Ohio

Apex Energy | Arsenal Resources | Ascent Resources | Belmont County | Bradford County | CNX Resources | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Guernsey County | Gulfport Energy | Indiana County | INR/Infinity Natural Resources | Lycoming County | Marshall County | McKean County | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Repsol | Seneca Resources | Susquehanna County | Taylor County | Tug Hill Operating | Weekly Permits | West Virginia | Westmoreland County

35 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV May 9-15
May 20, 2022May 27, 2022

We’re giving Fridays a shot as the day we will release weekly updates for permits issued for the prior one-week period. Today’s report is for the period of May 9-15 (last week, not this week). It seems as if the various state agencies have the data updated by the end of the week following, so that’s how we’ll release it (for now). Last week, Pennsylvania issued 22 new permits with Seneca Resources taking the lion’s share of 12 permits on two different pads (eight in Lycoming County and four in McKean County). Repsol scored four permits in Bradford County.
Read More “35 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV May 9-15”
Diversified Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Ohio | Statewide OH

Diversified Energy Buys Second Well-Plugging Co. – Based in OH
May 17, 2022May 27, 2022

Diversified Energy is growing again. In February Diversified bought out and merged in well-plugging company Next LVL Energy, headquartered in the Pittsburgh area (see Diversified Energy Buys Well-Plugging Co. NextLVL Energy). Yesterday Diversified announced it is buying a second well-plugging company, Nick’s Well Plugging LLC, based in Warren, Ohio, for an undisclosed price. Diversified will add the personnel and equipment from Nick’s to Next LVL, bumping up the existing six well-plugging crews to eight, with plans to add a ninth soon.
Read More “Diversified Energy Buys Second Well-Plugging Co. – Based in OH”
Antero Resources | Ascent Resources | Columbiana County | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Encino Energy | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Greene County (PA) | Guernsey County | Harrison County | Lycoming County | Ohio | Olympus/Huntley & Huntley | Pennsylvania | Seneca Resources | Susquehanna County | Tioga County (PA) | Washington County | Weekly Permits | West Virginia | Westmoreland County | Wetzel County

Corrected: 25 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV May 2-8
May 16, 2022May 27, 2022

We always wait a few days into a new week before grabbing new shale well permits data to give the folks at the various state agencies time to update their systems for the previous week. Last Wednesday we told you that Pennsylvania had issued 11 new permits, Ohio issued none, and West Virginia issued just one (see 12 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV May 2-8). In rechecking today, we discovered PA actually issued 13 new permits and OH issued 11 permits during that period (both states updated their data since last Wednesday). WV remained at one new permit. We include the revised and corrected reports below.
Read More “Corrected: 25 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV May 2-8”
Ascent Resources | Energy Companies | Ohio | Statewide OH

Ascent 1Q – Drills 17 Ohio Wells, Loses $1.5B on Bad Derivatives
May 12, 2022May 12, 2022

Ascent Resources, originally founded as American Energy Partners by gas legend Aubrey McClendon, is a privately-held company that focuses 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. Ascent is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The company issued its first quarter update earlier this week. Ascent averaged production of 2.0 Bcfe/d for the quarter, a 9% increase over 1Q21. Nearly all of Ascent’s production (93%) was natural gas, while the rest was oil and NGLs. Ascent generated -$2 million of free cash flow (yes, negative free cash flow) and lost $1.5 billion during 1Q based on bad bets on derivatives/hedging.
Read More “Ascent 1Q – Drills 17 Ohio Wells, Loses $1.5B on Bad Derivatives”
Ohio | Statewide OH

Riverbend Energy Shops Non-Operated Wells in Ohio Utica, Elsewhere
May 10, 2022May 10, 2022

