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22 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 27 – Feb 2

For the week of Jan 27 – Feb 2, the number of permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica to drill new shale wells recovered from the previous week. Two weeks ago, only 7 new permits were issued. Last week, the number increased to 22 new permits issued. Whereas the Keystone State (PA) issued no new permits two weeks ago, PA issued 13 new permits last week. Six of those permits went to Apex Energy in Westmoreland County. Five permits were issued to EQT (Rice Drilling) in Greene and Lycoming counties. And two permits went to Expand Energy (Chesapeake) in Bradford County. Read More “22 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 27 – Feb 2”

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CNX Closes Deal to Buy Apex Energy for $505M, Adds SWPA Assets

In December, CNX Resources announced it had struck a deal to buy the assets of Apex Energy II, LLC, a portfolio company of funds managed by Carnelian Energy Capital Management, for $505 million (see CNX Resources Buys Apex Energy for $505M, Adds Pa. M-U Assets). Apex owns wells, acreage, and pipelines in Westmoreland County, PA. The Apex assets are close to, in some cases adjacent to, CNX’s considerable assets in the region. As of yesterday, the deal is complete. Apex Energy II is no more. Read More “CNX Closes Deal to Buy Apex Energy for $505M, Adds SWPA Assets”

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41 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 13 – 19

Wow! Is this the Trump effect? For the week of Jan 13 – 19, permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica to drill new shale wells achieved levels we haven’t seen in, oh, about four years. There were 41 new permits issued last week, up significantly from 27 issued the week before and 30 issued two weeks before. The Keystone State (PA) issued a whopping 25 new permits, with 17 (!) going to EQT spread across Greene and Washington counties. Another six permits went to Chesapeake Energy (now Expand Energy) in Bradford County. One permit each went to Range Resources and Apex Energy in Beaver and Westmoreland counties, respectively. Read More “41 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 13 – 19”

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Massive 3 GW Gas-Fired AI/Data Center Coming to Southwest Pa.

Location of proposed TECfusions Keystone Connect (click for larger version)

We have some exciting news to share. Datacenter builder/operator TECfusions, based in Tampa, Florida, has purchased 1,395 acres in Upper Burrell (Westmoreland County), PA, for a groundbreaking data center project called TECfusions Keystone Connect. The site is the old Alcoa R&D campus and surrounding real estate in New Kensington. The project will transform the shuttered office and industrial site into a state-of-the-art data center campus, with plans for 3 gigawatts (GW) of capacity to be deployed over six years. Put another way, some 3,000 megawatts of electricity will be required to power it. MASSIVE! Read More “Massive 3 GW Gas-Fired AI/Data Center Coming to Southwest Pa.”

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CNX Issuing New Notes for $200M to Help Fund Purchase of Apex

CNX Resources announced in December that it had struck a deal to buy the assets of Apex Energy II, LLC, a portfolio company of funds managed by Carnelian Energy Capital Management, for $505 million (see CNX Resources Buys Apex Energy for $505M, Adds Pa. M-U Assets). Apex owns wells, acreage, and pipelines in Westmoreland County, PA. Its assets are close to (in some cases adjacent to) CNX’s considerable regional holdings. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025. However, CNX needs more money to help fund it. Read More “CNX Issuing New Notes for $200M to Help Fund Purchase of Apex”

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Anti-Shale Group Continues to Try and Block Apex Wells in SWPA

A leftist anti-fossil group calling itself Protect PT (Penn-Trafford), located in Westmoreland County, PA, backed with big money from Big Green groups, has for years challenged Penn Township ordinances that allow Apex Energy and Huntley & Huntley (now Olympus Energy) to drill and operate shale wells. Protect PT finally struck out (legally) at the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in May 2020 (see Penn Twp Frack Ban Case Strikes Out at PA Supreme Court). However, Protect PT soldiered on (with Big Green $$), even after its crushing Supreme Court defeat. Apex Energy proposed drilling two wells (the Drakulic Well project) on a pad in a rural part of Trafford, PA, a boro straddling Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. Protect PT challenged the original permits and a time extension of the permits (see PA EHB Allows “Narrow” Appeal of 2 Apex Energy Well Permits). We are nearly a year later, and the case still plays out. A hearing is set for Jan. 15 to examine whether the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) lawfully issued drilling permits to Apex Energy. Read More “Anti-Shale Group Continues to Try and Block Apex Wells in SWPA”

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Once Again, PA DEP Fails to Follow-up on Well Violations for Years

Last week, MDN brought you the news that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) had not followed up on the cleanup work needed for a shale well drilled some 12 years ago (see PA DEP Fails to Follow-up Forest County Shale Violations for 12 Yrs). As violations go, it’s pretty minor (tidying up the pad site), but it illustrates the lack of follow-up by the DEP. We have two more cases where the DEP issued violations and didn’t follow up—for YEARS. These two cases involve conventional wells. Read More “Once Again, PA DEP Fails to Follow-up on Well Violations for Years”

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22 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 9 – 15

For the week of Dec 9 – 15, permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica remained healthy. There were 22 new permits issued last week, down just a bit from the 28 issued the week before. The Keystone State (PA) issued 17 new permits, with the bulk of them, 11, going to a single driller, PennEnergy Resources, for a single pad in Beaver County. Seneca Resources scored three new permits in Tioga County. One permit each was issued to Pennsylvania General Energy (Lycoming County), Coterra Energy (Susquehanna County), and CNX Resources (Westmoreland County). Read More “22 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 9 – 15”

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28 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 2 – 8

