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PA Gov Shapiro Puffs His Chest to Announce Plugging 200 Old Wells

The blowhard Democrat Governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, took a bow last year to tout that “his” administration (as opposed to the Democrat who preceded him, Tom Wolf) had plugged more than 130 abandoned old oil and gas wells in the state, more than “the previous eight years combined” (see PA DEP Spending $44M This Yr, $76M Next Yr to Plug Orphaned Wells). The blowhard is back, puffing his chest out to announce the number is now 200.
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17 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Feb 26 – Mar 3

There were 17 new permits issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica during the week of Feb. 26 – Mar. 3, down 1 from 18 permits issued the prior week. Pennsylvania issued 8 new permits last week. Ohio issued 4 new permits. And West Virginia issued 5 new permits last week. Four companies tied for the top slot of receiving 3 permits each: Chesapeake Energy (Susquehanna County, PA), Seneca Resources (Tioga County, PA), Gulfport Energy (Harrison County, OH), and Antero Resources (Ritchie County, WV). Arsenal Resources received 2 permits (Taylor County, WV). Three companies received a single new permit: Laurel Mountain Energy (Butler County, PA), Campbell Oil & Gas (Westmoreland County, PA), and EOG Resources (Noble County, OH).
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27 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 22 – 28

There were 27 new permits issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica during the week of Jan. 22 – 28, versus 20 permits issued during the prior week. Pennsylvania issued 19 new permits last week. Ohio issued 5 new permits. West Virginia issued 3 new permits last week. Olympus Energy scored the most new permits with 7, all of them in Westmoreland County, PA. Apex Energy came in second with 6 new permits, also in Westmoreland. In fact, Westmoreland County, in southwestern PA, received 15 new permits last week, by far the most of any county.
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XTO Begins to Plug 4 Shale Wells in Butler County Starting Today

XTO Energy began to drill four shale wells in Prospect Borough, Butler County, PA, in 2019. At least one of the wells was drilled down to a depth of nearly 2,000 feet. At some point since that time, XTO decided not to finish the wells and filed a request to plug the wells. A Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) inspector visited the well pad, the Coretsky well pad, in September of last year and issued a “failure to plug” notice of violation for the four wells (called the Patton wells). Although it took a few months, XTO said the equipment would be delivered last week and that, as of today (Monday), the process would begin to cap and plug the four abandoned wells.

1/24/24 UPDATE: We have new information and context about these four wells. See below.
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26 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Oct 23 – 29

New shale permits issued for Oct 23 – 29 in the Marcellus/Utica increased again. There were 26 new permits issued last week, versus 22 the week before. Last week’s permit tally included 18 new permits in Pennsylvania, 7 new permits in Ohio, and 1 new permit in West Virginia. Coterra Energy was the top permittee for the week, drawing 7 permits in Susquehanna County, PA. Chesapeake Energy was #2 with 5 permits issued in Sullivan County, PA.
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23 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Sep 25 – Oct 1

New shale permits issued for Sep 25 – Oct 1 in the Marcellus/Utica were up a few ticks from the previous week. There were 23 new permits issued last week, up from 21 permits issued two weeks ago. Last week’s permit tally included 10 new permits in Pennsylvania, no new permits in Ohio, and a surprising 13 new permits in West Virginia. Two companies tied for top permittee, one you know, one you may not know. Olympus Energy received 5 permits to drill in Westmoreland County, PA. Consol Mining Company received 5 permits to drill in Monongalia County, WV. Consol used to own CNX Resources before spinning off CNX into its own company. Consol concentrates on coal mining. We were surprised to see Consol wandering back into shale drilling.
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21 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Sep 18 – 24

New shale permits issued for Sep 18 – 24 in the Marcellus/Utica were roughly the same as the prior week. There were 21 new permits issued last week, down 1 from permits issued two weeks ago. Last week’s permit tally included 11 new permits in Pennsylvania, 4 new permits in Ohio, and 6 new permits in West Virginia. Three companies tied for top permittee last week: PennEnergy Resources with 5 permits in Butler County, PA; CNX Resources with 5 permits in Washington County, PA; and Southwestern Energy with 5 permits spread between Wetzel and Ohio counties in WV.
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14 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Sep 4 – 10

New shale permits issued for Sep 4 – 10 in the Marcellus/Utica continued to be in the crapper. There were 14 new permits issued last week, up 1 from 13 issued two weeks ago, and down from the 16 issued three weeks ago. Not so long ago we routinely saw 30+ issued each week. Last week’s permit tally included 8 new permits in Pennsylvania, no new permits in Ohio, and 6 new permits in West Virginia. The top permittee for the week was Antero Resources, which received six permits in WV.
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11 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jul 3-9

New shale permits issued for Jul 3-9 in the Marcellus/Utica saw a dramatic decrease after posting a dramatic increase the week before. There were 11 new permits issued last week, way down from the 39 issued the previous week. Last week’s permit tally included a scant 3 new permits in Pennsylvania, 3 new permits in Ohio, and 5 new permits in West Virginia. The top permittee for the week was Northeast Natural Energy, receiving 5 permits in 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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25 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 9-15

New shale permits issued for Jan. 9-15 in the Marcellus/Utica included 18 new permits in Pennsylvania, 5 new permits in Ohio, and 2 new permits in West Virginia. The top recipient of permits for last week was PennEnergy Resources, grabbing 6 permits to drill on a single pad in Butler County, PA. Right behind PennEnergy was Southwestern Energy with 5 permits total spread across all three states–3 in PA, and 1 each in OH and WV.
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CNX Hires Slippery Rock Petroleum/NatGas Grad as Engineer

Cayman Kelly, 2022 Slippery Rock University graduate

For years we’ve highlighted the top-notch educational program available at Lackawanna College’s School of Petroleum and Natural Gas (PNG), now located in Tunkhannock (Wyoming County), PA (see Lackawanna College School of Petroleum & Natural Gas Expands). The PNG program is unique, one of just a handful nationwide that runs a two-year program to train students to be technicians, able to operate sophisticated machinery and run compressor stations, for example. But what if a student wants to become an engineer in the oil and gas space? What kind of programs exist for that in the Marcellus/Utica? Across the state near Pittsburgh (in Bulter County), Slippery Rock University launched a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering in 2016. A graduate from that program, Cayman Kelly, is now an associate engineer at CNX Resources.
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32 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 12-18

Last week (Dec. 12-18), the number of permits issued to drill new shale wells in the Marcellus/Utica bumped up nicely to 32, up from the prior week’s 20. Both Pennsylvania and Ohio issued 16 new shale permits each. West Virginia got skunked and issued none.
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30 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Sep 5-11

Last week the three states with active Marcellus/Utica drilling, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, issued a collective 30 new drilling permits, down from the 40 permits issued the week before. PA roared back to life by issuing 21 of the 30 permits, with OH issuing just three and WV issuing six.
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40 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Aug 29-Sep 4

Last week the three states with active Marcellus/Utica drilling, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, issued a collective 40 new drilling permits, way up from the 19 permits issued the week before. But there was a shocker. PA only issued nine new permits, while OH issued 14 new permits and WV issued a record high 17 new permits.
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47 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jul 11-17

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.
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