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12 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 20 – 26
The Marcellus/Utica region received 12 new drilling permits last week, Apr. 20 – 26, down 10 from the 22 permits issued two weeks ago. Pennsylvania issued all 12 of last week’s permits. Neither Ohio nor West Virginia issued any new permits. What a disappointment! The drillers who received new permits in PA last week included: Expand Energy, PennEnergy Resources, and Snyder Brothers. Read More “12 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 20 – 26”
We’ve been tracking a story that we consider an ongoing tragedy for more than a decade. American Water Management Services (AWMS) owns a wastewater injection well in Trumbull County, Ohio, that supposedly caused a low-level earthquake (that nobody could feel) in 2014. Actually, there are two injection wells located at the site, both operated by AWMS. They were both “temporarily” shut down by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) following the quake nobody could feel (see 
Last May, MDN brought you the news that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) was laying the blame for a series of low-level earthquakes in southeastern Ohio on fracking at a shale well in Noble County (see 
In March, Hull Street Energy (HSE) entered an agreement to acquire two peaking power plants from Rockland Capital, LP, significantly expanding its Milepost Power portfolio (see 
Last week, the combined Marcellus/Utica Baker Hughes rig count remained at 37 active rigs for the fifth week in a row. The M-U’s chief competitor, the Haynesville, added one rig and now runs 56 active rigs, some 19 more than the M-U (bummer). The national count added one rig last week and now operates 544 rigs. Baker Hughes said oil rigs fell by three to 407 last week, their lowest since February, while gas rigs rose by four to 129, their highest since early April. Other miscellaneous rigs held steady at eight. 
Last November, the Buckeye Environmental Network, backed by lawyers from the controversial Earthjustice, sued the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) over permitting two new shale wastewater injection wells in the Marietta area, claiming the standard used to evaluate the wells was old and out-of-date (see 
EQT Corporation delivered its latest quarterly update yesterday for the first quarter of 2026. EQT sees the materialization of “in-basin demand growth” improving Appalachian market conditions through the end of the decade. The company says it is positioned as a preferred partner for large-scale power, midstream, and data center projects in the region. EQT plans to continue drilling and completing a significant number of wells throughout 2026, indicating ongoing development in the Marcellus and Utica regions. However, the company is curtailing (restricting) 10-15 Bcf (billion cubic feet) of production during the second quarter due to current low prices. 
Natural gas flows along the Rover Pipeline have been cut by 387 MMcf/d (out of 3.25 – 3.4 Bcf/d) due to maintenance at the Bulger Compressor Station, which is expected to last through the end of the month, curbing Appalachian takeaway capacity to the Midwest and Canada. Additionally, the MarkWest Harmon Creek gas processing plant in Washington County, PA, is reported to be offline due to this work. 
Oberlin, Ohio, officials are weighing a proposal to amend the city’s Community Bill of Rights to allow Dominion Energy Ohio to build a gas pipeline connection to a planned eco-industrial park, unlocking possible state support. Environmental groups and students at Oberlin College (neither of which pay any property or income taxes in Ohio, meaning they don’t have a say) argue the change would weaken Oberlin’s anti-fossil-fuel commitments and revive ties to Enbridge, whose NEXUS pipeline previously “divided” the city. City officials and utility experts counter that renewables alone are not yet feasible, citing constraints on electric capacity and on wind, solar, and geothermal options. 
Fervo Energy and Youngstown, OH-based Vallourec announced a five-year supply agreement, potentially worth up to $800 million, to scale domestic geothermal infrastructure in the United States. Vallourec will exclusively supply Fervo with U.S.-manufactured tubular solutions (pipelines) and pipeline connectors, creating a fully domestic supply chain for critical geothermal well infrastructure. This collaboration aims to reduce supply chain risks, improve project timelines, and ensure cost certainty for Fervo’s deployment of standardized 50 MW geothermal units, leveraging Vallourec’s expertise in tubular solutions. Here’s the cool part: the pipelines and connectors Vallourec will manufacture for Fervo’s geothermal work were originally developed for shale energy applications.