JobsOhio Still Loves the Utica Shale – MDN Interview
Yesterday MDN highlighted a newly published Cleveland State University study commissioned (and paid for) by the nonprofit JobsOhio (see JobsOhio “Study” Says Ohio Should be H2 Hub, but Don’t Use Utica Gas). We took strong exception to a statement on page 3 in the study that says, “Although Ohio probably can meet all of its hydrogen markets through SMR [shale gas], it would not be desirable to do so.” JobsOhio reached out to MDN to clarify that statement and to assure us that JobsOhio has been, and remains, a strong supporter of Utica Shale gas and the drilling industry in the state.
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The sham “environmental” group Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a litigation factory for Big Green leftist radicals, published (bought) themselves a “study” in the journal Nature Communications attacking conventional oil and gas wells. The so-called study says older conventional oil and gas wells that produce small amounts (less than 15 barrels of oil or the equivalent amount of gas a day), which represent only 6% of America’s total oil and gas production, contribute 50% of the country’s fugitive methane emissions.
Last week the U.S. Energy Information Administration published data from U.S. wells completed from 2010-2021. The data shows that in 2021, 81% of U.S. well completions were horizontal or directional (i.e. shale wells), as opposed to 19% drilled vertical-only (conventional). The data also shows the length of wells has doubled from 2010 to 2021–going from an average of 7,300 feet in 2010 to 15,200 feet in 2021.
The leftists who have taken over the International Energy Agency (IEA) told the world last year that new oil and gas exploration should immediately stop worldwide in order to save Planet Earth from Global Warming monsters (see 
It appears the venerable number crunchers at the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) bungled the monthly estimates they forecast quite badly in March, making a revision to the numbers for both the Marcellus/Utica and all seven tracked shale plays in yesterday’s April monthly Drilling Productivity Report. Last month EIA forecasted the M-U would produce 36.848 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) of natural gas in April (see 
The Enverus rig count, as of last Wednesday, stood at 791, even with the same number from the week before. We are still near the highest number of rigs in operation since March 2020, the dawn of the pandemic. We are only 47 rigs away from the pre-pandemic high of 838 rigs. Last week the Marcellus had 41 rigs operating (same as the prior week), while the Utica operated 11 rigs (dropping two rigs), for a total of 52 active rigs in the M-U. Our chief rival, the Louisiana and Texas Haynesville, operated 69 rigs last week, dropping three rigs from the week before.
You can’t escape mainstream media, and even many in the oil and gas industry, talking about hydrogen. The word is whispered in hallowed tones like a magic talisman. The “future of energy” is (shhhh) hydrogen, we are told. Even anti-fossil fuel cultists love hydrogen, albeit they are prejudiced–they only like certain colors of hydrogen (see 
RBN Energy took the opportunity of Joe Biden’s big announcement last week (that he will release 1 million gallons of oil per day for the next 180 days) to revisit plans by 40+ crude and natural gas producers for 2022. How much will they spend on drilling this year? And how much will they produce this year? The RBN analysis, especially for the gas-focused sector (largely Marcellus/Utica companies) sees a rise in capital expenditures for drilling this year, but production itself is not predicted to rise all that much. For M-U companies, capex is predicted to increase by 32%, but production only by 10%. However, both of those numbers are somewhat misleading and overestimated.
The Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) is highly respected by all of PA state government. IFO’s mission is to review state budgetary policy and render expert, nonpartisan opinion. The IFO, at the request of the Republicans in the state legislature, recently reviewed Gov. Wolf’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) modeling, presenting its findings to a joint hearing of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and the Community Economic and Recreational Development Committee on Tuesday. The IFO report finds that the money PA will spend on emissions credits at RGGI auctions will result in most PA electric rates quadrupling. You read that right–get ready to pay 4X for electricity if RGGI goes into effect and you live in the Keystone State.
In early March, our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), released its “Annual Energy Outlook 2022” report (see