The Long Ridge Energy Terminal, host to a Utica shale gas-fired power plant that went online in November 2021, scheduled brief downtime for routine maintenance during the fourth quarter of 2022. But when the techs started to analyze the equipment, they discovered a problem, turning a couple of weeks of downtime into more than a month.
Read More “Utica Gas Power Plant on Ohio River Returns to Service After Outage”
New shale permits issued for Jan. 9-15 in the Marcellus/Utica included 18 new permits in Pennsylvania, 5 new permits in Ohio, and 2 new permits in West Virginia. The top recipient of permits for last week was PennEnergy Resources, grabbing 6 permits to drill on a single pad in Butler County, PA. Right behind PennEnergy was Southwestern Energy with 5 permits total spread across all three states–3 in PA, and 1 each in OH and WV.
Read More “25 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 9-15”
New shale permits issued for Jan. 2-8 in the Marcellus/Utica included 14 new permits in Pennsylvania, 8 new permits in Ohio, and just 1 new permit in West Virginia. The top recipient of permits for last week was Apex Energy, grabbing 6 permits to drill on a single pad in Westmoreland County, PA. Right behind Apex was Coterra Energy with 5 permits to drill on a single pad in Susquehanna County, PA. Opposite sides of the state.
Read More “23 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 2-8”
Earlier this year, Equitrans Midstream announced it had filed a new pipeline expansion project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see Equitrans Files New $160M Pipe Expansion Project with FERC). Called the Ohio Valley Connector Expansion Project (or OVCX), the $160 million project will add compression along Equitrans pipelines in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia that allow the company to flow an extra 350 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day) of natural gas. It appears OVCX is Equitrans’ “plan B” if the ultimate horror happens and Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) can’t be completed. FERC recently issued a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) and is accepting comments on that document (and the project) until Nov. 21.
Read More “FERC Accepting Comments on Draft EIS for OVCX Pipe in PA-WV-OH”
Something of an improvement from last week’s new permits report when there were only 11 new permits. For the week of October 24-30, there were 28 new permits. But not because of the return of new permits in Pennsylvania. Instead, Ohio was the shining light. PA reported 11 new permits, all of them in Lycoming County, with seven going to Repsol and four going to Inflection Energy. Ohio issued 16 new permits, with Encino Energy grabbing six, Southwestern Energy getting five, and Ascent Energy receiving four. Finally, WV had a single new permit, for Tug Hill Operating (soon to be EQT), in Wetzel County.
Read More “28 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Oct 24-30”
Another week of pathetically low numbers for new shale drilling permits issued during the week of Oct. 3-9. The previous week saw only nine new permits too. All of a sudden, Pennsylvania is seeing far fewer permits issued than is typical. Just five new permits were issued in PA for Oct. 3-9, with all five in the northeastern part of the state. Chesapeake received two permits, and Coterra received three permits. In Ohio, just four permits were issued, with two going to Diversified Energy (typically doesn’t drill new wells) in Monroe County, and two going to Encino Energy in Harrison County. West Virginia had a big, fat, goose egg last week. No new permits.
Read More “9 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Oct 3-9”
Last week the three states with active Marcellus/Utica drilling, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, issued a collective 30 new drilling permits, up from the 21 permits issued the week before. It was a reversal of what we typically see. Last week PA only issued four new permits, while WV issued 17 permits and OH issued nine permits. Usually, PA issues the most permits.
Read More “30 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Sep 19-25”
Last week the three states with active Marcellus/Utica drilling, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, issued a collective 21 new drilling permits, down from the 30 permits issued the week before, and down from the 40 permits issued the week before that. The trend is not our friend right now. PA issued 13 permits, and OH and WV issued four permits each.
Read More “21 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Sep 12-18”
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) reporting website finally fixed whatever problem was plaguing it (this time), so we now have the permit report from August 1-7. Pennsylvania only issued seven new permits during that time, with three going to Range Resources in Washington County and three going to Southwestern Energy in Susquehanna County. Ohio issued a single new permit to Southwestern in Monroe County. And West Virginia issued five new permits, with four of the five going to EQT in Wetzel County.
