Antero Resources | CNX Resources | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Expand Energy | Range Resources Corp
M-U Drillers Collectively Increasing Production by 1 Bcf/d in 2025
Most, but not all, of the publicly traded shale drillers operating in the Marcellus/Utica region have now issued their second quarter 2025 updates. There’s a common thread (that we previously missed) running through all of them: Production is increasing in the M-U. Of all the announced additions so far, if you add them all up, it’s around 1 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) of extra production. But wait! Our region is pipeline-constrained (we’re maxing out what we can flow already). So, how can drillers produce even more? Read More “M-U Drillers Collectively Increasing Production by 1 Bcf/d in 2025”
For the week of July 21 – 27, the number of permits issued to drill new wells in the Marcellus/Utica decreased from the previous week. There were 14 new permits issued across the three M-U states last week, three fewer than the 17 issued two weeks ago. The Keystone State (PA) issued 13 new permits. Expand Energy received seven new permits, spread across two pads in Wyoming County. EQT received four new permits for a single pad in Lycoming County. Formentera Operations received a single permit in Lycoming County. Rounding out PA, Coterra Energy received a single permit in Susquehanna County. 
Expand Energy, formed by the merger of Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern Energy, is the largest natural gas producer in the U.S. with approximately 1.9 million leased net acres. The company operates in three distinct regions: Northeast Appalachia (Pennsylvania), Southwest Appalachia (mostly West Virginia, but also Pennsylvania and Ohio), and the Haynesville (Louisiana). The company issued its second quarter 2025 results yesterday. In 2Q25, Expand operated an average of 11 rigs, drilling 49 wells and turning 59 wells in line to sales, resulting in net production of approximately 7.20 Bcfe per day (92% natural gas). Notably, the company has cut $100 million from its capital budget this year, yet says it will maintain production at current levels. 
The highly functional and responsible Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), unlike its highly dysfunctional and irresponsible counterpart, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), continues to support the shale energy industry by approving water withdrawals and consumptive use for responsible and safe shale drilling. The SRBC published a notice in the June 21 Pennsylvania Bulletin that the Executive Director of the SRBC renewed 38 general water use permits in May for individual shale gas well drilling pads in Bradford, Cameron, Clearfield, Lycoming, Susquehanna, Tioga, and Wyoming counties in Pennsylvania. So far in 2025, the SRBC has issued or renewed 225 general water use permits for shale gas development. 
The Southwest Appalachia drilling team for Expand Energy, the newly combined company created when Chesapeake Energy merged with Southwestern Energy, claims it has drilled the U.S.’s longest on-shore well and longest on-shore lateral to date at more than five miles. The BW Edge MSH 210H was recently drilled in Marshall County, West Virginia. We say the team “claims” to have drilled the longest lateral because in March, Hart Energy reported a similar claim by Expand to have drilled an even longer lateral in Ohio County, WV (see 
The data center high tide is lifting all gas drilling boats. That’s according to a new study from S&P Global Commodity Insights that finds the expectations of a coming boom in demand for electricity for data centers, which will create a boom in demand for natural gas to produce the electricity, is causing gas drilling companies to increase in value. It’s hard to accurately quantify the value for private companies, but for public companies (those with stock that trade on the open market), we can confirm that over the past year, the value for drillers with significant operations in the Marcellus/Utica has, on average, risen dramatically.