Riverbend Energy Group is, according to its website, “a multi-faceted investment firm, utilizing risk-weighted deal evaluation processes to deploy capital into a variety of investment theses in the U.S. energy sector.” Which is gobbledegook for “we invest in oil and gas wells.” The company mainly invests in non-operated oil and gas wells, although it also has some operated wells in its portfolio (and investments in renewables too). Riverbend is, according to sources speaking with Reuters, working with an unnamed investment bank to shop three portfolios of non-operated oil and gas assets–with one of them containing Utica Shale assets.
Read More “Riverbend Energy Shops Non-Operated Wells in Ohio Utica, Elsewhere”
Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Monroe County | Ohio | Statewide OH

Ohio DMA Case Sheds Light on Surface vs Mineral Rights
May 10, 2022May 10, 2022

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”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Protege Energy | Washington County (OH)

Ohio Landowner Wins Case Against Protégé Energy re Restoring Land
May 9, 2022May 9, 2022

An interesting case recently decided by Ohio’s Fourth District Court of Appeals has a significant impact for both surface landowners and drillers. The case is Zimmerview Dairy Farms, LLC v. Protégé Energy III LLC and establishes, under Ohio law, that a general release of damages contract (typically signed by landowners when they lease land for drilling or pipelines) does not release a driller or pipeline company from its ongoing obligation to remediate (fix) and restore damage to a landowner’s property.
Read More “Ohio Landowner Wins Case Against Protégé Energy re Restoring Land”
Energy Companies | Harrison County | Ohio | Pin Oak Energy Partners | Tuscarawas County

Pin Oak Energy Partners Shops 22,000 Ohio Utica Acres
May 4, 2022May 4, 2022

Pin Oak Energy Partners, a relatively young Marcellus/Utica driller based in Akron, OH (privately owned), has hired Detring Energy Advisors to market some of the company’s Utica Shale assets. The assets include 22,000 acres in Harrison and Tuscarawas counties, Ohio. According to the company’s website, Pin Oak owns some 317,000 net acres with some 207,000 “net deep acres” with Utica/Point Pleasant and Marcellus potential. Pin Oak owns and operates over 3,300 producing wells–most of them conventional, some shale.
Read More “Pin Oak Energy Partners Shops 22,000 Ohio Utica Acres”
Allegheny County | Antero Resources | Ascent Resources | Belmont County | Bradford County | Carroll County | Chesapeake Energy | Encino Energy | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Greene County (PA) | Guernsey County | Indiana County | INR/Infinity Natural Resources | Marshall County | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Southwestern Energy | Tyler County | Weekly Permits | West Virginia | Wetzel County

35 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 25-May 1
May 4, 2022May 4, 2022

Last week Pennsylvania issued 16 new shale well permits. EQT led the way with ten permits, all of them for wells in Greene County. You just HAVE to read the names of the wells (below). After getting skunked for two weeks in a row, Ohio finally issued permits once again last week–ten of them. Ascent Resources scored six permits, mostly in Belmont County. Encino Energy had four permits, all in Carroll County. Finally, West Virginia had nine permits. Antero Resources scored seven of the nine (six in Wetzel County), and Southwestern took the remaining two permits (both in Marshall County).
Read More “35 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 25-May 1”
Belmont County | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Processing Plants | PTT Global

JobsOhio Says OH Ethane Cracker Will Happen, PTT or Someone Else
May 3, 2022May 3, 2022

JobsOhio, a private nonprofit largely funded by the profits from state liquor sales, is dedicated to attracting new jobs and investments to the state. JobsOhio has been a big part of the plan to get an ethane cracker built in the state, a project currently on hold. JobsOhio still believes there will be an ethane cracker plant built on a site prepared for that purpose in Belmont County, Ohio. PTT Global Chemical is supposed to be the one building the plant. However, a stray comment by the President and CEO of JobsOhio, JP Nauseef, confirms what we’ve thought for a long time…
Read More “JobsOhio Says OH Ethane Cracker Will Happen, PTT or Someone Else”
Hydrogen | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Research | Statewide OH

JobsOhio Still Loves the Utica Shale – MDN Interview
April 27, 2022April 27, 2022

