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14 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Oct 9 – 15

New shale permits issued for Oct 9 – 15 in the Marcellus/Utica gyrated once again, dropping to about half from the previous week. There were 14 new permits issued last week, versus 23 the week before. Last week’s permit tally included 12 new permits in Pennsylvania, no new permits in Ohio, and 2 new permits in West Virginia. EQT was the top permittee for the week, drawing 6 permits in Greene County, PA. PA General Energy was second with 4 permits in Lycoming County.
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SRBC Approves Water Permits for 34 Shale Well Pads in NE Pa.

In August, the Executive Director of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) approved 34 water-use permits for individual shale gas well drilling pads in Bradford, Lycoming, Sullivan, Susquehanna, and Tioga counties. We’re just learning of the action via an official notice published in the Sept. 23 edition of the Pennsylvania Bulletin. The approvals, which are NOT subject to public review according to SRBC regulations, are general water permits. Each site will be required to receive a specific water withdrawal approval at a later date.
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14 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Sep 4 – 10

New shale permits issued for Sep 4 – 10 in the Marcellus/Utica continued to be in the crapper. There were 14 new permits issued last week, up 1 from 13 issued two weeks ago, and down from the 16 issued three weeks ago. Not so long ago we routinely saw 30+ issued each week. Last week’s permit tally included 8 new permits in Pennsylvania, no new permits in Ohio, and 6 new permits in West Virginia. The top permittee for the week was Antero Resources, which received six permits in WV.
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27 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Aug 14 – 20

New shale permits issued for Aug 14 – 20 in the Marcellus/Utica finally turned around. There were 27 new permits issued last week, way up from the 10 issued the prior week. Last week’s permit tally included 21 new permits in Pennsylvania, 2 new permits in Ohio, and 4 new permits in West Virginia (after no permits in WV for three weeks in a row). The top permittee for the week, for the second week in a row, was Chesapeake Energy, receiving 6 permits–5 in Bradford County and 1 in Susquehanna County.
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Seneca Shifts Focus to Drilling Utica Wells in Northcentral PA

National Fuel Gas Company (NFG), headquartered in Buffalo, NY, is the parent company for Marcellus/Utica driller Seneca Resources and the parent of midstream company Empire Pipeline. Yesterday, NFG issued its latest quarterly update. NFG operates on a weird fiscal year system. This latest update is for the company’s third quarter, which would be everybody else’s second quarter update. NFG said it plans to “further moderate” its Seneca drilling activity as it shifts to slower production growth in the “low single-digit” range.
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31 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jul 17-23

New shale permits issued for Jul 17-23 in the Marcellus/Utica saw a nice increase. There were 31 new permits issued last week, up from the 23 issued the previous week. Last week’s permit tally included 13 new permits in Pennsylvania, 8 new permits in Ohio, and 10 new permits in West Virginia. The top permittee for the week was Coterra Energy, receiving 8 permits in Susquehanna County, PA. Coming in at a close second was Antero Resources, with 6 permits in Ritchie County, WV.
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SRBC Water Withdrawal Restrictions Hit 42 PA Oil & Gas Operators

The weather has been fantastic for those of us living in the northeastern U.S. over the past few weeks. Clear blue skies (when they aren’t clouded with wildfire smoke from Canada), really warm temperatures, and absolutely no rain to spoil outdoor activities. Here in the Binghamton, NY area, we went from a surplus of rain and swollen rivers and lakes just a month ago to a rain deficit today. Lawns and fields and beginning to turn brown. Hey, we’re not complaining! But we do need some rain. The lack of rain in the Susquehanna River Basin has triggered water withdrawal restrictions for 42 oil and gas drillers and four other large water users (46 in all) by the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC). In many cases, the SRBC order is to “cease withdrawal.”
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Antis Try to Block Seneca’s Right to Drill in Tioga State Forest

In March, we warned you that a so-called environmental group flying under the name of Tioga County’s Pine Creek Headwaters Protection Group (PCHPG) is angling to block a new Seneca Resources well pad on Mt. Nessmuk on the company’s Tioga State Forest Lease #007 (see Enviro Group Objects to Well Pad Location in Tioga State Forest). Seneca has already developed two pads on their legally-purchased leasehold in the Tioga State Forest and wants to add a third.
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26 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV May 8-14

