8 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Nov 24 – 30
The number of new permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica from November 24 – 30 was a paltry 8, down from 23 issued the prior week. We typically issue these weekly permit updates on Fridays, but last Friday, the PA DEP website, where we extract information, threw an error, so we delayed until today. This morning the PA DEP site shows only a single permit was issued during that period, so we don’t know whether there are still data problems. For now, we’re going with the information as it is (and will recheck it later this week). So, given that proviso, Pennsylvania issued 1 new permit, down 22 from the prior week. Ohio got skunked, issuing no new permits for the second week in a row. Hey ODNR, wake up! West Virginia issued 7 new permits, down from issuing 10 permits the prior week. Read More “8 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Nov 24 – 30”
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 December 6 Pennsylvania Bulletin that the Executive Director of the SRBC approved and/or renewed 76 general water use permits from September 1 through October 31 for individual shale gas well drilling pads in Blair, Bradford, Cameron, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Elk, Huntingdon, Lycoming, McKean, Sullivan, Susquehanna and Tioga counties in Pennsylvania and one permit to withdraw water in Steuben County, New York. 
Ascent Resources, formerly American Energy Partners, was founded by gas legend Aubrey McClendon and is a privately held company focused 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. Ascent, headquartered in Oklahoma City, OK, is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The largest shareholder in the privately owned company is the private equity firm Energy & Minerals Group (EMG), with an “over 30% stake” in the company. EMG plans to sell that stake in one of its portfolio companies to another EMG company. Another (smaller) investor, the Abu Dhabi Investment Council, has sued to block the transfer, alleging a “conflicted sale” that will short-change existing investors. 
In Q3 2025, U.S. E&Ps (drillers) successfully leveraged rigorous cost-cutting and capital discipline to maintain stable earnings despite commodity price volatility. With lifting costs down 16% since mid-2022, producers offset revenue pressures through efficiency and consolidation. RBN Energy reports that performance diverged by sector in 3Q: oil-weighted producers saw earnings rise 19% on stabilized crude prices and reduced impairments, while gas-weighted peers suffered a 27% earnings slump due to lower realizations. Total production increased 4.7%, mainly driven by oil majors. Looking ahead to Q4, the outlook shifts; oil producers face headwinds as prices dip toward $60/bbl, while natural gas producers anticipate a strong finish fueled by winter demand and rising Henry Hub prices. 
Three anti-shale drilling groups—the PA Council of Trout Unlimited, the Keystone Trails Association, and the Responsible Drilling Alliance—have 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 PA General Energy in Gamble and Cascade Townships, Lycoming County. The aim of their request is not to elicit information or express concerns that can be addressed to achieve a better outcome; rather, it is to flood the hearing with bombastic charges in hopes of blocking the project altogether. 
This is really rich. Venture Global (VG), now the second-largest LNG (liquefied natural gas) exporter in the U.S., is accusing Shell of waging a “three-year campaign” to damage VG’s LNG business. VG’s Calcasieu Pass (CP) LNG export facility in Louisiana began operations in March 2022. Typically, a new LNG facility will load and ship several (maybe two or three) cargoes to “work out the kinks” and ensure everything is working as advertised. VG, using loopholes in its signed contracts, maintained that it was working out the kinks long after it began shipping. After *hundreds of cargoes* were shipped, CP’s customers were still not receiving their contracted (at lower prices) shipments. Shell, along with several other customers, sued (see 
Regional and national indicators are driving optimism in the Marcellus/Utica Basin, which currently supplies 31% of U.S. natural gas. Despite recent constraints from low prices and limited pipeline capacity, drillers like Infinity Natural Resources and Expand Energy now predict significant output growth coming in the new year. This resurgence is fueled by surging in-basin demand from AI data centers, major power plant conversions in Pennsylvania, and improved takeaway prospects, such as Boardwalk’s proposed Borealis pipeline to the Gulf Coast (see 
It’s time to revisit a topic we’ve covered many times before — philanthropy in the Marcellus/Utica region. Drillers and pipeline companies in the M-U region already contribute to the region through the generous lease bonuses and royalties paid to landowners. In addition to the billions that flow to landowners, M-U companies cumulatively donate millions of dollars to local communities and nonprofit organizations. Here’s the latest example of that in action: The Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) says its members (and their employees) have embraced this Thanksgiving season by giving back through food drives, volunteering at local charities, and supporting community initiatives. 
One of the significant stories of 2024 in the Ohio Utica was about Austin Master Services (AMS), a radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry, Ohio, that processes and transports fracking waste for disposal. AMS ran into trouble when it ran out of money. The Martins Ferry facility in Belmont County, where waste is temporarily stored, had vastly exceeded its permitted limit of 600 tons (storing over 10,000 tons), resulting in a permit violation. The Ohio Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit against the company in March 2024 to compel compliance and require cleanup of the facility. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) stepped in to handle the cleanup. As of May 2025, cleaning and testing were completed (see 
Diversified Energy, which owns significant assets in the Marcellus/Utica region (and other regions, too), issued its third quarter update earlier this month. The company owns approximately 8 million acres of leases with close to 70,000 oil and gas wells, mostly conventional wells (by number of wells). However, the company now produces 41% of its production from shale wells, meaning the blend of assets has changed over time. The company’s business model is to buy already-drilled, lower-producing wells on the cheap and find ways to make them more productive. They do a great job at it. Diversified also owns midstream (pipeline) assets, as well as a well-plugging subsidiary, Next LVL. What does the 3Q25 update show? The company produced 1,127 MMcfe/d (74% natural gas, 13% NGLs, and 13% oil). That’s up a huge 36% increase over 3Q24! 
Repsol S.A. is a Spanish multinational energy and petrochemical company based in Madrid. It is engaged in worldwide upstream and downstream activities. In the 2022 Forbes Global 2000, Repsol was ranked as the 320th-largest public company in the world. As of 2022, it has 24,000 employees worldwide. Repsol, with shares traded on the Spanish Stock Exchange, has major assets around the world. It also has approximately 214,000 net acres of leased land (with wells) in the Marcellus Shale, primarily located in northeastern Pennsylvania, specifically in Bradford, Susquehanna, and Tioga counties. Repsol is considering a “reverse merger” of its upstream assets (worth $19 billion) with APA (formerly Apache, a Permian oil driller), according to super-secret sources whispering to Bloomberg. 
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