DUG Appalachia: Range Resources Gives a Hard Pass on Pursuing M&A
We have a second post about yesterday’s Hart Energy DUG Appalachia event held in Pittsburgh. One of the sessions was an interview with Dennis Degner, CEO of Range Resources, the very first company to drill a Marcellus well back in 2004. Range is a “pure play” company focusing 100% on the Marcellus/Utica. Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen a flurry of mergers and acquisitions, not only here in the M-U but across other plays as well (particularly in the Permian). During the Q&A discussion with Degner, the topic of M&A came up. Degner explained why he and his company have, and will continue, to sit on the sidelines of the M&A craze. Read More “DUG Appalachia: Range Resources Gives a Hard Pass on Pursuing M&A”
Two days ago, Energy Transfer (ET), a major midstream (pipeline) company with assets in the Marcellus/Utica, issued its third quarter update. ET has assets in many areas of the country, so there was plenty of discussion about pipelines in other areas. However, the centerpiece of the update and the conference call with analysts was the incredible (and we mean incredible) demand ET is seeing from both gas-fired power plants (new and existing) and data center projects. In his opening remarks, Tom Long, co-CEO of ET, said the company has received requests to connect to approximately 45 power plants the company does not currently serve in 11 states. The demand from those 45 plants would be 6 Bcf per day. In addition, ET has requests from over 40 prospective data centers in 10 states that would use another 10 Bcf/d. A combined 16 Bcf/d of new demand for one company. Incredible! 
In January, Joe Biden announced he would “pause” any approvals for new LNG export plants, with over a dozen requests in the pipeline, for at least one year while his people fart around pretending to figure out how to measure global warming as a new consideration for whether or not to approve projects (see 
The privately-held Deep Well Services (DWS), headquartered in Butler County, PA, is one of our favorite oilfield services companies. DWS was born right here in the Marcellus/Utica in 2008. DWS specializes in “snubbing” work—completing those super-long laterals you read about. Although the company rarely brags publicly about the work it does on behalf of drillers, we happen to know that it has drilled the longest onshore wells in the 
Earlier this week, 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 
According to Hart Energy, “massive” transformations are “shaking” the natural gas industry along the Gulf Coast via new pipelines in Texas and LNG export plants in Louisiana. However, the nation’s largest gas field on the eastern side of the U.S., the Marcellus Shale, is not seeing the same transformations. Why? “CEOs are often fighting political battles for permission to build infrastructure.” According to EQT Corp. CEO Toby Rice, the solution is to get back to building new pipelines. If only we could… 
AES Indiana, formerly known as Indianapolis Power & Light Company, is a utility company providing electric service to the city of Indianapolis. It is a subsidiary and largest utility of AES Corporation. In August, AES Indiana said that it wants to invest $1.1 billion in Pike County, IN, to convert the company’s two remaining coal-fired power plants to use natural gas (see 
Donald Trump and J.D. Vance have a monumental task ahead in fixing all of the things broken by the current administration, especially with regard to energy policy. A complete remake of the EPA would be a great place to start. A good house cleaning at the Department of Energy (DOE) would be another. What about policy issues? What should be the top issues to tackle that would have an immediate impact on the country and begin to restore our lost energy security? We have a few suggestions… 
The election of Donald Trump as President for a second term is about the best thing that has happened for Big Green groups in years. Why? They all (and we mean ALL) are fundraising using Trump’s name, hoping to shake some more coins out of the faithful lemmings that contribute to their twisted causes. We’re talking about groups like Earthworks, Sierra Club, Food & Water Watch, Environmental Defense Fund, National Resources Defense Council, and more. In our review of these groups’ websites and press announcements following Trump’s crushing victory, we noticed two things they all are doing: (1) fundraising to “fight Trump” and (2) pledging massive new rounds of lawfare against anything and everything the Trump administration does. Our message to these sickos: BRING IT ON! We’re ready for you this time. 
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 
Dan Doyle is president of 
Nearly eight months ago, the New York Senate passed a bill the Assembly had previously passed to ban the use of carbon dioxide in shale drilling (so-called “CO2 fracking”). Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul, a reliable anti-fossil fueler, still has not signed the bill into law. What the heck is going on? Why is she missing in action? We’ve written about this a few times, beginning two months after the bill was passed (
One of the reasons Kamala Harris lost (and lost big) is a complete tone deafness on energy issues, including the “pause” she and her boss put on approving new LNG export requests all the way back in January (see 
In a very short period of time, data centers and artificial intelligence (AI) appeared on the radar as very large potential customers for natural gas due to their need for power. Out of the blue, we began to read about drillers and pipeline companies talking with potential data center customers about flowing Marcellus/Utica molecules to their operations so they can generate their own electricity (for example, see 
Wow! What a night!! We’re so proud of Pennsylvania regarding the election. Of course, the big story of the night was PA going for Trump. But there’s much more to the PA story. Once again, Republicans have taken a majority in the State Senate. The PA House looks to us like it’s dead even right now and will take another day or two to tabulate the outstanding votes and perhaps to recount several races. There’s a decent chance Republicans will claim a PA House majority. Conservative Republicans swept the statewide offices. In the Attorney General race, Dave Sunday beat Eugene DePasquale (a real putz) in an open contest. For Auditor General, Tim DeFoor beat Malcolm Kenyatta, keeping his seat. And for State Treasurer, Stacy Garrity bested Erin McClelland to keep her seat. Best of all, although it’s still too close to call, it appears (to us) that Dave McCormick will unseat Biden-voting, swamp-dwelling Bob Casey in the U.S. Senate. Hooray!