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Women Excel in Marcellus Shale Jobs in NEPA

Karen Hubbard, sales representative for Rain For Rent, with a heating unit on a Susquehanna County gas pad. (click for larger version)

Women make up a small but growing part of the natural gas industry in the northeastern Pennsylvania Marcellus. Estimates are that women make up 15 to 22 percent of the workforce in the petroleum and natural gas industry. Below are the stories of several women who have found rewarding work in the NEPA Marcellus–and it’s not just success with indoor jobs.
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Scranton Law Firm Says New Boom in Shale Drilling Coming in NEPA

We’re always on the lookout for indicators and trends that tell us whether or not there will be more or less drilling (and leasing) in the Marcellus/Utica. Lately, we’ve seen a couple of mentions of new leases signed, at least in the Ohio Utica (see Signing Bonuses, Royalties, New Leases Pick Up in Ohio Utica and MWCD Signs Lease for 7,300 OH Acres – $5,500/Acre + 20% Royalties). What about Pennsylvania? An article in the Scranton Times-Tribune quotes a local law firm that represents drillers. The law firm is predicting a “gas boom reboot.” We like the sound of that!
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Marcellus Industry Tells U.S. Sen. Toomey “We Need More Workers”

Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senator Pat Toomey visited the Lackawanna College School of Petroleum and Natural Gas (PNG) near Tunkhannock (Wyoming County), PA yesterday. What struck us about coverage of the event is that PNG officials said they don’t have enough students to fill all of the available, open positions for graduates and that people from the industry said they don’t have enough workers to fill jobs in the Marcellus Shale.
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18 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Feb 14-20

The wild roller coaster continues of up, down, up, down, up, down. Last week the number of permits issued to drill new shale wells is down again–to 18 total. Pennsylvania had 16 new permits last week, nine for Repsol and three for Coterra Energy. All of Repsol and Coterra’s permits issued for Susquehanna County. West Virginia had two new permits, one each for Southwestern Energy and Antero Resources, in Marshall and Doddridge counties. Ohio? A big, fat, goose egg. No new shale permits issued last week in the Buckeye State.
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33 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 24-30

Our apologies that this latest weekly permit update is a day late. Normally we issued these updates on Wednesdays. Yesterday the Pennsylvania database we use to locate information on new permits issued was throwing an error. We alerted the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection, which maintains the database, and they got it fixed sometime last night. So we’re back! Our thanks to the programmers at the DEP.

The total number of permits across PA, OH and WV last week were down by about half from the week before. There were 33 new permits issued last week vs. 61 two weeks ago.
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Chesapeake Buys Chief Oil & Gas & Non-op Tug Hill Assets for $2.6B

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.
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Lackawanna College School of Petroleum & Natural Gas Expands

Back in December, MDN editor Jim Willis had the delight and pleasure of attending an open house at the new location of the Lackawanna College’s School of Petroleum and Natural Gas (PNG) in Tunkhannock (Wyoming County), PA. The event was arranged and hosted by Bill desRosiers from Coterra Energy (formerly Cabot Oil & Gas). A number of Coterra employees were present. Bill gave us the grand tour. We can say categorically–PNG is an impressive facility and an impressive program.
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24 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 3-9

Last week 24 permits were issued to drill new shale wells in the Marcellus/Utica. Pennsylvania had the lion’s share with 19 new permits–most of those (10) were issued for two Chesapeake Energy well pads in Bradford County in the northeastern part of the state. Ohio had just two new permits, both on the same Southwestern Energy well pad in Monroe County. West Virginia had three new permits, one in Pleasants County and two in Marshall County.
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PA DCNR Leases Part of Susquehanna River for Drilling for $794K

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) published a notice in the November 20 Pennsylvania Bulletin that it has signed an oil and gas lease agreement with BKV Operating, LLC (Banpu, Thailand’s largest coal mining company and an investor/operator drilling shale wells here) covering 198.5 acres of the Susquehanna River located in Mehoopany and Washington Townships in Wyoming County.
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WA, NM Congress Members Visit NEPA, Impressed with Marcellus Ops

Two out-of-state Members of Congress, Rep. Dan Newhouse (Washington-04) and Rep. Yvette Herrell (New Mexico-02), both members of the Congressional Western Caucus, recently took a field trip to northeastern Pennsylvania to get a firsthand look at how Marcellus drillers and midstream companies get the job done. They came away thoroughly impressed, to the point they penned an editorial for a local newspaper that begins with this sentence: “Pennsylvania’s natural gas producers are providing safe, reliable, and affordable energy for the United States and setting an example for states across the country.”
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Weekly Shale Drilling Permits for PA, OH, WV: Jul 12-18

New permit activity once again picked up last week after the previous week showed a paltry number of permits. In Pennsylvania 10 new permits were issued, all but one of them in the northeastern dry gas area of the state. In Ohio 4 new permits were issued, all of them for the same driller on the same well pad. And in West Virginia, 7 new permits were issued. One of the permits appears to be issued to a private landowner drilling his own shale well! And in another oddity, four WV permits were issued to a midstream company.
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Chesapeake Energy Puts Most of its Chips on Northeast PA Marcellus

When Chesapeake Energy issued its first-quarter update a month ago, MDN pointed out that the company has finally turned from its dalliance with oil drilling (having fired CEO Doug Lawler) and is now training its sights back on its first love, natural gas drilling (see Chesapeake 1Q21: Returning to Its Roots of Drilling for NatGas). Northeastern Pennsylvania plays a key role in the company’s plans for the future. In 2021, some 45% of Chessy’s production will come from four northeastern PA counties: Bradford, Sullivan, Susquehanna, and Wyoming.
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Weekly Shale Drilling Permits for PA, OH, WV: Apr 12-16

All three M-U states received permits to drill new shale wells last week. Pennsylvania received a whopping 17 new permits spread across various counties and drillers. Ohio received just 2 new permits last week, both for Ascent Resources on the same pad. And West Virginia received a big 12 new permits split between two drillers: Antero Resources and Tug Hill Operating.
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Chesapeake Signs Up with “Responsibly Sourced Gas” Program

In January EQT Corporation announced it would partner with a Denver, CO company calling itself “Project Canary” to run a test on two of its shale gas pads, to prove the natural gas produces is “certified responsibly sourced” (see EQT Partners with Project Canary on “Responsibly Sourced” NatGas). Yesterday Chesapeake Energy announced it will do the same thing, running a test on two well pads with multiple wells–one in Bradford County, PA, the other in Wyoming County, PA.
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Weekly Shale Drilling Permits for PA, OH, WV: Mar 29-Apr 2

All three M-U states received permits to drill new shale wells last week. Pennsylvania received 6 new permits (4 of them for Chesapeake Energy). Ohio received 4 new permits last week, all of them for Antero Resources (2 different well pads). And West Virginia received 4 new permits (3 of them for Southwestern Energy).
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Weekly Shale Drilling Permits for PA, OH, WV: Mar 22-26

All three M-U states received permits to drill new shale wells last week. Pennsylvania received a big 21 new permits. Ohio received 7 new permits last week, all of them for Encino Energy (two different well pads). West Virginia received just 2 new permits, both for HG Energy on the same pad in the same county.
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