43 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Feb 9 – 15
The Marcellus/Utica region received a combined 43 new drilling permits last week, Feb. 9 – 15, up 19 from the permits issued two weeks ago. The most recent high in permits (going back at least a year) occurred during the first week of December, when 60 new permits were issued (see 60 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 1 – 7). A week with 43 permits is also significant, indicating an increase in drilling activity. Pennsylvania issued 25 new permits, Ohio issued 7, and West Virginia issued 11. The drillers receiving new permits last week included: Antero Resources, Arsenal Resources, Ascent Resources, Coterra Energy, HG Energy, Infinity Natural Resources, JKLM Energy, and PennEnergy Resources. Read More “43 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Feb 9 – 15”
In December, MDN brought you the news that Antero Resources, the country’s fifth-largest natural gas producer and largest producer in West Virginia, had cut a deal to buy WV driller and midstreamer HG Energy II for a combined $3.9 billion, paying $2.8 billion for upstream and $1.1 billion for midstream (see 
Antero Resources, the country’s fifth-largest natural gas producer and largest producer in West Virginia, is growing its WV operations. This morning, the company announced a deal to buy privately held WV driller and midstreamer HG Energy II for a combined (upstream & midstream) $3.9 billion. The deal will add a massive 385,000 net acres to Antero’s existing ~475,000 net core Marcellus acreage position, bringing with it another 850 MMcfe/d in production. The upstream part of the deal will fetch $2.8 billion, while the midstream will get $1.1 billion. HG Energy is a West Virginia corporation with its headquarters office located in Parkersburg. 
For the week of Mar 10 – 16, the number of permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica to drill new shale wells increased by nine from the previous week. Last week, 31 new permits were issued, with 16 going to the Keystone State (PA). EQT (and its subsidiary Rice Drilling) scored nine permits across Fayette, Greene, and Washington counties in southwestern PA. Range Resources took five permits, all of them in Washington County. And Rev Resources received two permits in Tioga County. 
A fire was reported at a natural gas well near Jane Lew (Harrison County), WV, on Saturday at around 2:15 pm. Multiple fire departments responded. One media report says the well location is listed as the Stickel Pad belonging to driller HG Energy. There were no injuries, according to 911 officials. The fire was extinguished within a few hours. Other than those barebones facts and a few photos (below), that’s all we know about this incident. The incident doesn’t seem to be a priority for local news media outlets to cover. 
Two days ago, MDN brought you the list of the Top 100 private oil and gas producers in the Lower 48 states, which includes four Marcellus/Utica drillers in the Top 10 (see 
HG Energy drills for natural gas and oil in the Marcellus/Utica. The company, headquartered in Parkersburg, WV, is backed with private equity money managed by Quantum Capital Group (formerly Quantum Energy Partners). One of the companies co-investing in HG is Elliott Management, a so-called activist investor. The Wall Street Journal reports Elliott has just ponied up an additional $500 million (half a BILLION dollars!) to a fund managed by Quantum aimed at “retiring previous vehicles” that fund HG. In other words, retire older IOUs with newer IOUs. Elliott wants to grow its share of ownership in HG.