White House Claims NY Gov. “Caved” on Pipelines, Hochul Says No
We’ve got a “he said, she said” situation between President Donald Trump and New York Governor Kathy Hochul. Last week MDN brought you the news that, following several conversations over the previous weekend between Trump and Hochul, that the President had agreed to allow New York to restart a $5 billion windmill project off the coast of Long Island, in return for allowing two pipeline projects to get built in the state, one of them the long-stalled Constitution Pipeline (see Trump Deal Trades NY Offshore Wind for Constitution, NESE Pipes). Trump claims the deal was a quid pro quo—windmills for pipelines. The White House further said that Miss Kathy “caved” on the pipelines. Hochul is now saying that’s not the case, that she never agreed to allow the pipelines to be built, only that she will approve the pipelines IF they meet both federal and state requirements. Which sure sounds like she’s welching on her deal with Trump. Read More “White House Claims NY Gov. “Caved” on Pipelines, Hochul Says No”
The Baker Hughes U.S. rig count dropped like a rock last week, down 10 rigs to its lowest level since November 2021. It is the first time the count has slumped for four consecutive weeks since 2024. On a happier note, the combined Marcellus/Utica count rose by two rigs to 37 active rigs. However, there was a change between the plays (and states) in the M-U. The Pennsylvania Marcellus lost one rig, now at 17 rigs, while the Ohio Utica picked up two rigs, now at 12 rigs. West Virginia remained the same with eight active rigs. 
In late 2015, MPLX (i.e., Marathon Petroleum) bought out and merged in the Utica Shale’s premier midstream company, MarkWest Energy, for $15 billion (see 
The Algonquin Gas Transmission pipeline (owned by Enbridge) transports up to 3.09 Bcf/d through a pipeline that is 1,131 miles long. Algonquin connects to Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO), Millennium Pipeline, and Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline and supplies New England with critically needed natural gas supplies for power generation and consumer use. As we told you in September 2023, Enbridge conducted an open season to gauge interest in expanding Algonquin’s capacity to flow more gas into New England—mainly from the Marcellus/Utica—called Project Maple (see 
It is “The Art of the Deal” with Donald J. Trump. Only DJT could pull off such a miracle. We are referring to a deal just struck (on Monday) with New York Governor Kathy Hochul. Trump will allow New York to blow $5 billion on an idiotic offshore wind project (off the coast of Long Island) in return for Hochul allowing the construction of two long-stalled pipeline projects: The Constitution Pipeline and the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) Project, part of the Transco pipeline system. We had no idea NESE was on the table as part of a potential deal! 
The U.S. national rig count lost two more rigs last week, going from 578 to 576, tying January 24th of this year as the lowest national rig count in the past 12 months. Rigs targeting the Marcellus layer remained the same with 25 rigs last week, while the Utica (in Ohio) picked up one rig and now operates 11 rigs for a combined total of 36. Pennsylvania was static with 18 rigs, Ohio moved up from nine to ten rigs, and West Virginia remained the same with eight rigs. 
Last November, MDN brought you the great news that MPLX (aka MarkWest Energy) would file to build an expansion at its existing Harmon Creek facility in Smith Township, Washington County, PA (see 
In February, President Trump signed an executive order (EO) creating the National Energy Dominance Council, directing the new council to move quickly to increase domestic oil and gas production (see 
During last week’s first quarter update from Williams, management announced a new project called the Transco Power Express expansion. The project will expand Transco capacity by a whopping 950 MMcf/d (nearly a full Bcf) to flow more Marcellus/Utica molecules to the power-hungry Virginia market. The Virginia market is power hungry because of the data centers already built there, and the many more planned for the state. The Power Express project, if built, is expected to go online in the third quarter of 2030 (five years from now). 
Dominion Energy and its operations in Chesterfield County, Virginia (near Richmond) are in the news again, but not for the same reason you may think. We previously told you about Dominion’s project to build a “peaker” electric generating plant in Chesterfield (see