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27 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 6 – 12

For the week of Jan 6 – 12, permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica to drill new shale wells remained healthy. There were 27 new permits issued last week, down three from 30 issued the week before. The Keystone State (PA) issued 13 new permits, with four going to Snyder Brothers in Armstrong County, four going to Coterra Energy in Susquehanna County (must be Coterra has restarted drilling), three for Infinity Natural Resources (INR) in Indiana County, and two for Range Resources in Washington County. Read More “27 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 6 – 12”

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27 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 16 – 22

For the week of Dec 16 – 22, permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica remained healthy. There were 27 new permits issued last week, up from 22 issued the week before. In something of an unusual twist, the Keystone State (PA) issued just four new permits, all of them to different drillers. PennEnergy Resources’ permit was in Beaver County; Seneca Resources’ permit was in Tioga County; and Range Resources and EQT (Rice) each had one permit in Washington County. Read More “27 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 16 – 22”

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WV Supreme Court Rules Antero CAN’T Deduct Royalty Expenses

There is an important development for landowners AND drillers in a class action case that began some seven years ago. A civil suit was brought by Harrison County oil and gas owners against Antero Resources Corp., claiming the company had deducted post-production costs from royalties not allowed under the leases they had signed. In 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia ruled mostly in favor of the landowners. The District Court sent two certified questions to the state Supreme Court. The Supremes ruled on both issues in November. The court ruled that energy companies cannot deduct post-production costs without explicit lease language, favoring royalty owners over drillers. Read More “WV Supreme Court Rules Antero CAN’T Deduct Royalty Expenses”

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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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16 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Aug 12 – 18

This week’s permit report is a bit different. Technically, for the week of August 12 – 18, a total of seven new permits were issued across the Marcellus/Utica. However, last week’s permit report omitted West Virginia numbers because the state’s online data service was out of order (see 26 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Aug 5 – 11). It’s back online this week, so we’ve included August 5 – 11 with August 12 – 18 for West Virginia, bumping the number much higher. So, for this report, we’re reporting a total of 16 new permits across all three states, but nine of those permits are from WV from two weeks ago. The big surprise for August 12 – 18 is that Pennsylvania issued no new permits. That’s the first time we remember that happening, not a single permit in PA.
Read More “16 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Aug 12 – 18”

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18 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jul 1 – 7

We noticed that permit data has already been updated for last week, so we’re bringing you our weekly permit report a day early. For the week of July 1 – 7, a total of 18 permits were issued to drill new shale wells in Marcellus/Utica. There were six new permits issued in Pennsylvania, with four of them going to Range Resources for a pad in Washington County. There were four new permits in Ohio, all of them going to Encino Energy for a pad in Guernsey County. West Virginia was the surprise with eight new permits, six of which were issued to Antero Resources in Tyler County.
Read More “18 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jul 1 – 7”

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DT Midstream 4Q – M-U Pipeline Operations Expand, Looking for M&A

DT Midstream (DTM), headquartered in Detroit, owns major assets in the Marcellus/Utica region and other regions like the Haynesville. DTM issued its fourth quarter 2023 update last Friday. The Marcellus/Utica region (which they call Northeast in the report) received several prominent mentions during a conference call with analysts. Also of note were comments by DT CEO David Slater, who said he’s positioning the company to take advantage of “bolt-on” opportunities in the regions where they operate. Meaning he’s on the lookout for mergers and acquisitions.
Read More “DT Midstream 4Q – M-U Pipeline Operations Expand, Looking for M&A”

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19 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Feb 5 – 11

There were 19 new permits issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica during the week of Feb. 5 – 11, versus 20 permits issued the prior week. Pennsylvania issued 13 new permits last week. Ohio issued 4 new permits. West Virginia issued 2 new permits last week. Range Resources scored the most new permits with 5 split between Allegheny and Beaver counties in PA. Chesapeake Energy received 4 permits in Bradford County, PA. Seneca Resources received 4 permits in Elk County, PA. Encino Energy received 4 permits in Guernsey County, OH. And Diversified Energy received 2 permits in Harrison County, WV.
Read More “19 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Feb 5 – 11”

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20 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 29 – Feb 4

There were 20 new permits issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica during the week of Jan. 29 – Feb. 4, versus 27 permits issued during the prior week. Pennsylvania issued 12 new permits last week. Ohio issued 6 new permits. West Virginia issued 2 new permits last week. We had a tie for the company receiving the most permits. Seneca Resources received 4 permits to drill in Tioga County, PA, and Ascent Resources received 4 permits to drill in Harrison County, OH.
Read More “20 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 29 – Feb 4”

