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12 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV May 15-21

New shale permits issued for May 15-21 in the Marcellus/Utica took a substantial hit. There were only 12 new permits issued, down by more than half from the 26 new permits issued the previous week. Last week’s tally included 10 new permits for Pennsylvania, 2 new permits for Ohio, and no new permits in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits was a tie–Coterra Energy and Chesapeake Energy each received 3 new permits, with Coterra’s permits issued in Susquehanna County, PA, and Chessy’s permits in Bradford County, PA. Range Resources and Olympus Energy each received 2 new permits, and Southwestern Energy and EOG Resources each received 1 new permit.
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20 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV May 1-7

New shale permits issued for May 1-7 in the Marcellus/Utica rose slightly from the prior week. There were 20 new permits issued last week, up from 18 in the prior week. Last week’s tally included 15 new permits for Pennsylvania, 5 new permits for Ohio, and no new permits in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits was PennEnergy Resources, with 5 permits issued in Armstrong County, PA. Chesapeake Energy was second-highest, with 4 permits issued in Bradford County, PA.
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Dela. Riverkeeper Releases Sham “Report” Against LNG Export Plan

THE Delaware Riverkeeper appears to be obsessed with New Fortress Energy’s plan to liquefy natural gas in Bradford County, PA, and ship it via rail and truck to a former DuPont dynamite factory site in New Jersey along the Delaware River for export. Riverkeeper released a “report” (propaganda) bashing the LNG export plan. Riverkeeper paid a consulting firm that hires itself out to Big Green groups to produce the report.
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18 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 24-30

New shale permits issued for Apr. 24-30 in the Marcellus/Utica fell from the prior week. There were 18 new permits issued last week, down from 25 in the prior week. Last week’s tally included 8 new permits for Pennsylvania, 4 new permits for Ohio, and 6 new permits in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits was Antero Resources, with 6 permits issued in Tyler County, WV. EQT (Rice Drilling) was second-highest, with 4 permits issued in Greene County, PA.
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Bad Guys Win: Biden DOT Won’t Renew PA-to-NJ LNG Rail Permit

On December 5, 2019, the PHMSA (Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration) granted a special permit to Energy Transport Solutions, LLC (i.e. New Fortress Energy) to transport LNG in DOT-113C120 rail tanker cars between Wyalusing, PA and Gibbstown, NJ (see U.S. Gov’t Grants New Fortress Permit to Ship NEPA LNG by Rail!). At the time, New Fortress was working on plans to build an LNG liquefaction plant in Wyalusing, PA, aimed at liquefying locally-produced Chesapeake Energy Marcellus gas, shipping it (via rail and truck) to a port facility on the banks of the Delaware River and exporting it from there.
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Here We Go Again – Sending LNG Safely by Rail Called “Bomb Train”

LNG rail car

“You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that is it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” – Rahm Emanuel, when he was Barack Obama’s White House Chief of Staff. By any standard you use, the rail disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, was (is!) a serious issue. To compare that disaster with a hypothetical train derailment of LNG (liquefied natural gas), referring to specially-outfitted rail cars that would carry the LNG (not yet allowed) as “bomb trains,” is the height of arrogance and ignorance. Yet a plan to use LNG rail cars to deliver Marcellus LNG from Bradford County, PA, to a port on the shoreline of the Delaware River in Gibbstown, N.J. is being compared to East Palestine in a laughable op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
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Chesapeake Makes Slow Progress Cleaning Up Spills at NE PA Pad

There is an ongoing issue with cleanup at a Chesapeake Energy well pad in Bradford County, PA. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) showed up at the site to conduct an inspection earlier this year, in January. The DEP inspector found “multiple pools and puddles on the site contaminated with drilling wastewater and possible fracking chemical fluids.” The DEP issued a notice of violation (NOV) for failing to prevent contamination from being discharged on the site. Chesapeake promised to get it cleaned up. Yet, in multiple repeat inspections since then, inspectors have continued to find contaminated fluids on the ground.
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18 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 3-9

New shale permits issued for Apr. 3-9 in the Marcellus/Utica dropped again from the prior week. There were 18 new permits issued in total last week, down from 21 in the prior week (and down from 32 the week before that). Last week’s tally included 13 new permits for Pennsylvania, 0 new permits for Ohio, and 5 new permits in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits was EQT with 7 new permits (6 in Fayette County, PA, and 1 in Washington County, PA). Two companies tied for #2 with 4 permits each–Coterra (Susquehanna County, PA) and Northeast Natural Energy (Monongalia County, WV).
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21 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Mar 27-Apr 2

