PA DEP Denies Road Permit for PGE Shale Pad in Loyalsock Forest
Last December, MDN told you that three anti-shale drilling groups—the PA Council of Trout Unlimited, the Keystone Trails Association, and the Responsible Drilling Alliance—requested the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) hold a hearing on the Chapter 105 permit requested for a 3.9-mile shale gas access road and staging area proposed by Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE) in the Loyalsock State Forest (see PA Antis Want DEP Hearing on 3.9-Mile Rd to Shale Pad in Loyalsock). The antis kept up the pressure. They squawked a lot during a DEP virtual public hearing in February (see Antis Flood PA DEP Hearing Against Drilling in Loyalsock Forest). The hearing focused on the Chapter 105 water-quality permit for PGE’s proposal to construct an access road. Congratulations to the crazies: They succeeded. Read More “PA DEP Denies Road Permit for PGE Shale Pad in Loyalsock Forest”
National Fuel Gas Company (NFG) is an integrated natural gas company with a regulated utility business, a shale drilling business (Seneca Resources), and a pipeline business (NFG Midstream, Empire Pipeline). The company issued its fiscal second quarter update two weeks ago, which is everyone else’s calendar first quarter update. The good news is that NFG is upgrading its Line N natural gas pipeline to carry an additional 94,000 Dth/d (90 MMcf/d) of Marcellus/Utica shale gas. The bad news is that Seneca produced 102.0 Bcf of natural gas, a decrease of 3.5 Bcf, or 3%, from the prior year, largely due to weather-driven completion delays and “typical natural gas production declines on producing wells.” 
Ascent Resources, formerly American Energy Partners, was founded by Aubrey McClendon and is a privately held company that focuses 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. Ascent, headquartered in Oklahoma City, OK, is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer and one of the largest natural gas producers in the U.S. The company issued its first quarter 2026 update last week. First quarter net production averaged 2,132 MMcfe/d, consisting of 1,838 MMcf/d of natural gas, 11,500 bbls per day of oil, and 37,589 bbls per day of natural gas liquids (NGLs), putting liquids at 14% of the overall production mix for the quarter. 
EOG Resources is one of the largest crude oil and natural gas exploration and production companies in the U.S., with proved reserves in the U.S. and Trinidad. The company bought and merged with Encino Energy’s extensive Ohio Utica operation last August, making EOG one of the largest drillers in the Buckeye State (see 
In March 2025, the Wall Street Journal reported that Shell is “exploring a potential sale of its chemicals assets in Europe and the U.S.,” which includes the Monaca (Beaver County, PA) ethane cracker complex (see 
The Marcellus/Utica region received 19 new drilling permits last week, Apr. 27 – May 3, up from the 12 permits issued two weeks ago. Pennsylvania issued 5 of last week’s permits. Ohio issued the lion’s share, with 13 new permits (four of which were from two weeks ago). West Virginia issued just 1 new permit last week. The drillers who received new permits included: Ascent Resources, Campbell Oil & Gas, CNX Resources, EOG Resources, Gulfport Energy, and Range Resources. 
In February, MDN brought you the big news that Devon Energy is buying out and merging with Coterra Energy, paying $21.4 billion in Devon stock (see 
Last week, CNX Resources issued its first quarter 2026 update. During 1Q26, CNX drilled 14 Southwest PA Marcellus wells, frac’d 6 wells (3 SWPA Marcellus and 3 Central PA Utica wells), and turned-in-line (TIL’ed) 12 wells (6 SWPA Marcellus, 3 CPA Marcellus, and 3 CPA Utica wells). Included in that activity were three of the company’s longest Marcellus laterals to date, all of which exceeded 22,000 feet, including a company record lateral that reached 23,369 feet (4.4 miles!), and a company daily drilling record of 9,252 feet of lateral in 24 hours. Production in 1Q26 was 1,693.0 MMcfe/d, up from 1Q25 (1,642.3) and up from 4Q25 (1,654.8). 
The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Equinor USA Onshore Properties Inc. (formerly Statoil) in a multi-million dollar tax dispute last Friday. The case has major implications for how the state calculates severance taxes for natural gas liquids. The decision reversed an intermediate court’s procedural dismissal, entitling Equinor to over $19 million in tax refunds for the years 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019. The dispute centered on the definition of “gross proceeds” and the timeliness of administrative appeals in a years-long battle with the West Virginia tax commissioner. 
Antero Resources, the largest Marcellus/Utica (M-U) driller in West Virginia, released its Q1 2026 update last week. Antero placed 20 Marcellus wells to sales during Q1 with an average lateral length of 11,652 feet. Thirteen of these wells have been online for approximately 60 days with an average rate per well of 25 MMcfe/d, including 1,457 Bbl/d of liquids per well. Antero’s drilling and completion capital expenditures during Q1 were $222 million. In addition to capital invested in drilling and completion activities, the company invested $25 million in land during the first quarter. Through its land investment, Antero added approximately 5,400 net acres, representing 24 incremental drilling locations at an average cost of approximately $900,000 per location. 
Expand Energy turned in its first quarter 2026 update yesterday. Across all of its operations in the Marcellus/Utica and the Haynesville, Expand operated an average of 13 rigs during the first quarter, drilling 60 wells and turning 49 wells in line, resulting in net production of approximately 7.44 Bcfe/d (93% natural gas). In 2026, Expand Energy expects to run 11 to 12 rigs and invest approximately $2.85 billion, yielding an estimated daily production of approximately 7.5 Bcfe/d. We have a detailed breakdown below of how much of that activity is in the M-U. The Expand board fired its successful CEO, Nick Dell’Osso, in February (see