Utica Gas Power Plant on Ohio River Uses Hydrogen in World First
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).
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KeyState LLC is developing 7,000 acres of natural gas fields and geological storage in West Keating Township, Clinton County in the middle of coal and iron country in central Pennsylvania (see 
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia are all scrambling to form intrastate working groups or other alliances in an attempt to be THE state chosen for one of four regional hydrogen hubs funded by the recently passed so-called Biden infrastructure bill (see 
Last Friday the Utica Energy Alliance (UEA), which represents hundreds of landowners, businesses, community leaders and allies of the shale industry, sent a letter to the entire Ohio Congressional delegation asking the state’s Senators and Congresspeople to stand behind the U.S. initiative to support the European Union by promoting Ohio’s (and the entire Marcellus/Utica region’s) production of natural gas. The UEA says using American natgas is the only way for Europe to end reliance on Russian energy and put an end to funding Putin’s war machine. The group requested a written response from each member. Don’t hold your breath waiting for a response from U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown.
Last week Pennsylvania issued 14 new shale well permits, with EQT Corp. grabbing eight (seven of them on a single pad in Fayette County), and Coterra Energy (formerly Cabot Oil & Gas) receiving three (all on the same pad in Susquehanna County). Ohio issued ten new permits last week, with three going to a relative newcomer, Utica Resource Operating (same pad in Guernsey Count) and three for Encino Energy (same pad in Harrison County). West Virginia got skunked and shows no new shale permits issued last week. Pity.
On Monday MDN brought you big news from Bloomberg that Gulfport Energy is in talks with Ascent Resources to merge (see 
PTT Global Chemical has reimbursed JobsOhio, the state’s private economic development office, $20 million for failing to make a final investment decision (FID) to build a multi-billion-dollar ethane cracker plant project in Belmont County, OH. JobsOhio paid Bechtel Corp. $20 million in 2019 to complete site engineering and site preparation for the project, with a promise from PTT that it would soon make an FID and move forward with construction. That never happened, so PTT is paying up because it didn’t live up to its end of the bargain. Interestingly, PTT maintains it is “committed to building the multi-billion dollar project.” Right.
It’s been about 3½ years since Encino Energy in partnership with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board closed on buying Chesapeake Energy’s Ohio Utica assets for $2 billion (see 
Public company Gulfport Energy, the third-largest driller in the Ohio Utica Shale (by the number of wells drilled), emerged from bankruptcy less than a year ago, in May 2021, with a new board and new top management (see 
The ongoing tiff between the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and Energy Transfer (ET) over a drilling mud spill in Ohio back in 2017 (five years ago!) has become a steamy, cheesy plotline for an episode of the TV series Dallas. We’re talking about the original Dallas series from the 1980s with Larry Hagman and storylines of “who’s jumping into bed with whom.” FERC is faulting ET for creating a company culture of drill and build fast that led to a contract worker adding diesel fuel to a stuck drill bit in an effort to work it free, fining the company a staggering $40 million for the presence of diesel in a drilling mud spill. ET says the diesel situation was the result of a rogue contract worker (a foreman) under pressure and distracted by rumors of another foreman sleeping with the wife of one of his workers. No, we’re not kidding. You can’t make this stuff up.
Last August, PTT Global Chemical finally came clean and admitted there will be no final investment decision (FID) to build a $10 billion ethane cracker plant project in Belmont County, OH, until they secure a partner to help finance the project (see