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PTT Offers Excuses to Belmont County on Why Cracker Project Stalled

Two weeks ago, MDN editor Jim Willis offered the opinion that PTT Global Chemical is not going to build an ethane cracker plant in Belmont County (see Facing Reality – PTT Ohio Cracker Plant Project is Dead). He backed up his opinion with observations and facts to support it. On Tuesday, the Belmont County Township Trustees Association heard a report from PTT’s public relations firm, which continues to dangle the carrot that the cracker plant is coming.
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Facing Reality – PTT Ohio Cracker Plant Project is Dead

We’ll say aloud what no one else appears ready or willing to say: The long-ballyhooed PTT ethane cracker plant project in Belmont County, Ohio, announced eight years ago, is dead. That’s our humble opinion. We periodically look for signs of life in the project, and it has been a flat line for YEARS. Nothing. A local news article from earlier this week asked, “What is the future of the Belmont County Ethane Cracker plant project?” Local county leaders are still “very optimistic” it will get built. We say it’s time to face reality.
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Gulfport Drilling Marcellus (Not Utica) Wells in Belmont Co., OH

Gulfport Energy, the third-largest driller in the Ohio Utica Shale (by the number of wells drilled), emerged from bankruptcy in May 2021 with a new board and top management. In January of this year, the company appointed a new CEO, John Reinhart, the former President and CEO of M-U driller Montage Resources Corporation before that company was gobbled up by Southwestern Energy (see Marcellus Veteran John Reinhart Joins Gulfport Energy as CEO). Yesterday Gulfport issued its second quarter 2023 update. The company made $78 million in net income during 2Q23 versus $216 million in 2Q22, down 64%, which tracks with similar decreases seen in other major M-U drillers.
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17 New Shale Well Permits Issued for OH-WV (Not PA) Jul 10-16

We’re trying not to sound too PO’d (personally offended) here, but once again, in what seems to be an every month or two occurrence, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) online oil and gas permitting database is throwing an error. So, we are left with no permit numbers for PA for the week of July 10-16. Neither the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) reporting system nor the West Virginia DEP reporting system have these problems. It is only the PA DEP that routinely goes “off the air.” Why is that? [Rant over] Even without PA’s numbers, OH and WV combined issued 17 permits last week, versus the pathetic 11 total from the prior week that included PA.
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11 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jun 19-25

New shale permits issued for Jun 19-25 in the Marcellus/Utica took another nosedive. There were 11 new permits issued last week, down from 21 the previous week. There’s just no denying that the trend in permits is generally down. Last week’s permit tally included 6 new permits in Pennsylvania, 2 new permits in Ohio (both permits in the Marcellus layer!), and 3 new permits in West Virginia. Olympus Energy scored the most new permits, with 4 issued in Allegheny County, PA. Southwestern Energy had the second most new permits, with 3 permits issued in Marshall County, WV.
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Encino Donating $100K to Muskingum Watershed Conservancy Foundation

Encino Energy, now Ohio’s biggest oil producer, has agreed to donate $100,000 over the next five years to the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy Foundation to help fund community projects in Tuscarawas, Harrison, Carroll, and Belmont counties. The donation was announced at a press conference on Tuesday at Tappan Lake Marina in Harrison County. The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) is an agency formed in 1933 to help control flooding and promote water conservation in the Muskingum River watershed area of Ohio, an area that covers 8,000 square miles. Over the years, MWCD has leased thousands of acres for Utica Shale drilling and cut deals to sell water to drillers for fracking. The result has been well over $100 million in revenue for MWCD–a true game-changer for the agency and the Ohio residents who live in that region.
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20 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jun 5-11

New shale permits issued for Jun 5-11 in the Marcellus/Utica last week dipped a bit from the previous week. There were 20 new permits issued, down from 25 issued the previous week. Last week’s permit tally included 6 new permits for Pennsylvania, 8 new permits for Ohio, and 6 new permits in West Virginia. Ascent Resources scored the most new permits with 8 issued in the Ohio Utica, spread across three counties. Chesapeake Energy had the second most new permits with 6 permits issued in the PA Marcellus across two counties.
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Oil Prod. in Northern Utica Comes Alive – Encino Cracks Oil Code