For the week of Dec 2 – 8, permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica bounced back nicely. There were 28 new permits issued last week, more than doubling the 12 issued the week before (and matching the 28 issued three weeks ago). The Keystone State (PA) issued 18 new permits, with eight going to EQT spread across three counties: Jefferson, Lycoming, and Washington. Chesapeake Energy (now Expand Energy) received four permits, all of them in northeastern PA’s Wyoming County. CNX Resource scooped up two permits, both in Westmoreland County. The final four permits were singles issued to Blackhill Energy (Bradford County), XPR Resources (Centre County), Inflection Energy (Lycoming County), and Olympus Energy (Allegheny County). Read More “28 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 2 – 8”

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Upper Burrell Twp Makes Moves to Ban Wastewater Injection Wells

Upper Burrell (Westmoreland County, PA) town supervisors have historically been receptive (or at least tolerant) to the Marcellus Shale industry that has so blessed their town and Westmoreland County (see our Upper Burrell stories here). According to MDN’s soon-coming data service, Upper Burrell has 20 actively producing shale wells, with 17 of them drilled since 2021. However, there appears to be a distinct change in attitude, at least with respect to wastewater injection wells, on the part of the town’s Board of Supervisors. The town has between 100 and 200 abandoned conventional gas or oil wells. The supervisors are concerned one or more of those old wells might be targeted to convert into injecting brine (salty water from shale wells). The supervisors have instructed the town solicitor to draft an ordinance with stricter rules for the use of abandoned wells in the township. Read More “Upper Burrell Twp Makes Moves to Ban Wastewater Injection Wells”

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CNX Resources Buys Apex Energy for $505M, Adds Pa. M-U Assets

CNX Resources announced yesterday it had struck a deal to buy the assets of Apex Energy II, LLC, a portfolio company of funds managed by Carnelian Energy Capital Management, for $505 million. Apex owns wells, acreage, and pipelines in Westmoreland County, PA. The Apex assets are close to, in some cases adjacent to, CNX’s considerable assets in the region. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025. Read More “CNX Resources Buys Apex Energy for $505M, Adds Pa. M-U Assets”

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28 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Nov 18 – 24

For the week of Nov 18 – 24, permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica continued to be strong, with 28 new permits issued, down just two from the 30 issued the prior week. The Keystone State (PA) issued 11 new permits, with five going to CNX Resources, all in Allegheny County. Two permits were issued to Southwestern Energy (now Expand Energy) in Lycoming County. The remaining four were single permits issued to EQT Corporation (Greene County), Infinity Natural Resources (Indiana County), Range Resources (Washington County), and Apex Energy (Westmoreland County). Read More “28 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Nov 18 – 24”

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30 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Nov 11 – 17

For the week of Nov 11 – 17, permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica were strong, with 30 new permits issued, down just slightly from the 34 issued the prior week (but way up from the piddly numbers issued in prior weeks). The Keystone State (PA) issued 16 new permits, with seven going to Range Resources, all in Washington County. Six permits went to EQT in Lycoming County. Two permits were issued to Olympus Energy in Westmoreland County. A single permit was issued to Chesapeake Energy (now Expand Energy) in Susquehanna County. Read More “30 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Nov 11 – 17”

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2 Radical Groups Appeal CNX Gas & Water Pipeline Project in SWPA

CNX Resources filed a request with the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) in April 2023 to build two pipelines—two for natural gas—along a 13.9-mile route in Bell, Loyalhanna, and Salem Townships in Westmoreland County. An additional 4-mile pipeline would be built for water. Called the Slickville Trunkline Project, the DEP originally told CNX its application was “incomplete.” The DEP later told CNX (in March of this year) the agency considered the application “withdrawn” because it hadn’t received any more information (see Temporary Setback for CNX Gas & Water Pipeline Project in SWPA). Since then, CNX was able to provide the information the DEP wanted, and in early October, the DEP issued permits for the project, which has torqued off the antis. Read More “2 Radical Groups Appeal CNX Gas & Water Pipeline Project in SWPA”

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17 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Oct 21 – 27

For the week of Oct 21 – 27, there were 17 permits issued to drill Marcellus/Utica wells, up from 14 permits issued the prior week. The Keystone State (PA) had 12 new permits, with five going to Chesapeake Energy (now Expand Energy) in Wyoming County and two each for PennEnergy Resources (Beaver County) and Coterra Energy (Susquehanna County). Single permits were issued to Pennsylvania General Energy, Inflection Energy, and XPR Resources. The Buckeye State (OH) had five new permits, with four going to Gulfport Energy in Belmont County. The other OH permit was for Infinity Natural Resources (INR) in Guernsey County. The Mountain State (WV) issued a big, fat zero new permits last week. Read More “17 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Oct 21 – 27”

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Murrysville Rejects Antis’ Petition to Cancel Leases Under Parks

Last December, Murrysville (PA) Council members voted to lease land for shale drilling under two town parks—Duff Park and Murrysville Community Park (see Murrysville, PA to Vote in Dec. on Plan to Drill Under Two Parks). Murrysville is located in Westmoreland County, in the southwestern part of the state. Olympus Energy pitched proposals to lease under both parks, using their adjacent leased acreage (on private land) to set up rigs to drill under the parks, which the council approved. The council also approved a lease last year with Apex Energy to drill and frack under Kovalczik Park. Last week, so-called environmental group Protect PT presented a petition to the council asking them to rescind the leases for drilling under the three parks. Read More “Murrysville Rejects Antis’ Petition to Cancel Leases Under Parks”