Still Plenty of Drilling & Pipeline Work Happening in PA Marcellus
Lately, we’ve written plenty of negative stories, things like the Pennsylvania rig count getting whacked with the lowest numbers in eight years (see PA Craters, Drops 2 Rigs, M-U @ 32; National Rig Count Adds 1 @ 586), companies like Coterra stopping all new Marcellus drilling (see Coterra Stops Drilling New Wells in Marcellus, Fracking Ends Soon), and production numbers going down each quarter (see IFO 2Q24 Report: New Wells Drilled, Production Both Down in Pa.). We don’t want to leave you with the wrong impression. It’s not all doom and gloom. A LOT of activity is still happening in the shale fields of PA. New pipelines are being built. Permits for existing (and new) compressors are being issued. New well pads are receiving permits, and permits for wastewater storage tanks are being issued. Yeah, maybe the pace of activity has slowed a bit, but there’s still plenty of activity happening in the PA Marcellus. Keep your chin up! Read More “Still Plenty of Drilling & Pipeline Work Happening in PA Marcellus”
An assistant professor of data science at Saint Vincent College in Westmoreland County, PA, recently published a study (based on hospital records) examining whether some chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing affect the occurrence of pre-term births (PTB) and low birth weights (LBW) in the United States. She looked at data from several counties in southwest PA. The researcher says she found that “counties that had more hydraulic fracturing wells that utilize chemicals that target certain hormones also had greater amounts of PTB and LWB.” Yet her data shows just the opposite! 
Once again, the bottom dropped out of the Pennsylvania Marcellus rig count. PA lost two rigs last week, down to just 13 active rigs, the lowest the PA rig count has been since July 2016. That’s the lowest rig count for PA in more than eight years, lower than the deep dark days of the pandemic four years ago. Ohio and West Virginia’s counts remained the same at nine and ten, respectively. On August 23, PA ran 21 rigs, OH had nine rigs, and WV had just five rigs. Last Friday (just two months later), PA had 13 rigs (a loss of eight from August), OH still had nine, but WV had ten rigs (a gain of five of PA’s lost eight). The realignment of rigs from PA to WV is an ongoing, big story concerning the rig count. 
PJM Interconnection is the largest U.S. power grid operator, serving 65 million people in 13 states plus the District of Columbia (including PA, OH, and WV). PJM supplies power to more than 20% of the U.S. economy. The organization issued its annual Winter Outlook yesterday. The analysis says PJM and its members have adequate resources to serve the forecasted demand for electricity this winter under expected conditions, although reserve margins continue to shrink with continued generator (coal plant) retirements and increasing demand. However, if we have “extreme” weather events, problems like blackouts are possible. In other words, we will have enough electricity, but cross your fingers that we don’t experience any extreme weather. 
If you live in Pennsylvania, particularly in an urban area, and happen to be black, Asian, or Native American, and you own an Apple product and like to do things outdoors, you can expect a knock on your door by the Democrat anti-shale/global warming squad hoping to recruit you to become a Kamala Harris zombie voter. The younger or older you are, the better (especially under 25 and over 65). The Dems never see people in all of their complexity as individuals who can be reasoned with rationally—they only see groups that can be herded given the right fear-tactic stimuli, like schoolyard bullies from the fourth grade. That’s how they hold on to power. 
You know you’re a loser when you can’t even spin the results of your own rigged push poll. The Ohio River Valley Institute (ORVI) is nothing more than a front group, another name for the ultra-left, biased, and virulent anti-fossil fuel Heinz Endowments. ORVI pokes its head up periodically to issue “reports” (i.e., propaganda) bashing fossil energy. Sometimes, they conduct slanted push polls to try and further pollute the news with false claims, as was the case with a recent poll (with results released yesterday) by ORVI surveying 700 Pennsylvanian voters on the topic of fracking and energy. Interestingly, the ORVI couldn’t hide the fact that 58% of those surveyed (a strong majority) are opposed to banning fracking, and 75% support the continued use of natural gas. 
Today, we bring you news about a lawsuit filed just over three years ago, in September 2021, by four landowners in southwestern Pennsylvania who leased their land to Range Resources for drilling. The lawsuit is just now coming on our radar screen. Range did drill and, claims the landowners, deducted expenses from royalty checks for both methane and NGL production that were not allowed. The case is being heard in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of PA and continues to advance. On September 30, a judge certified the case as a class action with the potential to affect 204 landowners with leases containing specific language. 
In August, the Biden-Harris administration promised (but hasn’t yet delivered a dime of) up to $152 million in “Phase 2” federal money, i.e., your taxpayer dollars, to help plug old conventional oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania (see 
Pennsylvania State Senator Gene Yaw believes he has a solution to help fund plugging many of the state’s ~350,000 orphaned and abandoned conventional oil and gas wells. Yaw recently introduced a bill, Senate Bill (SB) 1330, that directs the PA Department of General Services to sell any alternative energy credits it owns from buying unreliable solar energy and use the funds to plug old wells. The proposal, which could generate upward of $227 million, drives the enviro-left nuts. 
Voters in Pennsylvania have the opportunity to elect a U.S. Senator in November who is a 100% supporter of the state’s Marcellus shale industry: Dave McCormick. Will they? Or will PA voters re-elect Bob Casey for a third term—someone who voted with Joe Biden and his Big Green (anti-shale) agenda 98.5% of the time? A quote often attributed to Woody Allen is this: “Ninety percent of success in life is just showing up.” Dave McCormick showed up, IN PERSON, to deliver a talk at this week’s Shale Insight event in Erie, PA, showing his unreserved support for PA shale. Bob Casey was a no-show. Instead, Casey “mailed it in” by sending a prerecorded message to attendees, mouthing insincere words of support for the industry. Which one do you believe REALLY supports shale? It’s a no-brainer. 
We don’t think it’s overly melodramatic to say that Pennsylvania is standing on the edge of a cliff with the upcoming election in November. Yes, there’s the issue of which presidential candidate, Trump or The Cackler, will win PA and likely win the election. That is of critical importance. But so, too, is another race (or races): That of the Pennsylvania Senate. Right now, a radical Democrat, Josh Shapiro, is governor in PA. The PA House has a razor-thin Democrat majority in control (102-101). The Senate is a bit better with a 28-22 GOP majority. However, the enviro left has its sights set on retaining the House and flipping at least three Senate seats in “swing” districts this year. If all three branches are in Democrat hands come next January, you can expect very bad things ahead for the Marcellus shale. 
Two weeks ago, the national rig count, which counts all oil and gas rigs, added an astonishing eight rigs to the count after languishing for months — the biggest weekly gain in a year. 