35 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV May 26 – Jun 1
For the week of May 26 – Jun 1, the number of permits issued to drill new wells in the Marcellus/Utica increased significantly from the previous week. There were 35 new permits issued across the three M-U states last week, up 11 from 24 two weeks ago. A whopping 27 new permits were issued in the Keystone State (PA) after issuing only four permits two weeks ago. EQT and its drilling subsidiary Rice Drilling received 10 permits, all of them in Greene County, spread across two pads. Spain-based Repsol received the second most permits, five, for a single pad in Tioga County. Read More “35 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV May 26 – Jun 1”

The highly functional and responsible Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), unlike its less functional and irresponsible counterpart, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), continues to support the shale energy industry by approving water withdrawals and consumptive use for responsible and safe shale drilling. The SRBC published a notice in the May 31 Pennsylvania Bulletin that the Executive Director of the SRBC renewed 45 general water use permits in April for individual shale gas well drilling pads in Blair, Bradford, Lycoming, Potter, Sullivan, Susquehanna, and Tioga counties in Pennsylvania. The director also approved new water withdrawals for the 146-megawatt gas-fired Hunlock Creek power plant in Luzerne County. 
On March 27, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) online Hydrologic Conditions Monitor showed low stream flows have triggered restrictions on 18 shale gas water withdrawal points in Bradford, Potter, Susquehanna, Tioga, and Wyoming counties. Another 17 shale gas withdrawals are approaching restrictions. Of the water withdrawal points regulated by SRBC, only shale gas development water withdrawals currently have restrictions because they take water from smaller streams.
For the week of Mar 10 – 16, the number of permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica to drill new shale wells increased by nine from the previous week. Last week, 31 new permits were issued, with 16 going to the Keystone State (PA). EQT (and its subsidiary Rice Drilling) scored nine permits across Fayette, Greene, and Washington counties in southwestern PA. Range Resources took five permits, all of them in Washington County. And Rev Resources received two permits in Tioga County.
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 NFG Midstream (and subsidiary Empire Pipeline). In November 2023, MDN first reported on NFG Midstream’s Tioga Pathway project, an estimated $90 million modernization and expansion project that will add 190,000 Dth per day (190 MMcf/d) of firm transportation takeaway capacity from northwest Tioga County, Pennsylvania (see