Read More “13 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Aug 1-7”
For the week of July 25-31, the three Marcellus/Utica states issued 24 permits to drill new shale wells, up from 16 the prior week. However, in a major turnaround, Pennsylvania only issued two new permits, one to Chesapeake Energy and the other to Olympus Energy. Ohio had the lion’s share of new permits, issuing 14. Eight of Ohio’s permits went to Encino Energy, and four to Utica Resources Operating. West Virginia issued eight new permits, with seven of them going to Antero Resources.
Read More “24 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jul 25-31”
In April, MDN told you about a world first when the gas-fired power plant (currently powered by Utica Shale gas) on the banks of the Ohio River in Hannibal (Monroe County), OH, successfully added a 5% mixture of hydrogen to the natural gas it burns (see Utica Gas Power Plant on Ohio River Uses Hydrogen in World First). The Long Ridge Energy Terminal is the first large, commercial operation to blend hydrogen with natural gas to produce electricity. We’ve wondered where Long Ridge would get the hydrogen it uses to blend. What is the source? We now have the answer…
Read More “Long Ridge Energy Partners with General Hydrogen Corp. for H2”
We’re catching up the permits issued report, but not for last week. This report is for permits issued two weeks ago–June 27 through July 3. The numbers increased from the prior week (27) to 35. Pennsylvania issued the lion’s share of new permits, 25, with most of them going to Olympus Energy (12 permits in Washington County), and a significant number going to a name we’ve only seen once before: Clean Energy Exploration & Production (six permits in Tioga County). Ohio issued four new permits, with three going to Ascent Resources and one to Gulfport Energy. Finally, West Virginia also issued four new shale permits, two each for Southwestern Energy and Tug Hill Operating.
Read More “35 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jun 27-Jul 3”
Last week, for June 20-26, the number of new permits issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica decreased just a bit to 29 (from 34 the week prior). Pennsylvania issued 15 new permits, all but one in southwestern PA. Five of PA’s permits went to PennEnergy Resources in Butler County, four to Range Resources in Washington County, and three to Apex Energy in Westmoreland County. Ohio issued 10 new permits with five going to Encino Energy (EAP) in Carroll County and three going to Ascent Resources in Belmont County. Finally, West Virginia issued four new permits, all of them to Tug Hill Operating. In each case the permits were for multiple wells on single well pads.
Read More “29 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jun 20-26”
How much of an effort is “enough” when a surface landowner in Ohio tries to locate the owner(s) of the belowground mineral rights under his or her land using the Dormant Mineral Act (DMA), with an eye toward reclaiming those rights? Is it enough to search the public record archive in only the county where the land is located? The Ohio Supreme Court recently ruled in two cases to say no, it’s not enough to run a quick search in one county when attempting to locate mineral rights owners.
Read More “Ohio DMA Case Sheds Light on Surface vs Mineral Rights”
A world-first happened along the banks of the Ohio River in Hannibal (Monroe County), OH in March. The Long Ridge Energy Terminal, host to a Utica shale gas-fired power plant that went online last November, successfully added a 5% mixture of hydrogen to the natural gas it burns in March. The plant is now using and continuing to experiment with up to 20% hydrogen as part of the mix it burns through next year. Eventually, the plant’s owners plan to burn 100% hydrogen, crowding out Utica Shale gas (a shame).
Read More “Utica Gas Power Plant on Ohio River Uses Hydrogen in World First”
Last week Pennsylvania issued 21 new shale well permits, with Snyder Brothers grabbing seven, PennEnergy Resources getting six, and Coterra Energy (formerly Cabot Oil & Gas) receiving five. In each case, the permits for each company were for a single well pad. Ohio issued just three new permits last week, two for Ascent Resources and one for Southwestern Energy. West Virginia finally came back to life, issuing seven new shale permits last week. Six of the WV permits were for Antero Resources, one for Southwestern Energy.
Read More “31 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Mar 21-27”