PHX Response to WhiteHawk Energy’s Latest Marriage Proposal: NO!
Our observation is that WhiteHawk Energy is smitten with PHX Minerals. For the last 15 months, WhiteHawk has been trying to get PHX down the marriage aisle in any way it can. PHX has repeatedly given WhiteHawk the cold shoulder. WhiteHawk’s latest attempt, which we told you about yesterday, was an appeal to PHX shareholders to pressure the board to sell at $4 per share (see WhiteHawk Energy Keeps Up Public Pressure to Make PHX Merge). PHX didn’t waste any time responding. It was a resounding NO! Read More “PHX Response to WhiteHawk Energy’s Latest Marriage Proposal: NO!”
We continue to mourn the loss of Cabot Oil & Gas (100% focused on the Marcellus in northeastern PA) following its merger with Cimarex Energy (an oil driller focused on the Permian and Anadarko basins) in 2021 (see 
Two weeks ago, MDN brought you the news that Christmas had come early with the announcement of a plan to build the country’s largest natural gas-fired power plant at a proposed data center site in Pittsylvania County, Virginia (see 
Some 15 months ago, WhiteHawk Energy, headquartered in Philadelphia with ownership of mineral and royalty interests for over 1 million gross unit acres and over 3,400 producing horizontal shale wells between the Marcellus and the Haynesville, proposed marriage to PHX Minerals, based in Fort Worth, Texas, owner of 75,000 leased mineral acres principally located in the SCOOP and Haynesville plays (see 
In January, MDN brought you the news that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved a plan by Catalyst Energy to convert an existing conventional gas production well on Route 646 in Cyclone (Keating Township, McKean County, PA) into a shale wastewater injection well (see 
We’ve written a number of times about the Ohio Utica Shale and its beginnings with gas legend Aubrey McClendon, who, as CEO of Chesapeake Energy, was one of (if not THE) first to recognize the Utica as an oil play. However, it was a successor company, Encino Energy, that figured out how to coax large quantities of oil out of the Utica shale. Encino is one of the big success stories of drilling for oil in the Ohio Utica Shale. However, using the right tech is only part of the equation that transformed a company founded in 2017 into the #1 largest oil producer in Ohio and all of the Marcellus/Utica. 
Last Friday (Nov. 8), the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) sent a heads-up to shale drillers and other large water users in the basin to warn them to be on the lookout for a Plan B to source water. Northeastern Pennsylvania (and other states in the northeast) are experiencing drought or near-drought conditions. The streams and rivers that some drillers use to source water for drilling and fracking are getting low in some areas. The SRBC is about to clamp down and block new withdrawals until the situation improves. 
We won’t lie—we have a love/hate relationship with the American Petroleum Institute. Big Oil companies (like Exxon) control the organization (they pay big membership fees), and often, Big Oil is at odds with smaller, independent oil and gas producers like those who do most of the shale drilling. The API tends to suck up to politicians like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. In remarks made yesterday, API President Mike Sommers said his organization supports (!) the massive worldwide shakedown of America called the Paris Accords (which targets HIS members for extinction). Go figure. However, the API isn’t all bad. The API released a policy roadmap yesterday for the incoming Trump administration. 
Three weeks ago, Pennsylvania’s rig count dropped to just 12 rigs, the lowest that state has operated in the last 17 years (see 
In August, MDN brought you up to speed on a lawsuit filed by several West Virginia landowners (turned into a class action) against Diversified Energy and EQT over EQT’s sale of 11,350 conventional wells and 2.5 million acres of leases spread across several states, including West Virginia (see 
In May, MDN told you that several Republican Pennsylvania State Senators were planning to introduce a bill to cut off millions of dollars in impact fee revenues to municipalities that set protective standards on the development of natural gas that “imposes a standard or condition on well development that conflicts with or exceeds those contained” in state law (see 
Yesterday, Hart Energy held its DUG Appalachia Conference and Expo in Pittsburgh. DUG stands for Developing Unconventional Gas. According to press accounts, folks were smiling, and the atmosphere was a lot more optimistic following Donald Trump’s crushing victory over The Cackler. A number of Marcellus/Utica luminaries attended, including EQT Corp. CEO Toby Rice. In a keynote speech to attendees, Rice had one of (perhaps THE) most memorable lines of the day. He said, “We’re in a different world, and it’s not about drilling, it’s about ‘build baby, build,’ and we need more pipelines.”