INR Sees a Bright Future in the Utica Shale Despite EOG/Encino Deal
Infinity Natural Resources (INR), headquartered in Morgantown, WV, focuses 100% on the Marcellus/Utica. The company went public earlier this year with a $265 million ($20/share) initial public offering, giving INR a $1.18 billion market capitalization (see INR IPO Does Better than Expected, Stock Trading Pops 10% Higher). An INR competitor in the Utica is EOG Resources, one of the largest oil and gas drillers in the U.S. (with international operations in several other countries) and a Fortune 500 company, which closed on the $5.6 billion purchase of Encino Energy in August, adding 675,000 net acres in the Utica and over 1,000 operating shale wells (see EOG Closes on $5.6B Purchase of Encino Assets in Ohio Utica). EOG now owns over 1 million acres with active drilling operations, including five rigs and three completion crews, working in the Ohio Utica. The EOG/Encino tie-up doesn’t concern INR. Read More “INR Sees a Bright Future in the Utica Shale Despite EOG/Encino Deal”
For the week of September 29 to October 5, the number of permits issued to drill new wells in the Marcellus/Utica increased from the previous week. There were 32 new permits issued across the three M-U states last week, up five from 27 issued two weeks ago. Last week, Pennsylvania issued 27 drilling permits across six counties—the highest weekly total the state has recorded in months, possibly even over a year. Ohio issued five permits in two counties. West Virginia was skunked last week, issuing no new permits for the second consecutive week. What’s up with WV? 
After gaining rigs for four weeks in a row, last week the Baker Hughes U.S. national rig count stayed even, neither gaining nor (more importantly) losing any rigs. The count remained at 549 active rigs. Sadly, Pennsylvania lost one rig, from 18 to 17, after maintaining its count for 10 consecutive weeks. Ohio kept 13 rigs in the Utica for a second week after gaining a rig two weeks ago. West Virginia kept its seven active rigs, the same number since May 30 (four months). The combined M-U count was 37 rigs, with 23 rigs targeting the Marcellus layer and 14 targeting the Utica. 
Ohio State University (OSU) is constructing two natural gas combustion turbine generators and one steam turbine generator with a maximum power generating capacity of 105.5 megawatts of electricity and 285 kilopounds per hour of steam. It’s being built on 1.35 acres at OSU’s main campus in Franklin County (see 
In August, EOG Resources, one of the largest oil and gas drillers in the U.S. (with international operations in several other countries) and a Fortune 500 company, closed on the $5.6 billion purchase of Encino Energy, adding 675,000 net acres in the Utica and over 1,000 operating shale wells (see 
In January 2023, Ohio House Bill (HB) 507 became law with the signature of Gov. Mike DeWine (see 
The fight in Marietta, OH, over DeepRock Disposal Solutions’ plan to build a fifth shale wastewater injection well is getting heated. Opposition to the well has made for some very strange bedfellows. The Republican City Council is utilizing the legal services of the radicalized Earthjustice green group to challenge a permit issued by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, which would allow the well in Marietta, OH (see 
The Youngstown Vindicator is reporting that one of the first new horizontal gas and oil wells to be drilled in Mahoning County, OH, in recent years has begun producing gas and oil at its well pad. The Wehr Spring Valley Farm well is producing oil and natural gas. However, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) has not yet released any production numbers for the well. The big news here is that drilling is migrating well north of the traditional locations for Utica drilling—to the “northern part” of the Utica. Is this a foretaste of good things to come in the northern Utica? 
In early April, MDN brought you the exciting news that pipeline giant Williams, via its subsidiary, Will-Power, is planning to build two Utica/Marcellus gas-fired power plants in the New Albany International Business Park in Licking County, Ohio (see 
Earlier this month, we brought you the bombshell news that Antero Resources, the country’s fifth-largest natural gas producer and largest producer in West Virginia, is preparing to market its Ohio Utica assets, hoping to fetch $900 million to $1 billion (see