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PA Re-Adds a Rig to 14; National Rig Count Even 3rd Week @ 585
Three weeks ago, Pennsylvania’s rig count dropped to just 12 rigs, the lowest that state has operated in the last 17 years (see PA Drops Another Rig to 17-Year Low; National Rig Count Even @ 585). Two weeks ago, PA picked up a rig, returning to 13 active rigs. Last week, Baker Hughes reported PA added yet another rig, and the state count is now at 14. Almost three months ago (as of August 23), PA operated 21 rigs for perspective. Last week, Ohio and West Virginia maintained their respective counts of 10 active rigs each. The combined count in the M-U stands at 34. Read More “PA Re-Adds a Rig to 14; National Rig Count Even 3rd Week @ 585”
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.” 
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. 
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.