23 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV May 11 – 17
NOTE: MDN will not publish on Friday, May 22, and Monday, May 25, in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. Therefore, we are publishing the weekly permits report a day early.
The Marcellus/Utica region received 23 new drilling permits last week, May 11 – 17, up from the 22 permits issued two weeks ago. Pennsylvania issued 14 of last week’s permits. Ohio issued 4 new permits. West Virginia issued 5 new permits last week. The drillers who received new permits included: EOG Resources, EQT, Expand Energy, and Range Resources. Read More “23 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV May 11 – 17”

The Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) voted on Friday to open more than 8,700 acres of public land, including an additional 513 acres under Salt Fork State Park and 8,236 acres under Egypt Valley Wildlife Area, for shale fracking. This move makes Egypt Valley the largest fracking project *under* (not on) state-owned land, despite vociferous public opposition from citizens and left-wing environmentalists. The next step in the process is to put the parcels out for bid.
An unidentified natural gas driller has applied to open over 8,300 additional acres of the Egypt Valley Wildlife Area for fracking, potentially making it Ohio’s largest fracking operation on public land. This request follows a January decision that already opened 4,400 acres of the 18,000-acre preserve, which is primarily used for conservation, hunting, and fishing. While the state’s Oil and Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) has historically favored industry requests despite significant public opposition, environmentalists and some Democratic lawmakers argue that the expansion exploits public resources and threatens local ecosystems. A public comment period remains open until April 27.
In December, Antero Resources announced a deal to sell its Ohio Utica assets to a partnership of Northern Oil & Gas (NOG) and Infinity Natural Resources (INR) for $1.2 billion in cash (see
In December, Antero Resources announced a deal to sell its Ohio Utica assets to a partnership of Northern Oil & Gas (NOG) and Infinity Natural Resources (INR) for $1.2 billion in cash (see
The second round of big news coming from Antero Resources today is the sale of the company’s Utica Shale assets. We told you in November that Antero, the largest Marcellus/Utica (M-U) driller in West Virginia, officially began to market its Ohio Utica assets for sale (see
In July, MDN told you that Talen Energy, a leading energy producer in the U.S., which owns and operates approximately 10.7 gigawatts (GW) of power infrastructure, had announced the acquisition of two gas-fired power plants: one located near Wilkes-Barre in northeastern Pennsylvania, and the other in Guernsey County, in eastern Ohio (see