The Future of AI Data Centers Has Been Found: It’s in Western PA
In January, MDN brought you the news that TECfusions, based in Tampa, Florida, had purchased 1,395 acres in Upper Burrell (Westmoreland County), PA, for a groundbreaking data center project called TECfusions Keystone Connect (see Massive 3 GW Gas-Fired AI/Data Center Coming to Southwest Pa.). In early April, MDN brought you the exciting news that THE largest gas-fired power plant in the country, along with a MASSIVE data center complex, will be built at a former coal-fired power plant site in Indiana County, PA (see Largest Gas-Fired Power Plant in the U.S. Coming in Western Pa.). The site will be transformed into a more than 3,200-acre natural gas-powered data center campus, complete with a 4.5 gigawatt Marcellus-fired power plant. Both projects, plus other recently announced data center projects in PA, equal a huge opportunity for Marcellus/Utica gas. These major announcements have not gone unnoticed by mainstream media. None other than the Washington Post published a major article with the title: “I have seen the future of AI. Its in Western Pennsylvania.” Read More “The Future of AI Data Centers Has Been Found: It’s in Western PA”
The U.S. national rig count lost two more rigs last week, going from 578 to 576, tying January 24th of this year as the lowest national rig count in the past 12 months. Rigs targeting the Marcellus layer remained the same with 25 rigs last week, while the Utica (in Ohio) picked up one rig and now operates 11 rigs for a combined total of 36. Pennsylvania was static with 18 rigs, Ohio moved up from nine to ten rigs, and West Virginia remained the same with eight rigs. 
Last November, MDN brought you the great news that MPLX (aka MarkWest Energy) would file to build an expansion at its existing Harmon Creek facility in Smith Township, Washington County, PA (see 
In January 2024, MDN told you about a long-closed landfill that seeks to reopen in Liberty and Pine Townships in Mercer County, PA (see 
For the week of May 5 – 11, the number of permits issued to drill new wells in the Marcellus/Utica was up four from the previous week. Last week, 26 new permits were issued in the M-U. In the Keystone State (PA), 13 new permits were issued. The top permittee was Seneca Resources, which had eight permits spread across two pads in Lycoming and Tioga counties. Olympus Energy, which is being sold to EQT, scored four permits for a pad in Allegheny County. And Infinity Natural Resources (INR) received a single permit in Indiana County. 
Diversified Energy, with significant assets in the Marcellus/Utica region (and other regions too), owns approximately 8 million acres of leases with close to 70,000 (mostly) conventional oil and gas wells. The company’s business model is to buy lower-producing wells on the cheap and find ways to make them more productive. One of the new ways Diversified is looking to make money with old wells is by mining cryptocurrency at wells in remote locations not hooked to a pipeline network. In March 2023, MDN told you that Diversified would try crypto-mining at a well in Elk County, Pennsylvania (see 
Infinity Natural Resources (INR), headquartered in Morgantown, WV, focuses 100% on the Marcellus/Utica. The company went public earlier this year with a $265 million ($20/share) initial public offering, giving INR a $1.18 billion market capitalization (see 
Yesterday, the seven members of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (five Democrats and two Republicans) heard oral arguments in a lawsuit that attempts to force PA to accept the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), an obscene carbon tax on coal- and gas-fired power plants. Former Democrat Governor Tom Wolf tried to force the state to join RGGI in 2019 (see 
Coterra Energy, formed by the merger of Cabot Oil & Gas (drills for natural gas in the Marcellus) and Cimarex Energy (drills for oil in the Permian and Anadarko basins), issued its first quarter 2025 update last week. There was a lot of news coming from the update. However, two things stood out for us: (1) Coterra confirmed that talks to revive the Constitution Pipeline project are underway now, and (2) the company is drilling again in the PA Marcellus and may add another $50 million to 2025’s planned $300 million budget for the Marcellus. 
In November 2023, CNX Resources CEO Nick DeIuliis signed a voluntary deal with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to expand drilling setbacks and several other regulatory steps not mandated for shale drillers under PA law (see