EOG Resources Returns to Utica Oil Window After Exiting in 2020
In 2020 EOG Resources, one of the largest oil and gas drillers in the U.S. (with operations in Trinidad and China too), sold *all* of its Marcellus assets, which were located in Bradford County, PA, to Tilden Resources for $130 million (see EOG Resources Sells Marcellus Assets for $130M, Exits Basin). EOG left the M-U building, so to speak. But what’s this? EOG is ramping up its drilling program and increasing its acreage once again in the Marcellus/Utica, this time along the edge of the Utica’s oil window in Ohio, according to an investigation by The Capitol Forum (TCF).
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The National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO) is a volunteer-led, member-based, nonprofit organization established in 1980 to help U.S. mineral owners. The mission of NARO is to support, advocate, and educate for the empowerment of mineral and royalty owners. There are ten active chapters serving 18 states, including NARO-Pennsylvania and NARO-Appalachia for West Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina. A relatively new chapter (for us anyway) is 
A few weeks ago, the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (the D.C. Circuit) sided with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and NEXUS Pipeline against Big Green and the City of Oberlin, OH, in a case that challenged FERC’s right to approve NEXUS based on the pipeline exporting some of its natgas across the Canadian border (see 
For the week of July 11-17, the three Marcellus/Utica states issued 47 permits to drill new shale wells, up 10 from the prior week. Pennsylvania issued the lion’s share with 35 new permits. CNX grabbed seven of those permits in Washington County, and Olympus Energy received six in Westmoreland County. Ohio issued 11 new permits, with four going to Ascent Resources in Jefferson County, and four to Hilcorp Energy in Columbiana County. West Virginia issued a paltry one new permit, which went to Southwestern Energy in Ohio County.
God help you if you are a midstream company that has to wade through the mountain of federal regulations and codes generated by agencies including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and are subject to those agencies’ arbitrary decisions on what they will and won’t enforce. In what amounts to a game of Simon Says, FERC has just fined M3 Ohio Gathering, Utica East Ohio Midstream, and UEOM NGL Pipelines–all three either current or former owners of two tiny NGL pipelines that flow propane and ethane from the Scio (Ohio) fractionation plant–$30,000 for not filling out a particular form over a six-year period. Thirty grand for a paperwork violation. It is, according to lawyers who watch these things, an escalation, an “aggressive expansion of enforcement” on the part of FERC.
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. There have been plenty of rumors swirling about Ascent, one that says Gulfport Energy is interested in selling to Ascent (see 
In January 2017 Clean Energy Future (CEF), based in Massachusetts, announced it would build a second Utica gas-fired power plant in Lordstown next to the (then) under construction Lordstown Energy Center (see 
Sources whispering to Bloomberg say that Gulfport Energy, the third-largest driller in the Ohio Utica Shale (by the number of wells drilled), is having exploratory talks with Encino Energy about selling itself to/merging with Encino. In March the rumor mill said Gulfport was in talks to sell itself to Ascent Resources (see 
Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted was in Marietta, OH on Thursday for a roundtable discussion regarding the oil and gas industry. The meeting was held at Artex Oil Company and included Energy Transfer, Nine Energy Service, Oil Well Shares (OWS), Ohio Oil and Gas Association (OOGA), Reno Oil and Gas, DeepRock Disposal Solutions, Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP), and Marietta College. The meeting began as a closed-door session but opened to the public (and the press) after a half hour.
Coretrax describes itself as a global well integrity and production optimization expert. Last week the company announced it had completed a world record-breaking project in the Utica Basin. Coretrax successfully deployed its ReLineMNS system across three wells and expanded a total of more than 27,000 feet of tubulars (pipelines) across the campaign. With one of the expandable liners reaching 9,000 feet in its expansion, all installations smashed the previously held record of 7,243 feet by at least 1,000 feet.
Riverbend Energy Group invests 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). In May we told you that Riverbend was, according to sources speaking with Reuters, working with an unnamed investment bank to shop three portfolios of non-operated oil and gas assets for $2 billion–with one of the packages containing Utica Shale assets (see