IFO 2Q24 Report: New Wells Drilled, Production Both Down in Pa.
Yesterday, the Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) released its latest quarterly Natural Gas Production Report for April through June 2024 (full copy below). There were 63 new horizontal wells spud (drilled) in 2Q24, a decrease of 26 wells (-29%) compared to 2Q23. That number was also down significantly (37%) from the 100 wells spud in 1Q24. This was the seventh consecutive quarter with a year-over-year (YOY) decline in new wells spud. Natural gas production volume was 1,776 billion cubic feet (Bcf) in 2Q24, down 89 Bcf (5%) from the 1,865 Bcf produced in 2Q23. Read More “IFO 2Q24 Report: New Wells Drilled, Production Both Down in Pa.”
In 2019, when then-Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced he would unilaterally force the state to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a carbon tax scheme aimed at forcing coal- and gas-fired plants out of business, he claimed the tax would only amount to a few dollars per allowance (or “short ton”) of CO2 (see 
In 2015, a group of nearly 60 landowners in northeastern Pennsylvania who had leased their land for fracking filed a lawsuit against Chesapeake Energy, Anadarko, Statoil (now Equinor), Mitsui E&P, and Access Midstream (later bought by Williams), alleging the companies had improperly deducted post-production costs (e.g., gas gathering and transportation expenses) from royalties owed to the landowners in breach of their respective leases. The lawsuit also alleged collusion and conspiracy to defraud the landowners. The lawsuit was on hold for many years while other lawsuits played out. Earlier this year, a federal court in Scranton unpaused this lawsuit, and yesterday, the judge ruled, tossing out the landowners’ claims.
What’s your price, Pennsylvania oil and gas industry? Are you willing to sell yourselves to the Democrats for $152 million (revised down to $114 million) in bribes? How about if Biden-Harris sweetens the pot and rushes a check for $76 million to the state, as they did yesterday? Can you not see through this sleazy attempt to unduly influence the election? In August, Biden-Harris 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 the Keystone State (see 
The big news (for us) with the weekly Baker Hughes rig count is that last week, Pennsylvania laid down its use of three active drilling rigs, resulting in the lowest rig count in the state in 2 1/2 years. PA now operates 18 active rigs, down from 21 the week prior. The last time PA operated only 18 rigs was, according to our records, in November 2021. Fortunately, West Virginia picked up one of those rigs and improved its count from five to six. Ohio remained the same with nine active rigs. So, the Marcellus/Utica, in total, went from 35 active rigs two weeks ago to 33 active rigs last week. The national rig count (for both oil and gas rigs) dropped by two, now with 583 active rigs. 
By now, you’ve read here on MDN and likely heard via mainstream news that Kamala Harris claims she’s had a change of heart and won’t (if she’s elected president, God perish the thought) ban fracking. How magnanimous of her. Praise Kamala. We don’t believe her for a New York minute, and neither should you. However, her recent remarks in attempting to rewrite history that she never did want to ban fracking (liar!) and that she won’t now is not sitting well with climate zealots in Pennsylvania. People like THE Delaware Riverkeeper and the co-founder of the Better Path Coalition. 
Hats off to Pennsylvania State Senator Gene Yaw, who is floating yet another bill that will benefit the state, electric ratepayers, and the Marcellus industry — all at the same time. Yesterday, Yaw announced his intention to float a new bill that would create the Pennsylvania Baseload Energy Development Fund. What is it? It’s a fund that would set up a revolving loan program at a low interest rate to encourage private companies to build more baseload electric power generation in the state. That is, build more gas-fired power plants.
Yesterday, MDN brought you the news that two dozen states have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to place a temporary block on new EPA regulations that will put all coal plants out of business and block most (if not all) new gas-fired power plants from getting built (see 
“Follow the money.” Never a truer phrase spoken. “The fix is in” is another trite but true phrase. Put the two together, and you have an apt description of the latest news to come from Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration — that the state is now working with (giving money to) the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) to train union workers to plug oil and gas wells, in essence funneling federal dollars into the pockets of a single labor union (which delivers a reliable vote for the Democrats). Your tax dollars at work funding the Democratic Party.
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. Most of the states in PJM are not energy self-sufficient. They don’t produce enough electricity to meet their own demand. Pennsylvania is the exception and has become THE main producer in the PJM region, exporting electricity to its neighbors. However, according to a chilling new report by Pittsburgh Works Together (PWT), PA Gov. Josh Shapiro’s electricity proposals will destabilize the PJM grid and potentially cause massive blackouts. 
We spotted an article on the always-excellent NGI website (the 
We continue to be range-bound with respect to the Baker Hughes U.S. rig count. The count has gone up and down every few weeks. But since the third week of June, the range has been as low as 581 and as high as 589. And that’s it. We seem to have found the bottom (we hope we have). Last week, the national rig count lost another rig and now stands at 585. The Marcellus/Utica remained even at 35 active rigs after losing one rig two weeks ago. Pennsylvania operates 21 active rigs; Ohio operates nine active rigs; and West Virginia operates five active rigs.
Here’s a sobering fact: A web of red tape and environmentalist lawfare in the courts have derailed six of the last seven proposed interstate pipeline projects that could have delivered Appalachian natural gas to New England, the Southeast, and other regions of critical demand. The only pipeline to survive was the Mountain Valley Pipeline, and it took a literal Act of Congress to get it across the finish line. Here’s another sobering fact: Oil and gas pipeline approvals have dropped by 50% during the Biden-Harris administration (compared to the last three presidents before Biden). The precipitous drop was on purpose.
With the presidential election only 80 days from now, the money coming from Washington, D.C. to swing states like Pennsylvania is flowing like a river, as we told you yesterday (see 
Many political pundits say the presidential election will come down to Pennsylvania. Whichever candidate wins PA — Trump or The Cackler — will likely win the White House. EVERYTHING that happens between now and then has a political component, including yesterday’s announcement by the Biden-Harris Dept. of Interior that yet another slug of up to $152 million is coming PA’s way for plugging orphaned and abandoned conventional oil and gas wells. This has politics written all over it.