8 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 1 – 7
The new permits report for two weeks ago showed just four new permits, which we called “below dismal” (see 4 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Mar 25 – 31). Last week, for April 1 – 7, there were eight new permits issued. However, they were all issued in Pennsylvania. Both Ohio and West Virginia failed to issue any new permits last week. Coterra Energy scored the most new permits last week with three, all of them for Susquehanna County, PA. CNX Resources received two new permits, both in Westmoreland County. Range Resources also received two permits, one in Allegheny County, the other in Washington County. And Repsol received one new permit for Tioga County.
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Spanish energy giant Repsol, with around 214,000 net acres of leases in the Marcellus Shale, primarily located in northeastern Pennsylvania in Bradford, Susquehanna, and Tioga counties, issued the company’s fourth quarter and full-year 2023 update last week. Among the tidbits coming to light is a statement by Repsol management that the company plans to spend €$1 billion (US$1.083 billion) in the Marcellus over the next four years. Repsol loves the Marcellus!
If this doesn’t take the cake. Venture Global has been screwing its contracted customers for more than two years by not officially christening its Calcasieu Pass LNG export facility in Louisiana as officially open for business (denying customers cargoes under contracted prices), yet during that time, Venture Global has exported (on the spot market) more than 250 LNG cargoes! It’s a sham, and everybody knows it! Venture Global got the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to extend the “must officially be open by date” for an extra year last year (expired Feb 21st of this year). And now, unbelievably, Venture Global wants FERC to extend it for ANOTHER year!
Spanish-owed Repsol owns (at last check) around 214,000 net acres of leases in the Marcellus Shale, primarily located in northeastern Pennsylvania in Bradford, Susquehanna, and Tioga counties. Early last year (in January 2022), Repsol closed on a deal to buy Rockdale Marcellus out of bankruptcy for $222 million, adding Rockdale’s 66 producing wells on 42,897 net acres to Resol’s extensive Marcellus portfolio (see
In August, the Executive Director of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) approved 34 water-use permits for individual shale gas well drilling pads in Bradford, Lycoming, Sullivan, Susquehanna, and Tioga counties. We’re just learning of the action via an official notice published in the Sept. 23 edition of the Pennsylvania Bulletin. The approvals, which are NOT subject to public review according to SRBC regulations, are general water permits. Each site will be required to receive a specific water withdrawal approval at a later date.
The highly functional and responsible Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), unlike its completely dysfunctional and irresponsible cousin, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), continues to support the shale energy industry by approving water withdrawals for responsible and safe shale drilling. Last week, the SRBC approved 22 new water withdrawal requests within the basin, eight of which are for water used in drilling and fracking shale wells in Pennsylvania. The Marcellus/Utica shale drillers receiving a green light from SRBC included BKV (Banpu), Coterra Energy, EQT, Inflection Energy, Repsol (2 requests), Seneca Resources, and S.T.L. Resources.
In early August, MDN told you about trouble brewing along the Gulf Coast between Venture Global LNG and its biggest customers: BP, Shell, Edison International (an Italian utility company), Repsol, and GALP Energia (see
A Repsol well located on a pad in Troy (Bradford County), PA, experienced uncontrolled natural gas venting. The situation began around 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 27. It continued to vent “sporadically” until about 2:30 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 28. Repsol called the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to report the situation at 2:02 a.m. on Monday. A DEP inspector was at the site within hours, at 5:55 a.m. The venting caused a brief evacuation order for several homes within a half-mile radius of the well pad, which was lifted hours later when the DEP determined the venting had stopped.
The weather has been fantastic for those of us living in the northeastern U.S. over the past few weeks. Clear blue skies (when they aren’t clouded with wildfire smoke from Canada), really warm temperatures, and absolutely no rain to spoil outdoor activities. Here in the Binghamton, NY area, we went from a surplus of rain and swollen rivers and lakes just a month ago to a rain deficit today. Lawns and fields and beginning to turn brown. Hey, we’re not complaining! But we do need some rain. The lack of rain in the Susquehanna River Basin has triggered water withdrawal restrictions for 42 oil and gas drillers and four other large water users (46 in all) by the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC). In many cases, the SRBC order is to “cease withdrawal.”