Baker Hughes | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia
Trend Accelerates: Pennsylvania Loses 2 More Rigs to West Virginia
A very big story is unfolding in the Marcellus/Utica, and nobody else is talking about it. There is a major reshuffling of rigs in the M-U, with Pennsylvania losing active rigs and West Virginia picking them up. Two weeks ago, PA dropped from 21 to 18 active rigs, the lowest count it has had in 2 1/2 years (see Pennsylvania Dropped 3 Rigs Last Week, Lowest Count in 2.5 Years). WV picked up one of those rigs, moving from five to six active rigs. Last week, the trend accelerated.
Read More “Trend Accelerates: Pennsylvania Loses 2 More Rigs to West Virginia”
For the week of Aug. 26 – Sept. 1, a total of 32 permits were issued to drill new shale wells in Marcellus/Utica, nearly matching the previous week’s 34. It’s nice to see the numbers returning to higher levels. The Keystone State (PA) had 18 new permits. PA’s top recipient was EQT (and its subsidiary Rice Drilling), with ten permits in Greene County. Seneca Resources was second, with five new permits issued in Lycoming County. Olympus Energy received three permits in Westmoreland County. 
We’ve been waiting for this! For the past few years, since EOG Resources acknowledged it had quietly amassed nearly half a million acres of leases in the Ohio Utica Shale, the company has been experimenting with crude oil drilling in the Utica. Each quarter EOG’s managers have sung the praises of the Utica (see 
We continue to be range-bound with respect to the Baker Hughes U.S. rig count. The count has gone up and down every few weeks. But since the third week of June, the range has been as low as 581 and as high as 589. And that’s it. We seem to have found the bottom (we hope we have). Last week, the national rig count lost another rig and now stands at 585. The Marcellus/Utica remained even at 35 active rigs after losing one rig two weeks ago. Pennsylvania operates 21 active rigs; Ohio operates nine active rigs; and West Virginia operates five active rigs.
We spotted a press release about pipeline repair company operating in the Marcellus/Utica, located in Ohio, Precision Pipeline Services, buying out a pipeline repair company based in Pennsylvania, Allegheny Contracting. We checked, and we’ve never written about either company. We always get a thrill when uncovering new companies involved in the M-U we didn’t know about. Both companies are privately-held, and the financial particulars of the deal were not disclosed.
A study led by Binghamton University and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) claims it has uncovered that energy companies pressure landowners into allowing hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on their properties, “often resorting to persistent and personalized tactics.” In other words, those nasty frackers bully poor landowners into signing leases. We have no doubt there are landmen who twist arms a little too tightly, but this study has a few flaws in our humble opinion. 
We spotted news that the Cambridge City School District (in Guernsey County, Ohio) has signed a second lease with Encino Energy (EAP Ohio LLC) to allow shale drilling under 4.8 acres. The first lease (which we missed) was signed in February of this year, allowing Encino to drill under 182 acres. The land is located along Wills Creek Valley Drive, often called the main campus. EGADS! Drilling *under* little chil’ren? Monstrous! (That’s sarcasm, folks. We know of other wells drilled directly next to schools in PA, with zero health and safety effects on the kiddies.)
Here’s a sobering fact: A web of red tape and environmentalist lawfare in the courts have derailed six of the last seven proposed interstate pipeline projects that could have delivered Appalachian natural gas to New England, the Southeast, and other regions of critical demand. The only pipeline to survive was the Mountain Valley Pipeline, and it took a literal Act of Congress to get it across the finish line. Here’s another sobering fact: Oil and gas pipeline approvals have dropped by 50% during the Biden-Harris administration (compared to the last three presidents before Biden). The precipitous drop was on purpose.