IOG Resources II Announces Eastern Ohio Utica Non-Op Acquisition
Here’s a company we’ve not written about since 2021: IOG Capital and its subsidiary IOG Resources. Back in 2015 we first told you that IOG Capital had cut a deal with Seneca Resources to fund Seneca’s Marcellus drilling program in Elk, McKean and Cameron counties in northcentral Pennsylvania (see Seneca Res. Cuts Deal with IOG Capital to Fund Up to 80 PA Wells). Seneca announced in 2016 that its deal with IOG had been revised and extended from funding 75 wells to funding 82 wells (see Seneca Resources & IOG Extend JV to Drill More Wells in PA). IOG, via its subsidiary IOG Resources, reported in 2021 that it purchased nonoperating interests in 77 producing Utica wells from Sequel Energy for an undisclosed amount (see IOG Resources Buys 77 Nonoperated Utica Wells from Sequel Energy). IOG is back investing in more M-U assets, this time in the Ohio Utica Shale. Read More “IOG Resources II Announces Eastern Ohio Utica Non-Op Acquisition”
We’re always suckers for a good railroad story. We spotted an article in Railway Age magazine announcing the publication’s 2025 Short Line and Regional Railroads of the Year. Among the list of honorable mentions was the Columbus & Ohio River Rail Road Company (CUOH), owned by Genesee & Wyoming. CUOH operates in Ohio, with its main line stretching from Columbus to Mingo Junction near Steubenville on the Ohio River. Spanning 277 miles of track, it connects central and eastern Ohio, serving various industries, including the Utica Shale industry. 
For the fourth week in a row, the Baker Hughes U.S. rig count added rigs—to the highest level since last June! Three weeks ago, the rig count gained four rigs to 586. Two weeks ago, the count regained another two rigs to 588. Last week, the count added four new rigs for 592. Note that the national count remained in a tight range of 581-589 for much of last year. We’ve just broken through. As for the Marcellus/Utica, the rig count was a combined 35 last week, adding a new rig to the mix. The new rig was added in West Virginia. 
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We’ve made this observation many times over the years, but here we go again. Ever notice how lefty environmentalists “demand” this and “demand” that? They’re a very demanding bunch, which is why nobody pays them any attention (except us). Here’s the latest example. A group of 30 “organizations” (many of them fronts for one or two people) sent a letter to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine demanding that he block/suspend/pause shale drilling under (not on) Ohio state lands, including parks. The letter uses factual inaccuracies and outright lies to try and scare DeWine into blocking legal drilling under state-owned land. 
Ohio lawmakers are grappling with how to prepare the state for a surge in new power demand from AI data centers. In January, MDN told you that five Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) commissioners will decide some important guidelines about who should pay to build out new electricity sources for data centers—how much current ratepayers should be on the hook for with expanded power generation (see 
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management, is about to fly drones equipped with magnetometers to sniff out orphaned oil and gas wells in Van Wert County. The ODNR previously completed drone flights in Auglaize, Hancock, Mercer, and Wood counties. The ODNR issued a press release to inform (warn) about the upcoming flights, no doubt to prevent the mass hysteria we’ve seen in recent months about drone flights along the Eastern seaboard. 
At the end of the last legislative session in December, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, an extremist liberal, signed into law a new climate bill forcing a short list of Big Oil companies to pay $75 billion in “recovery” assessments over the next 25 years for their alleged role in causing mythical global warming (see 
We suppose we shouldn’t be shocked, but we are. Reuters is exclusively reporting that Canadian pension fund CPP Investments, the majority owner of Encino Acquisition Partners (aka Encino Energy), is considering either a sale of the company or possibly an initial public offering (IPO) that values the company at roughly $7 billion. Encino’s claim to fame is that after taking over Chesapeake Energy’s Ohio Utica assets in 2018, it cracked the code on how to coax crude oil (condensate) out of the low-pressure Utica shale (see 
Prior to last week, the Baker Hughes national rig count had been in a freefall for weeks, dropping to a 3+ year low of 576 (see 
Last fall, MDN told you about a newly formed drilling company that aims to target the Ohio Utica Shale, a company called Tiburon Oil & Gas Partners, LLC (see