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23 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 8 – 14

There were 23 new permits issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica during the week of Jan. 8-14, versus 18 permits issued for the prior week. Pennsylvania issued 13 new permits last week. Ohio issued just 2 new permits. West Virginia issued 8 new permits — for the second week in a row. EQT scored the top slot for new permits, receiving 7 permits to drill in Lycoming and Greene counties in PA.
Read More “23 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 8 – 14”

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WV Co. Partners with ARCH2 to Supply H2 Experts & Data Analytics

On Wednesday, MDN pointed out that a New York-based company will play a key role in (and get gobs of money from) the WV hydrogen hub project (see New York Company Has Big Role in West Virginia’s ARCH2 Hydrogen Hub). The truth is that many companies (dozens? hundreds?) will be a part of the ARCH2 project. Preferably, companies located in one of the states participating in ARCH2, including West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. We spotted an announcement from a Bridgeport, WV-based company that will be participating in ARCH2.
Read More “WV Co. Partners with ARCH2 to Supply H2 Experts & Data Analytics”

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29 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Feb 20-26

New shale permits issued for Feb. 20-26 in the Marcellus/Utica slide lower last week. There were 29 new permits issued in total last week (down from 35 the week before), including 24 new permits for Pennsylvania, no new permits for Ohio, and five new permits issued in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits by far was the largest natural gas driller in the country, EQT Corporation, with 20 new permits split between Greene and Washington counties in southwestern PA.
Read More “29 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Feb 20-26”

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Diversified’s Next LVL Energy Moves Headquarters from PA to WV

Ribbon cutting at new Next LVL headquarters in Bridgeport, WV (click for larger version)

One year ago, Diversified Energy (formerly Diversified Gas & Oil) announced it had purchased Next LVL Energy, a well-plugging company that concentrates on plugging mainly old conventional oil and gas wells in Appalachia (see Diversified Energy Buys Well-Plugging Co. Next LVL Energy). Next LVL was founded by oil and gas industry veterans Brad Maddox, Clay Cochran, and Keith Coleman in 2020 and headquartered in the Pittsburgh region. Last Friday, Diversified CEO Rusty Hutson, Jr. was joined by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a brand new headquarters for Next LVL–in Bridgeport, WV.
Read More “Diversified’s Next LVL Energy Moves Headquarters from PA to WV”

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4th Circuit Rules Antero CAN Deduct Some Royalty Expenses in WV

A group of landowners in Harrison and Doddridge counties (in West Virginia) sued Antero Resources, claiming the company had deducted post-production costs from royalties not allowed under the leases they had signed. Last year, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia ruled mostly in favor of the landowners. Antero appealed the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (4th Circuit). Yesterday, the judges of the 4th Circuit issued their ruling (full copy below). Nobody got everything they wanted–we’d call it a split decision. However, Antero did win the right to make deductions in certain circumstances.

1/10/23 UPDATE: We’ve added some expert commentary on this case from the legal beagles of Babst Calland. See below.
Read More “4th Circuit Rules Antero CAN Deduct Some Royalty Expenses in WV”

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WV Airport Explores Deal to Power Facility with Homegrown NatGas

North Central West Virginia Airport

Pittsburgh International Airport is inspiring other airports in the Marcellus/Utica region to consider doing what it is doing–extracting natural gas from beneath airport property and burning it to power electric-generating turbines. The North Central West Virginia Airport, located in Bridgeport, WV, is considering a proposal from Hope Gas Inc. to drill under airport property, extract natural gas, and then use the gas to power a microgrid that provides electricity for the airport and surrounding aerospace businesses. Cool!
Read More “WV Airport Explores Deal to Power Facility with Homegrown NatGas”

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Antero Buying Crestwood’s WV Marcellus Gathering Pipeline System

Yesterday both Antero Midstream (the pipeline subsidiary of Antero Resources), and Crestwood Equity Partners announced a deal to sell Crestwood’s remaining Marcellus assets to Antero for $205 million. The assets include 72 miles of dry gas gathering pipelines and nine compressor stations with approximately 700 MMcf/d of compression capacity located in Doddridge County and Harrison County in West Virginia.
Read More “Antero Buying Crestwood’s WV Marcellus Gathering Pipeline System”