Yesterday MDN highlighted a newly published Cleveland State University study commissioned (and paid for) by the nonprofit JobsOhio (see JobsOhio “Study” Says Ohio Should be H2 Hub, but Don’t Use Utica Gas). We took strong exception to a statement on page 3 in the study that says, “Although Ohio probably can meet all of its hydrogen markets through SMR [shale gas], it would not be desirable to do so.” JobsOhio reached out to MDN to clarify that statement and to assure us that JobsOhio has been, and remains, a strong supporter of Utica Shale gas and the drilling industry in the state.
Read More “JobsOhio Still Loves the Utica Shale – MDN Interview”
Carbon Capture | Hydrogen | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Research | Statewide OH

JobsOhio “Study” Says Ohio Should be H2 Hub, but Don’t Use Utica Gas
April 26, 2022April 27, 2022

JobsOhio, a private nonprofit largely funded by liquor sales that the state allows the nonprofit to collect (in essence it collects sales tax on liquor sales), has funded a study from Cleveland State University that promotes the Buckeye State as THE place to locate a $2 billion hydrogen hub. However, the study says such a hub should NOT use Ohio’s abundant, clean, Utica Shale gas as a source to create the hydrogen that would be used by such a hub.

UPDATE: See an important update with additional information in this follow-up post: JobsOhio Still Loves the Utica Shale – MDN Interview.

Read More “JobsOhio “Study” Says Ohio Should be H2 Hub, but Don’t Use Utica Gas”
Electrical Generation | Hydrogen | Industrywide Issues | Monroe County | Ohio

Utica Gas Power Plant on Ohio River Uses Hydrogen in World First
April 25, 2022April 25, 2022

Aereal view of the Long Ridge Energy Terminal power plant (click for larger version)

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”
Hydrogen | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Statewide WV | West Virginia

KeyState Plans Second NatGas-to-Hydrogen Plant in OH or WV
April 21, 2022April 21, 2022

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 Innovative Clinton County, PA Petchem Plant Gets More Investors). KeyState to Zero, as it’s called, is a $400 million petrochemical project that will use carbon capture and storage to produce blue hydrogen, blue ammonia, nitrogen fertilizer, and exhaust treatment for power plants and diesel engines. Yesterday at a conference in Washington, PA, Perry Babb, CEO of KeyState LLC, told the attendees that he is working on a plan to build a second, similar facility–but this time not in Pennsylvania.
Read More “KeyState Plans Second NatGas-to-Hydrogen Plant in OH or WV”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Marcellus & Utica are 2 of 3 Largest Gas Fields in the World!
April 13, 2022April 20, 2022

We always knew the Marcellus (and the Utica) are special, but here’s something we didn’t know until today. The Marcellus and the Utica are two of the three largest natural gas fields on the planet. Only the South Pars/North Dome gas field straddling Qatar and Iran holds more natural gas than either the Marcellus or the Utica individually. Together, the M-U actually is the largest gas field in the world! If we had the pipelines in our region to export our gas to other regions of our own country, and pipelines (and plants) to export our more M-U gas to other countries, we have more than enough gas in the M-U to supply the entire U.S. and the world *for decades.* That’s how massive our beloved Marcellus/Utica is.
Read More “Marcellus & Utica are 2 of 3 Largest Gas Fields in the World!”
Antero Resources | Ascent Resources | Bradford County | Doddridge County | Energy Companies | HG Energy | Jefferson County (OH) | Marshall County | Ohio | Ohio County | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Repsol | Ritchie County | Seneca Resources | Southwestern Energy | Tioga County (PA) | Washington County | Weekly Permits | West Virginia

34 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 4-10
April 13, 2022April 20, 2022

Last week Pennsylvania issued 15 new shale well permits (up one from the prior week), with Repsol taking five, and both Range Resources and Seneca Energy grabbing four each. All permits for each of the three were on a single pad. Ohio issued five new permits last week, with all five going to Ascent Resources. West Virginia issued a big 14 permits (after issuing no permits in the prior week). Antero Resource received six permits, with Southwestern Energy and HG Energy each receiving four permits in WV.
Read More “34 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 4-10”