The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) recently released production numbers for the first quarter of 2023, and wow! What a surprise! Oil production in the northern Utica Shale skyrocketed, led by wells drilled by Encino Energy. According to an analysis by the Youngstown Business Journal, four shale wells drilled by Encino in Columbiana County have “shattered previous production figures in the county.” Adding up all oil production by all drillers, Encino had the most oil production in the state, with 53.7% of the total oil produced in the Utica/Point Pleasant during the first quarter. It certainly looks like Encino has cracked the oil code in the Buckeye State!
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25 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV May 29-Jun 4

New shale permits issued for May 29-Jun 4 in the Marcellus/Utica finally went higher again last week. There were 25 new permits issued, up from the dismal 8 new permits issued the previous week. Last week’s permit tally included 13 new permits for Pennsylvania, 6 new permits for Ohio, and 6 new permits in West Virginia. EQT scored the most new permits with 7 issued in Greene County, PA. Close behind in the #2 position was Antero Resources, with 6 new permits issued in Ritchie County, WV.
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20 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 10-16

New shale permits issued for Apr. 10-16 in the Marcellus/Utica picked up two from the prior week. There were 20 new permits issued in total last week, up from 18 in the prior week. Last week’s tally included 13 new permits for Pennsylvania, 4 new permits for Ohio, and 3 new permits in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits was Coterra Energy, with 6 new permits issued in Susquehanna County, PA. EQT was number two with 5 new permits, all of them issued in Greene County, PA.
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32 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Mar 20-26

New shale permits issued for Mar. 20-26 in the Marcellus/Utica dropped by two from the prior week. There were 32 new permits issued in total last week, including 22 new permits for Pennsylvania, 8 new permits for Ohio, and 2 permits in West Virginia. (Note we recently updated last week’s report to include WV permits after the WVDEP fixed its database.) Last week the top receiver of new permits was CNX Resources with 10 new permits spread across two PA counties: Greene and Allegheny. Snyder Brothers received 8 permits in Armstrong County, PA.
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OH Lawsuit Filed Against Utica Fracker Accuses Subsurface Trespass

In a case initially filed last summer in Ohio, a Belmont County mineral rights owner alleges that Rice Drilling (now owned by EQT) drained natural gas from a rock layer it did not have the right to access according to the signed lease. Golden Eagle Resources says the lease allowed Rice to drill down only as far as the Utica Shale layer, which Rice did. However, Golden Eagle says fractures from Rice’s fracking of the Utica layer reached down into the adjacent Point Pleasant layer and drained some of the gas from the Point Pleasant too–and that’s a no-no according to the lease.
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34 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Mar 13-19

New shale permits issued for Mar. 13-19 in the Marcellus/Utica rose by four from the prior week. There were 34 new permits issued in total last week, including 24 new permits for Pennsylvania, 4 new permits for Ohio, and 6 new permits in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits across PA and OH was Chesapeake Energy with 7 new permits spread across three PA counties: Bradford, Sullivan, and Wyoming. Range Resources received 6 new permits in Washington County, PA.
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30 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Mar 6-12

New shale permits issued for Mar. 6-12 in the Marcellus/Utica increased by one from the prior week. There were 30 new permits issued in total last week, including 21 new permits for Pennsylvania, 5 new permits for Ohio, and 4 new permits issued in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits was EQT with 7 new permits–all of them (interestingly) issued in Lycoming County, PA. The second highest number of permits went to Repsol, with 6 permits in Bradford County, PA. Chesapeake Energy came in third with 5 permits for Bradford County, PA.
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26 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 30-Feb 5

New shale permits issued for Jan. 30 through Feb. 5 in the Marcellus/Utica were about half the number of the week before, but the week before was a recent record high. There were 26 new permits issued in total last week, including five new permits for Pennsylvania, six new permits for Ohio, and 15 permits issued in West Virginia. Which is a turnaround from previous months. Lately, WV has puttered along with just a few (if any) each week. Last week WV issued eight new permits to Antero Resources and seven new permits to Tug Hill Operating.
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59 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 23-29

New shale permits issued for Jan. 23-29 in the Marcellus/Utica soared! There were 59 new permits issued in total, including 34 (!) new permits for Pennsylvania, 24 (!) new permits for Ohio, and just one measly permit issued in West Virginia. Chesapeake Energy was the runaway winner by grabbing 13 permits, all of them for wells in Bradford County, PA. EOG Resources was the runner-up, receiving eight permits for drilling in Noble County, OH.
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