MVP Asks FERC to Approve Expanded Capacity by Extra 600 MMcf/d
In July 2024, EQT announced a plan to expand capacity along the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from 2.0 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) to 2.5 Bcf/d (see EQT’s Game Plan Changed – Keep MVP & Expand Extra 0.5 Bcf/d). In July of this year, the company said it had concluded an open season (where new customers may claim the expanded capacity) and was already preordering equipment for the expansion, ahead of an official filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see EQT Ordering Equipment to Expand MVP from 2.0 to 2.5 Bcf/d). Yesterday, EQT announced that it had finally submitted its official request to FERC. However, the company upped the requested capacity from 500 to 600 MMcf/d (or 0.6 Bcf/d). Cool! Read More “MVP Asks FERC to Approve Expanded Capacity by Extra 600 MMcf/d”
We happened across a lawsuit we didn’t know about, involving an issue we’ve seen before. A landowner in Belmont County, Ohio, filed a lawsuit in June 2024 alleging that Gulfport Energy, in a joint development agreement with EQT (the lease owner), drilled three wells under the landowner’s property that tapped into the Point Pleasant formation, which sits immediately below the Utica. The landowner said the lease only allows drilling in the Utica and Marcellus and NOT in the Point Pleasant. 
EQT Corporation delivered its latest quarterly update yesterday for the third quarter of 2025. Like prior quarterly updates, it was jam-packed. The company, having already secured deals to supply natural gas to two of Pennsylvania’s biggest data and AI center projects, anticipates winning even more agreements in the coming months and years. During the earnings call, CEO Toby Rice said, “Strategically, when we look at what we’re doing, it’s really simple: getting access to the best markets and supplying the best energy.” He added, “Our execution machine is firing on all cylinders.” 
CNX Resources is partnering with Chicago real estate giant JLL to market and lease the 1,500-acre Zediker Station site in South Strabane Township, about 20 miles south of Pittsburgh. The property offers 400 buildable acres, access to natural gas reserves and ample water, and features a unique, carbon-neutral power solution. The companies are pitching Remediated Mine Gas (RMG)—methane captured from coal mine ventilation systems—which, when blended with traditional natural gas, can achieve carbon-neutral power generation for a potential data center. 
For the week of October 6 – 12, the number of permits issued to drill new wells in the Marcellus/Utica dropped significantly from the previous week. There were only seven new permits issued across the three M-U states last week, down from 32 issued two weeks ago. The bottom fell out of the new permits issued. In fact, only one state, Pennsylvania, issued new permits last week. Both Ohio and West Virginia issued no new permits. Last week marked the third consecutive week with no new permits issued in WV. Is someone asleep at the switch in the Mountain State? 
Yesterday, West Virginia and Diversified Energy unveiled a new public-private partnership to solve one of the most persistent environmental problems in oil- and gas-producing regions. WV Governor Patrick Morrisey and Diversified CEO Rusty Hutson, Jr., announced the creation of the Mountain State Plugging Fund, a unique, non-taxpayer-funded approach designed to retire an estimated 20,000 abandoned oil and gas wells permanently. By capping this old infrastructure, the state will significantly reduce the risk of groundwater contamination and stop the release of methane. 
Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass (CP) LNG export facility in Louisiana began operations in March 2022 (see 
Don’t say we didn’t warn them, because we did. Chevron is complaining that Venture Global is behaving like Venture Global—screwing over its contracted customers so it can make billions by selling LNG to uncontracted customers while pretending its LNG export facility isn’t commercially ready. We have to ask, what the heck did Chevron *think* would happen? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice… 
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 requests for responsible and safe shale drilling. The SRBC published a notice in the October 11 Pennsylvania Bulletin that the commission voted to approve 11 water withdrawal requests related to shale gas development and two for gas-fired power plants. 
Infinity Natural Resources (INR), headquartered in Morgantown, WV, focuses 100% on the Marcellus/Utica. The company went public earlier this year with a $265 million ($20/share) initial public offering, giving INR a $1.18 billion market capitalization (see 
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 (primarily West Virginia, with additional presence in Pennsylvania and Ohio), and the Haynesville (Louisiana). Expand CEO Nick Dell’Osso appeared yesterday on CNBC’s “Power Lunch” segment to share his insights on the supply-demand dynamic for natural gas, pipelines, and more. He had some VERY interesting things to say. 
Carrie Crumpton, Vice President of Environmental Strategy, presented on behalf of CNX Resources at the recent 2025 Shale Insight Conference. Carrie provided an overview and update on CNX’s 
Disappointingly, the Trump Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 3-0 to maintain a “consent order” that prevents private equity firm Quantum Energy Partners from owning stock in EQT and prohibits the CEO of Quantum from serving on EQT’s Board of Directors. This is all to do with EQT’s purchase of fellow driller Tug Hill in 2023. In September 2022, EQT announced a deal to buy privately owned Tug Hill Operating’s West Virginia shale assets (90,000 acres and 800 MMcf/d of production in West Virginia) for roughly $5.2 billion (see 
In August, EOG Resources, one of the largest oil and gas drillers in the U.S. (with international operations in several other countries) and a Fortune 500 company, closed on the $5.6 billion purchase of Encino Energy, adding 675,000 net acres in the Utica and over 1,000 operating shale wells (see