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12 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV May 2-8
Last week Pennsylvania issued 11 new shale well permits, down from 16 the week before. For the second week in a row, EQT led the way, issuing five permits. Ohio got skunked–issuing no new permits for Utica drilling. West Virginia issued just one new permit–to Antero Resources. Overall a pretty paltry showing for new permits in the M-U.
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National Fuel Gas Company (NFG), headquartered in Buffalo, NY, is the only fully integrated energy company operating in the Marcellus/Utica, by which we mean NFG is a driller (Seneca Resources), a midstream/pipeline company (Empire Pipeline), and a downstream end-user via its local distribution company (LDC), otherwise known as the local gas utility company (National Fuel). Little known fact: NFG’s Seneca Resources subsidiary owns an oil drilling operation in California. But not for much longer…
According to the Bureau of Labor Statics, the oilfield services and equipment industry grew by over 7,000 jobs in December 2021. Marcellus/Utica companies can’t find enough workers to fill all of the open positions in our region, especially in Pennsylvania. According to an article in the Wellsboro Gazette (Tioga County, northeastern part of the state), companies in Tioga and Potter counties can’t fill all of their open positions.
As predicted last week by Reuters, Chesapeake Energy announced yesterday it is buying Marcellus driller Chief Oil & Gas plus associated non-operated assets from Tug Hill Operating for $2 billion in cash and approximately 9.44 million common shares. The total purchase price (given the current CHK stock price of $67/share) is roughly $2.6 billion. The combination makes Chesapeake a powerhouse driller in the northeast Pennsylvania Marcellus with 653,000 acres of leases.
In September MDN broke the news that Rockdale Marcellus had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (see 
There was a healthy number of new permits issued in all three actively drilling Marcellus/Utica states last week. In Pennsylvania, 14 new shale well permits were issued across the state. In Ohio, five new shale permits were issued, four of them to a single driller (Ascent Resources) in a single county (Jefferson). West Virginia came roaring back after getting skunked with no permits two weeks ago. WV issued 10 new shale permits last week with five going to a single well pad in Monongalia County.
Back in June, MDN told you about a long-running lawsuit in Tioga County, PA by landowners who claim that UGI has taken their mineral rights as part of operating the Meeker Storage Field, an underground natural gas storage facility (see 
A sad exclusive to share with you today. Yesterday northeast Pennsylvania driller Rockdale Marcellus filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The company, which owns and operates 66 producing wells on 42,897 net acres in three northeast PA counties (regional headquarters in Pittsburgh) plans to auction off all of its assets according to paperwork filed with the court.