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8 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV May 22-28
New shale permits issued for May 22-28 in the Marcellus/Utica fell again for a second week. There were only 8 new permits issued, down from 12 new permits issued the previous week (and 26 the week before that). This is the latest indicator of a slowdown in gas drilling in our region–the first indicator being a sudden dropoff a few weeks back in the rig count (see U.S. Natural Gas Drilling Rig Count Craters, Down 10% in One Week). Last week’s permit tally included 6 new permits for Pennsylvania, no new permits for Ohio, and 2 new permits in West Virginia.
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Olympus Energy wants to drill six wells on a single pad in rural Elizabeth Township, a borough in Allegheny County on the east bank of the Monongahela River. The pad would sit about 2,400 feet (nearly half a mile) away from Elizabeth Forward High School. Some of the parents of students, and some of the administration, pushed back against Olympus’ drilling plan, using the kiddies as an excuse (see 
In a process that began in December 2021, Olympus Energy (formerly Huntley & Huntley) announced it had contracted with Project Canary to monitor methane emissions from both the company’s drilling operations and the company’s pipeline operations (see 
Last week the Municipality of Murrysville, PA (in Westmoreland County, near Pittsburgh) voted to allow Olympus Energy to build a well pad on a property straddling the border with Plum Township. The well pad will eventually host eight shale wells. Olympus wants to begin drilling the wells either late this year or early next year. This is good news indeed!
These days we don’t often see the contract details for new leases signed by landowners to allow shale drilling. We used to see and report on large landowner coalitions and the deals they had struck back in the earlier days of the Marcellus/Utica. But today, about the only time you get any kind of insight into deal amounts comes when municipalities lease land for drilling, given that the business dealings of a municipality must be disclosed publicly. We’re always on the lookout for such deals. Allegheny Township in Westmoreland County (near Pittsburgh) has just approved a shale lease with Olympus Energy to drill under (not on) 27.7 acres of the Tredway Trail. The terms of the deal are…
Olympus Energy wants to drill six wells on a single pad in rural Elizabeth Township, a borough in Allegheny County on the east bank of the Monongahela River. The pad would sit about 1,700 feet (one-third of a mile) away from Elizabeth Forward High School. Some of the parents of students, and some of the administration, are pushing back against Olympus’ drilling plan, using the kiddies as an excuse (see