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45 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Aug 15-21
After several weeks of anemic permit numbers for Pennsylvania, last week PA came roaring back by issuing 30 permits to drill new shale wells. Some 12 of those permits went to Coterra Energy for two pads in Susquehanna County. EQT (aka Rice Drilling) received six permits for a single pad in Greene County, and Chesapeake Energy also received six permits split between two pads–one pad in Bradford County and the other in Lycoming County.
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We’re always on the lookout for indicators and trends that tell us whether or not there will be more or less drilling (and leasing) in the Marcellus/Utica. Lately, we’ve seen a couple of mentions of new leases signed, at least in the Ohio Utica (see 
National Fuel Gas Company (NFG), headquartered in Buffalo, NY, is the only fully integrated energy company operating in the Marcellus/Utica, by which we mean NFG is a driller (Seneca Resources), a midstream/pipeline company (Empire Pipeline), and a downstream end-user via its local distribution company (LDC), otherwise known as the local gas utility company (National Fuel). Little known fact: NFG’s Seneca Resources subsidiary owns an oil drilling operation in California. But not for much longer…
As predicted last week by Reuters, Chesapeake Energy announced yesterday it is buying Marcellus driller Chief Oil & Gas plus associated non-operated assets from Tug Hill Operating for $2 billion in cash and approximately 9.44 million common shares. The total purchase price (given the current CHK stock price of $67/share) is roughly $2.6 billion. The combination makes Chesapeake a powerhouse driller in the northeast Pennsylvania Marcellus with 653,000 acres of leases.
Holy smokes! What just happened? For months (and months and months) the cumulative number of weekly permits issued to drill new shale wells in the Marcellus/Utica has fluctuated from the low teens to perhaps 30 total on the upper end. Last week, from Jan. 17-23, an amazing 61 permits were issued to drill new shale wells. Double the usual. Wow! Pennsylvania issued 24 new permits, Ohio issued 9, and blow-the-doors-off-we’ve-never-seen-so-many-permits-issued-in-one-week for West Virginia, the Mountain State issued 28 new shale permits.