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Details on Diversified Deal to Plug More Wells in WV, OH, PA
One month ago, we brought you the news that Diversified Energy and EQT Corporation had settled a class action lawsuit originally brought by several West Virginia landowners (see EQT, Diversified Settle WV Class Action Lawsuit re Old Wells). There is the money aspect of the lawsuit, a payout of up to $6.5 million (subject to attorneys grabbing one-third of that). But then there is (in our opinion) the more important aspect of the settlement that requires Diversified to dramatically increase the number of wells it plugs over the next 10 years. Read More “Details on Diversified Deal to Plug More Wells in WV, OH, PA”
Louisville Gas and Electric Company (LG&E) and Kentucky Utilities Company (KU), subsidiaries of PPL Corporation, celebrated a significant milestone last week with the groundbreaking of Mill Creek 5, a state-of-the-art 640-megawatt (MW) natural gas combined-cycle generating unit in Jefferson County, Kentucky. This new facility is set to begin powering homes and businesses in 2027. While no mention was made in the official announcement, we suspect the plant, when operational, will use Marcellus/Utica molecules, making this a major new customer for our gas. 
We spotted a press release about a “wealthy Haitian-American businessman” buying “a vast 10,000-acre oil reserve in Bowling Green Kentucky.” What caught our eye was the location and the extra detail that the assets purchased included “150 oil and natural gas wells.” A few bells began to go off for us. Kentucky is not known as a hotbed of shale drilling activity. The Marcellus/Utica does not extend under the Bluegrass State. However, as we wrote back in 2017, Kentucky has the Berea Sandstone, which contains oil deposits (see 
We have news of a second southern gas-fired power plant to share today. This one is tiny, a 75-megawatt peaker plant in Madisonville, Kentucky. The Kentucky Municipal Energy Agency (KYMEA) and the City of Madisonville recently announced the development of the KYMEA Energy Center I, a natural gas electric generating facility. The new facility, with four reciprocating internal combustion engine (RICE) generators, will be able to start up at a moment’s notice. The raison d’etre for the facility? To supplement unreliable renewable energy that can’t meet sudden increases in demand for electricity. 
Here’s a sad story that, as far as we can tell, is not directly connected to the Marcellus/Utica. However, it’s a cautionary tale related to the oil and gas industry in Appalachia. Mark Edward Holbrook and his son Marshall Holbrook, both from Kentucky, worked in a family-owned company called Puissant Industries. The company sources natural gas by “drilling wells” and “acquiring gas rights.” We assume, given the small nature of the company, that these are conventional (vertical-only) wells and rights. When the price of gas dropped in 2015/2016, the company and the Holbrooks hit hard times. So, the two compensated by manipulating meters on the gathering pipelines that flowed their gas, making it look as though they were selling more gas than they did. In a word, it was theft — getting paid for something they didn’t provide.
Welcome to Paradise, where natural gas is the fuel of choice to generate electricity. In 2017, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) held a dedication ceremony for the Paradise Combined Cycle Gas Plant in Drakesboro, Kentucky (see 
In September 2022, MDN told you about a new 53-mile pipeline project in Western Kentucky — a 16-inch natural gas pipeline to feed natgas to the southern Pennyrile Region (see 
Welcome to Paradise, where natural gas is the fuel of choice to generate electricity! In 2017, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) held a dedication ceremony for the Paradise Combined Cycle Gas Plant in Drakesboro, Kentucky (see 
Natural gas is coming to Lincoln and Rockcastle counties in central Kentucky. Delta Natural Gas, a local gas utility and subsidiary of PNG Companies (People’s Natural Gas), which in turn is a subsidiary of Essential Utilities, broke ground on a 22-mile pipeline to provide natgas to Lincoln and Rockcastle for both residential customers and industrial customers located in corporate parks. According to Delta, these two counties have been lobbying for natgas service for 30 years.
Last December, PPL Corporation subsidiaries Louisville Gas and Electric Company (LG&E) and Kentucky Utilities Company (KU) announced a plan to replace 1,500 megawatts of aging coal-fired generation (nearly one-third of Kentucky’s coal fleet!) with two 621-megawatt (MW) natural gas combined-cycle units along with several unreliable, intermittent solar projects (see