New shale permits issued for May 8-14 in the Marcellus/Utica rose from the prior week. There were 26 new permits issued last week, up from 20 in the prior week (and 18 the week before that). Last week’s tally included 13 new permits for Pennsylvania, 10 new permits for Ohio, and 3 new permits in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits was CNX Resources, with 7 permits issued (5 of them in Westmoreland County, PA, and 2 in Greene County, PA). Encino Energy, showing up as EAP Ohio in the report, had the second-highest tally with 5 permits (issued in Harrison County, OH).
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Seneca Tardy in Responding to NOV for Tioga, PA Pad Spillage

The PA Environment Digest Blog has been reviewing the reports filed by Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) workers again and noticed a situation at a well pad in Delmar Township, Tioga County. According to DEP reports filed, a Notice of Violation (NOV) was issued to Seneca Resources for a well pad located on DCNR State Forest land last September. Surface water samples from puddles indicate wastewater (brine) from one or more wells spilled onto the ground.
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Seneca Resources Buys Southwestern Assets in Tioga County, PA

National Fuel Gas Company (NFG), headquartered in Buffalo, NY, is the parent company for Marcellus/Utica driller Seneca Resources and the parent of midstream company Empire Pipeline. Earlier this week, NFG issued its latest quarterly update. NFG operates on a weird fiscal year system. This latest update is for the company’s second quarter, which would be everybody else’s first quarter update. The big news from the update is that Seneca Resources has agreed to acquire upstream assets in northwestern Pennsylvania from Southwestern Energy for $127 million.
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18 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 3-9

New shale permits issued for Apr. 3-9 in the Marcellus/Utica dropped again from the prior week. There were 18 new permits issued in total last week, down from 21 in the prior week (and down from 32 the week before that). Last week’s tally included 13 new permits for Pennsylvania, 0 new permits for Ohio, and 5 new permits in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits was EQT with 7 new permits (6 in Fayette County, PA, and 1 in Washington County, PA). Two companies tied for #2 with 4 permits each–Coterra (Susquehanna County, PA) and Northeast Natural Energy (Monongalia County, WV).
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34 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Mar 13-19

New shale permits issued for Mar. 13-19 in the Marcellus/Utica rose by four from the prior week. There were 34 new permits issued in total last week, including 24 new permits for Pennsylvania, 4 new permits for Ohio, and 6 new permits in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits across PA and OH was Chesapeake Energy with 7 new permits spread across three PA counties: Bradford, Sullivan, and Wyoming. Range Resources received 6 new permits in Washington County, PA.
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Enviro Group Objects to Well Pad Location in Tioga State Forest

In 2015, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) axed a plan to use shale drill cuttings combined with concrete to extend the Wellsboro-Johnston Airport in Tioga County (see PA DEP Nixes Plan to Use Drilling Cuttings for Tioga Airport Runway). One of the environmental groups that helped defeat that safe project was Tioga County’s Pine Creek Headwaters Protection Group (PCHPG). The same group has trained its sights on blocking a proposed Seneca well pad on state forest land where Seneca has the legal right (under lease) to drill for gas.
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35 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Feb 13-19

New shale permits issued for Feb. 13-19 in the Marcellus/Utica remained elevated last week. There were 35 new permits issued in total last week (down slightly from 40 the week before), including 27 new permits for Pennsylvania, three new permits for Ohio, and five permits issued in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits was Coterra Energy, with 13 new permits for Susquehanna County, PA. The number two permittee was Apex Energy with five permits in Westmoreland County, PA.
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Repsol Anticipates FID for Phase 3 of Marcellus Expansion in 2023

Spanish-owed Repsol owns 214,000 net acres of leases in the Marcellus Shale, primarily located in northeastern Pennsylvania in Bradford, Susquehanna, and Tioga counties. Early last year (in January 2022), Repsol closed on a deal to buy Rockdale Marcellus out of bankruptcy for $222 million (see Sale of Rockdale PA Assets to Repsol Closes – $220M Cash, $2M Debt). During the company’s recent quarterly/annual update, Repsol leaders said they are eyeing a third phase of development with their Marcellus assets.
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