New shale permits issued for Mar. 27-Apr. 2 in the Marcellus/Utica dropped quite a bit from the prior week. There were 21 new permits issued in total last week, down from 32 in the prior week. Last week’s tally included 15 new permits for Pennsylvania, 6 new permits for Ohio, and no new permits in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits was Ascent Resources with 6 new permits, 5 in Jefferson County, OH, and 1 in Harrison County, OH. Chesapeake Energy took the #2 slot with 5 new permits in Bradford County, PA.
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34 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Mar 13-19

New shale permits issued for Mar. 13-19 in the Marcellus/Utica rose by four from the prior week. There were 34 new permits issued in total last week, including 24 new permits for Pennsylvania, 4 new permits for Ohio, and 6 new permits in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits across PA and OH was Chesapeake Energy with 7 new permits spread across three PA counties: Bradford, Sullivan, and Wyoming. Range Resources received 6 new permits in Washington County, PA.
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30 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Mar 6-12

New shale permits issued for Mar. 6-12 in the Marcellus/Utica increased by one from the prior week. There were 30 new permits issued in total last week, including 21 new permits for Pennsylvania, 5 new permits for Ohio, and 4 new permits issued in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits was EQT with 7 new permits–all of them (interestingly) issued in Lycoming County, PA. The second highest number of permits went to Repsol, with 6 permits in Bradford County, PA. Chesapeake Energy came in third with 5 permits for Bradford County, PA.
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New Fortress to Reapply for Permits to Build Wyalusing LNG Plant

NOW we understand why antis have restarted their attacks on the various components of New Fortress Energy’s Wyalusing LNG liquefaction plant–a project that has been dead as a doornail for three years. Yesterday we told you we were somewhat mystified by the actions of antis in the Delaware River Basin in opposing LNG-by-rail transportation and a permit for the seemingly dead project in land-locked Bradford County, PA (see Antis Still Attacking Dead NFE PA-to-NJ LNG Export Plan). And then the penny dropped. Actually, two pennies dropped. One penny (moment of understanding) is that NFE has, in its latest filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), confirmed it plans to apply for updated permits for the Wyalusing LNG plant. Cool! The project lives! The second penny is that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has again failed to suspend an LNG-by-rail rule from the Trump administration era that was supposed to be axed no later than yesterday.
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Antis Still Attacking Dead NFE PA-to-NJ LNG Export Plan

In something of a mystery for us, the radical left continues to try and pound more nails in the coffin of the already-dead New Fortress Energy (NFE) Wyalusing LNG export plant. In March 2022 (one year ago), NFE withdrew a request to build an onshore LNG liquefaction plant in Wyalusing, PA, a plant that would have transported its LNG to NFE’s Repauno Port and Rail Terminal on the shoreline of the Delaware River in Gibbstown, N.J. (see NFE Caves to Radicals, “Pulls the Plug” on Wyalusing, PA LNG Plant).
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29 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Feb 27-Mar 5

New shale permits issued for Feb. 27 through Mar. 5 in the Marcellus/Utica stayed the same as the prior week. There were 29 new permits issued in total last week, including 7 new permits for Pennsylvania, 20 new permits for Ohio, and 2 new permits issued in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits was Hilcorp Energy with 8 new permits–all of them in Columbiana County, OH. The second highest number of permits went to Encino Energy, with 4 permits in Carroll County and 2 in Columbiana County. EOG Resources also received 4 permits in Carroll County. It seems the northern part of the Ohio Utica saw a lot of love last week.
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Repsol Anticipates FID for Phase 3 of Marcellus Expansion in 2023

Spanish-owed Repsol owns 214,000 net acres of leases in the Marcellus Shale, primarily located in northeastern Pennsylvania in Bradford, Susquehanna, and Tioga counties. Early last year (in January 2022), Repsol closed on a deal to buy Rockdale Marcellus out of bankruptcy for $222 million (see Sale of Rockdale PA Assets to Repsol Closes – $220M Cash, $2M Debt). During the company’s recent quarterly/annual update, Repsol leaders said they are eyeing a third phase of development with their Marcellus assets.
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SRBC Approves 233M Gal/Day of Water Use for 38 PA Shale Pads

The difference between the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) and the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) is stark. The former is well-run and rational, the latter is disorganized and irrational. At least with respect to fracking. Over the weekend, the SRBC published a notice in the Pennsylvania Bulletin to announce that during the month of January, the agency approved 38 requests for daily water use on shale well pads in the SRBC’s jurisdictional territory in Pennsylvania, totaling some 233.5 million gallons. Put another way, this is a handy list of where drilling will soon happen in northeastern PA.
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