EQT in the second quarter (see