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Bad Guys Win: PA General Energy to Plug Grant Twp Injection Well
Since 2015 we’ve reported on the case of Grant Township (Indiana County, PA), a town that passed an ordinance cooked up by the radical Big Green group Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) to try and block a state-approved injection well proposed by Pennsylvania General Energy (see our Grant Township articles here). There have been number of legal twists and turns–with Grant and the CELDF losing every single time. We have a very sad update to share: Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE), the builder seeking a permit to expand a depleted well to use as an injection well, is throwing in the towel.
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Last November, MDN told you about a lawsuit filed by a family in Washington County, PA, against Chevron (now EQT) for drilling and fracking done in 2011-2012 near the family’s home (see 
Epsilon Energy concentrates most of its effort on developing Marcellus Shale wells in Susquehanna County, PA–that is, until now (see below). Epsilon typically does not do its own drilling. The company joint venture partners with (gives money to) other companies, like Chesapeake Energy, and the other company typically does the drilling. Epsilon issued its first quarter 2023 update yesterday. The company’s net gas production was 2.5 Bcf (billion cubic feet) in total, not per day, during 1Q23. That amounts to 27.3 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day) on average. Epsilon generated revenues of $9.4 million for 1Q23, down 39% from 4Q22.
Investors in shale oil and gas companies suffered for years with little or no returns for the money they invested. Five of eight large Marcellus/Utica drillers saw their share prices decrease by an astonishing 85% or more from 2008 to 2019 (see 
This is precisely what we feared might happen and why we were against the merger of Cimarex Energy and Cabot Oil & Gas, now called Coterra Energy (see 
The Shell ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA (near Pittsburgh) has experienced a number of problems over the past six months during startup, including flaring and foul odors (see 
National Fuel Gas Company (NFG), headquartered in Buffalo, NY, is the parent company for Marcellus/Utica driller Seneca Resources and the parent of midstream company Empire Pipeline. Earlier this week, NFG issued its latest quarterly update. NFG operates on a weird fiscal year system. This latest update is for the company’s second quarter, which would be everybody else’s first quarter update. The big news from the update is that Seneca Resources has agreed to acquire upstream assets in northwestern Pennsylvania from Southwestern Energy for $127 million.
We are currently in the latest quarterly update season. In fact, we are about done with quarterly updates for the first quarter. Most (if not all) of the publicly traded Marcellus/Utica drillers have turned in their quarterly updates, as well as gas drillers from other plays (like the Haynesville). If you review the statements made by U.S. gas drillers in this latest round of updates, you’ll find the sentiment expressed that although we’re currently in the price basement for natural gas, most drillers don’t think it’s going last long. They think low prices for natgas are short-lived and that a rebound awaits us in 2024.
CNX Resources held its annual meeting yesterday, which lasted all of 13 minutes. As we previously reported, one of CNX’s shareholders, a hotel owner from California (Jon Handerly), sought to force CNX to issue annual reports about the company’s efforts to comply with the so-called Paris goals of lower carbon dioxide emissions (see 
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) continues its delay, deny, and defend strategy with a PennEnergy Resources to draw water from Big Sewickley Creek for use in fracking operations. More than two years ago PennEnergy requested permission to draw water from the creek. So far, with the help of anti-fossil fuel groups pressuring the DEP, PennEnergy hasn’t withdrawn a single 8-ounce cup of water from the creek.
New shale permits issued for Apr. 24-30 in the Marcellus/Utica fell from the prior week. There were 18 new permits issued last week, down from 25 in the prior week. Last week’s tally included 8 new permits for Pennsylvania, 4 new permits for Ohio, and 6 new permits in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits was Antero Resources, with 6 permits issued in Tyler County, WV. EQT (Rice Drilling) was second-highest, with 4 permits issued in Greene County, PA.
Chesapeake Energy Corporation issued its first quarter 2023 update yesterday. The company reports making a profit of $1.39 billion in net income during 1Q23, versus losing $764 million in 1Q22 (the loss last year mainly due to derivatives). Chessy generated $241 million in free cash flow. First quarter net production was approximately 4,069 MMcfe per day (or 4.1 Bcfe/d, 90% natural gas and 10% total liquids), using an average of 14 rigs to drill 60 wells and placing 53 wells on production. Although Chesapeake drills for natural gas in both the Marcellus and the Haynesville, the company gave slightly more love to the Haynesville in 1Q23.
Gulfport Energy, the third-largest driller in the Ohio Utica Shale (by the number of wells drilled), emerged from bankruptcy in May 2021 with a new board and new top management. In January of this year, the company appointed a new CEO, John Reinhart, the former President and CEO of M-U driller Montage Resources Corporation before that company was gobbled up by Southwestern Energy (see 
Last September, EQT Corporation announced it is buying privately-owned Tug Hill Operating’s West Virginia shale assets for $5.2 billion (see 
The proxy firm hired by California hotel owner Jon Handerly is accusing CNX Resources of lying about its attempt to silence CNX CEO Nick DeIuliis. Handerly, using Proxy Impact, is attempting to get CNX shareholders to pass a proposal requiring the company to file annual reports on how the company measures up to the cockamamie “Paris goals” of reducing carbon dioxide emissions (see