Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation | Washington County
Cecil Twp Supervisors Pull the Trigger on Frack Ban Via Setbacks
Let the lawsuits begin. Last night, three of five supervisors in Cecil Township (Washington County), PA, voted to ban all new fracking via a new setback (distance from well to nearest structure) requirement of 2,500 feet (see Cecil Twp About to Ban New Fracking – Will Other PA Towns Follow?). Contrary to what the left says, the new setback distance bans virtually all new shale drilling in the town. Voters in Cecil now know who to vote out of office, as the terms for those voting to ban fracking will come due over the next few years. Read More “Cecil Twp Supervisors Pull the Trigger on Frack Ban Via Setbacks”
CNX Resources filed a request with the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) in April 2023 to build two pipelines—two for natural gas—along a 13.9-mile route in Bell, Loyalhanna, and Salem Townships in Westmoreland County. An additional 4-mile pipeline would be built for water. Called the Slickville Trunkline Project, the DEP originally told CNX its application was “incomplete.” The DEP later told CNX (in March of this year) the agency considered the application “withdrawn” because it hadn’t received any more information (see 
In September, the Board of Supervisors for Cecil Township in Washington County, PA, caved to pressure from radical leftists and, by a vote of 3-2, instructed the town’s solicitor to prepare a new zoning ordinance that increases setbacks from “protected structures” from 500 feet to 2,500 feet (half a mile), and add a setback of 5,000 feet from schools and hospitals (almost a full mile, see 
Coterra Energy, formed by the merger of Cabot Oil & Gas (drills for natural gas in the Marcellus) and Cimarex Energy (drills for oil in the Permian and Anadarko basins), issued its third quarter 2024 update last week. The company turned in respectable financial numbers, making a profit of $252 million in 3Q24, down 22% from the $323 million it made in 3Q23. Unfortunately, there was bad news for the Marcellus. The company is boosting the amount of gas it curtails from the Marcellus to 340,000 MMcf/d gross (288,000 MMcf/d net) during November. Both new drilling and new completions (fracking) in the Marcellus are zero for now. Sadly, the company is operating NO rigs in Marcellus right now. 
For the week of Oct 21 – 27, there were 17 permits issued to drill Marcellus/Utica wells, up from 14 permits issued the prior week. The Keystone State (PA) had 12 new permits, with five going to Chesapeake Energy (now Expand Energy) in Wyoming County and two each for PennEnergy Resources (Beaver County) and Coterra Energy (Susquehanna County). Single permits were issued to Pennsylvania General Energy, Inflection Energy, and XPR Resources. The Buckeye State (OH) had five new permits, with four going to Gulfport Energy in Belmont County. The other OH permit was for Infinity Natural Resources (INR) in Guernsey County. The Mountain State (WV) issued a big, fat zero new permits last week. 
Antero Resources, which is 100% focused on the Marcellus/Utica with over 500,000 net acres under lease (and the largest M-U driller in West Virginia), issued its third quarter 2024 update yesterday. The company reports net production averaged 3.4 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d) during 3Q24, a decrease of 2% year-over-year. Of the company’s 2024 production, liquids (NGLs) averaged 206 thousand barrels per day (MBbl/d), an increase of 2% from 3Q23. Natural gas production averaged 2.2 Bcf/d, down 4% from 3Q23. The company lost $20 million in 3Q24 versus making $17.8 million in profit in 3Q23. 
In May 2023, two radicalized Big Green groups—the Environmental Integrity Project (based in D.C.) and the Clean Air Council (based in Philadelphia)—filed a lawsuit against the Shell Polymers Monaca Plant (ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA), claiming the plant has repeatedly violated federal air pollution limits (see 
EQT Corporation delivered its third quarter 2024 update yesterday. The big focus for EQT during 3Q was closing on the purchase and beginning the reintegration of its long-lost midstream division, called Equitrans Midstream (owner of the Mountain Valley Pipeline). CEO Toby Rice said, “All cylinders are firing,” and that 60% of the tasks needed for the integration have already been done. The company produced 581 Bcfe in 3Q, which is an average of 6.3 Bcfe per day—about a half Bcf less than the new Expand Energy. EQT is now in second place on the list of top natgas producers in the U.S. It wouldn’t take much for EQT to regain the top spot if it wanted to. 
Yesterday, two European companies announced separate deals for Coterra Energy to provide Marcellus natural gas to an unidentified LNG export facility that will liquefy and sell it to them. One company was commodities trader Vitol (based in Switzerland) and the other utility giant Centrica (based in the U.K.). Both deals were for 100 MMcf/d (or 100,000 MMBtus) each. The Vitol deal is for 11 years, and the Centrica deal is for 10 years. Combined, it represents 1.4 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of northeast Pennsylvania Marcellus natural gas heading to other European and Asian countries. 
Epsilon Energy, a relatively small company, used to concentrate most of its effort on developing (financing) Marcellus Shale wells. However, over the past couple of years, the company has expanded into other plays and owns assets in the Anadarko (Oklahoma and Texas), the Permian (Texas and New Mexico), and now in western Canada. Epsilon typically does not do its own drilling. The company joint venture partners with (gives money to) other companies, like Expand Energy (in the Marcellus), and the other company typically does the drilling. Last week, Epsilon announced the closing of two joint ventures in western Canada. 
Two different subsidiaries of National Fuel Gas Company (NFG), Seneca Resources (shale driller) and National Fuel Gas Midstream Company (gathering pipelines), were certified by two different certification authorities, MiQ and Equitable Origin, respectively. Yesterday, NFG announced both companies have been recertified by their respective authorities. Everyone is still responsible. 🙂 
As part of its third quarter update, EQT Corporation, now the second-largest natural gas producer in the U.S., dropped the bombshell that it has completely divested from the remaining non-operated wells it owns in northeastern Pennsylvania, selling the assets to Norwegian company Equinor (formerly known as Statoil) for $1.25 billion. You may recall in April, EQT did a deal with Equinor to swap land in Pennsylvania and Ohio, plus receiving $500 million from Equinor to sweeten the pot (see 
Last Friday, Reuters reported that sources “familiar with the matter” whispered to its reporters that private equity firm Blackstone is “in advanced talks” to acquire minority stakes in the interstate natural gas pipelines now owned by EQT Corp. (following its purchase of Equitrans Midstream) for a whopping $3.5 billion. The deal would help EQT reduce the debt it accumulated from buying Equitrans. 
Last week, CNX Resources issued its third quarter 2024 update. The company made $65.5 million in profit for the quarter, compared with a profit of $21.3 million in 3Q23 (more than doubling net income). Production was 134.5 Bcfe (billion cubic feet equivalent) in 3Q24 — which works out to 1.46 Bcfe/d — down from 143.4 Bcfe last year (a drop of 6%). Drilling all but stopped during 3Q. The company drilled just three new wells, all of them in the Utica in central PA.