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Northern O&G Buys 64K Acres of RIL’s Non-Op M-U Assets for $250M
Northern Oil and Gas, Inc., a company that invests in non-operated oil and gas assets (they let others do the drilling), announced yesterday it has purchased 64,000 net acres producing ~120 MMcfe/d (million cubic feet equivalent per day) in the Marcellus/Utica from Reliance Industries Limited (RIL). The cash purchase price is $250 million.
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Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is openly admitting that his cockamamie plan to force PA to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)–a carbon tax scheme that will cost PA residents $2.36 billion over ten years–will in fact cause the closure of coal and gas-fired power plants throughout his state. Wolf’s brilliant plan to overcome the big negatives of power plant closings? A new government program, funded by taxpayers.
Chesapeake Energy will emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy next week having dumped $7 billion of old debt (out of $8.9 billion) and taking on $2.5 billion in new debt financing (see 
Who are the top shale drillers in Pennsylvania, as ranked by the number of shale gas wells drilled in total, to date, from the beginning of the shale play when Range Resources drilled the very first Marcellus well in 2004? It won’t surprise you to learn that Range itself is in the top 5. It’s also no surprise that EQT is at the very top of the list, given it is the #1 natural gas producing company in the U.S. We have full details on the top 5 Marcellus/Utica drillers in PA, along with a list of the other 37 PA shale drillers (42 drillers in all).
Invoking the words “coronavirus” and “COVID-19” like a magical talisman, Pennsylvania’s far-left, bumbling governor, Tom Wolf, has for the seventh year in a row issued a budget proposal that won’t pass because it includes a Marcellus-killing severance tax on top of the existing severance tax (called an impact “fee”). Every year the urgent/critical reason changes for why Wolf needs to get his grubby hands on hundreds of millions of dollars. Just insert whatever is currently in the news into the blank and it’s the same tired, old appeal. This year the excuse is the coronavirus and restoring PA’s failing economy. Wolf is Johnny One-Note when it comes to proposing a severance tax every year.
It was exactly one year ago that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in THE most consequential lawsuit for Marcellus Shale drilling we’ve seen, a case called Briggs v Southwestern Energy (see 
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) received some 13,000 public comments on its horrible plan to force PA residents to pay $2.36 billion in new energy taxes (a carbon tax) for electricity produced by coal and natural gas power plants–a scheme called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The plan would greatly reduce the number of gas-fired power plants operating in the state and create energy insecurity for the entire PJM portion of the national electricity grid.
After literally *years* of complaints that simple permits in Pennsylvania required in drilling new shale wells–like a Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation permit–are taking two, three, even six to eight months for an approval (instead of the law-mandated 14 days), the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is finally doing something about it. Why? They’ve just received a swift kick in the seat of the pants.
Every now and again we happen across information we think is kind of cool–things that others miss. This is one of those times. In many areas of shale drilling in Pennsylvania the drillers recycle 100% (or near 100%) of shale wastewater, both flowback (from fracking) and brine (naturally-occurring water from the depths comes out long after fracking is done). The recycled wastewater is then used to drill and frack more wells. We discovered a handy list of at least 27 such wastewater recycling facilities (and their locations in 11 different counties) spread across the Keystone State.
Yesterday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) held a virtual hearing to accept public comment on the topic of issuing water crossing and sediment/erosion permits for the PennEast Pipeline project. The hearing lasted over three hours with some 70+ people speaking (for up to 3 minutes each). Much to the consternation of anti-fossil fuelers, there was a strong showing of support for the project.
In a brilliant move aimed at boxing in the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), two northeastern Pennsylvania State Senators–Gene Yaw and Lisa Baker–along with members of the PA Senate Republican Caucus, filed a lawsuit yesterday against the DRBC, accusing the quasi-governmental agency of “taking” the property rights of PA residents without just compensation under the law.
The 
The Enverus U.S. oil and gas rig count slipped by one to 406 over the past week. The Marcellus play stayed even with 32 active rigs. However, in a good sign, the Ohio Utica picked up 2 new rigs to close the week with 8 active rigs (total of 40 active rigs in the M-U).
In early 2020 Pennsylvania raised $198.2 million from its version of a severance tax, called an impact fee, based on drilling activity from 2019, which was down from the previous year (see 