| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

21 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Sep 12-18

Last week the three states with active Marcellus/Utica drilling, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, issued a collective 21 new drilling permits, down from the 30 permits issued the week before, and down from the 40 permits issued the week before that. The trend is not our friend right now. PA issued 13 permits, and OH and WV issued four permits each.
Read More “21 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Sep 12-18”

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

30 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Sep 5-11

Last week the three states with active Marcellus/Utica drilling, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, issued a collective 30 new drilling permits, down from the 40 permits issued the week before. PA roared back to life by issuing 21 of the 30 permits, with OH issuing just three and WV issuing six.
Read More “30 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Sep 5-11”

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

47 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jul 11-17

For the week of July 11-17, the three Marcellus/Utica states issued 47 permits to drill new shale wells, up 10 from the prior week. Pennsylvania issued the lion’s share with 35 new permits. CNX grabbed seven of those permits in Washington County, and Olympus Energy received six in Westmoreland County. Ohio issued 11 new permits, with four going to Ascent Resources in Jefferson County, and four to Hilcorp Energy in Columbiana County. West Virginia issued a paltry one new permit, which went to Southwestern Energy in Ohio County.
Read More “47 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jul 11-17”

| | | | | | | | |

6 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV May 23-29

It appears the wind has gone right out of the sails when it comes to issuing new permits for shale drilling in the Marcellus/Utica. For the week of May 23-29, only six new permits were issued. Four of the permits were issued in Pennsylvania, two in West Virginia, and none in Ohio. This is the lowest number in a single week we’ve seen in maybe forever. A measly, lousy six permits!
Read More “6 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV May 23-29”

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

30 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 18-24

Last week Pennsylvania issued 22 new shale well permits, up ten from the prior week. EQT led the way with five permits, all in Greene County. Both LOLA Energy and Snyder Brothers had four permits each, LOLA in Butler County and Snyder in Armstrong. For the second week in a row, Ohio had no new shale permits issued last week. Bummer. West Virginia had eight permits, up from two in the prior week. Arsenal Resources had the most with four permits in Taylor County, while Southwestern Energy had three permits–one in Ohio County and two in Brooke County.
Read More “30 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 18-24”

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

14 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 11-17

Last week Pennsylvania issued 12 new shale well permits, down three from the prior week. Coterra Energy (formerly Cabot Oil & Gas) had the most permits with four, all on the same pad in Susquehanna County. Southwestern had three permits all on the same pad in Susquehanna County. Chesapeake Energy also had a permit in Susquehanna County, making that county the top spot for new permits with eight last week. Ohio had no new shale permits issued last week. Bummer. West Virginia had just two permits, one for Southwestern Energy in Ohio County, and one for Antero Resources in Tyler County.
Read More “14 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 11-17”

| | | |

24/7 Marcellus Shale Truck Traffic in Bethlehem, WV a Problem

Location of Ridgecrest Rd, denoted by red pin in center (click for larger version)

Ridgecrest Road in the village of Bethlehem (Ohio County), WV is a suburb of Wheeling. Ridgecrest Road doubles as State Route 88, carrying traffic into Marshall County. Over the past decade or so truck traffic along Ridgecrest has increased as drilling in the Marcellus in Marshall County has increased. The problem is the trucks going to/from well sites operate 24/7. The trucks are loud and wake up the people who live along that road. They’re also driving too fast.
Read More “24/7 Marcellus Shale Truck Traffic in Bethlehem, WV a Problem”

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

34 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 4-10

Last week Pennsylvania issued 15 new shale well permits (up one from the prior week), with Repsol taking five, and both Range Resources and Seneca Energy grabbing four each. All permits for each of the three were on a single pad. Ohio issued five new permits last week, with all five going to Ascent Resources. West Virginia issued a big 14 permits (after issuing no permits in the prior week). Antero Resource received six permits, with Southwestern Energy and HG Energy each receiving four permits in WV.
Read More “34 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 4-10”

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

31 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Mar 21-27

Last week Pennsylvania issued 21 new shale well permits, with Snyder Brothers grabbing seven, PennEnergy Resources getting six, and Coterra Energy (formerly Cabot Oil & Gas) receiving five. In each case, the permits for each company were for a single well pad. Ohio issued just three new permits last week, two for Ascent Resources and one for Southwestern Energy. West Virginia finally came back to life, issuing seven new shale permits last week. Six of the WV permits were for Antero Resources, one for Southwestern Energy.
Read More “31 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Mar 21-27”

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

37 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Feb 28-Mar 13

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) finally got their reporting system back online after it had gone down for a second time in three weeks. We have collected the permits issued over a two-week period in this report, to catch things up (and because PA didn’t issue any permits for one of the two weeks). This current report shows permits issued from Monday, Feb. 28 through Sunday, Mar. 13. PA issued 15 new permits over the two-week period. The top permitees in PA were EQT and CNX, both with five permits each. In Ohio, 11 new permits were issued, with Encino Energy receiving four and Gulfport three permits. West Virginia also issued 11 new permits for the two-week period. Antero received six of WV’s permits, and both Southwestern Energy and Arsenal Resources scored two each.
Read More “37 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Feb 28-Mar 13”

| | | | |

Nobody Understands WV’s Oil & NatGas Property Tax Valuation Change

Complete confusion continues with respect to West Virginia’s House Bill (HB) 2581, a new law passed on the last day of the annual WV legislative session in April. HB 2581 changes how the State Tax Department values producing oil and gas wells for property tax purposes (see WV Passes Bill to Change O&G Well Valuations for Taxes). The bill was supposed to streamline and provide a fairer system for assessing taxes on oil and gas production. It seems to have done the opposite, creating a complex system that is currently mired in controversy with both drillers and landowners confused about how much of a tax bill they will owe next year.
Read More “Nobody Understands WV’s Oil & NatGas Property Tax Valuation Change”

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

Weekly Shale Drilling Permits for PA, OH, WV: Sep 6-12

Last week Pennsylvania issued 18 permits for new shale well drilling scattered across the state. Ohio (for the eighth week in a row) did not issue any new shale permits. Are we missing something with Ohio? Are they late in updating their online database? West Virginia issued 2 permits for new shale well drilling last week.
Read More “Weekly Shale Drilling Permits for PA, OH, WV: Sep 6-12”

| | | | |

Verde Bio Holdings Buys Marcellus/Utica Royalties in WV & OH

Over the years we’ve covered a number of stories about companies buying future royalty payments from landowners (and rights owners) for an upfront, one lump sum payment now. Normally the deals don’t disclose how much money changed hands for those upfront payments. We have some recent transactions from a newcomer to the Marcellus/Utica, a company willing to announce how much they paid to buy those rights, which caught our attention. We have financial details for a deal in the Marcellus, and details for a deal in the Utica to share with you. We have hard numbers for how much they paid to buy those royalty rights.
Read More “Verde Bio Holdings Buys Marcellus/Utica Royalties in WV & OH”

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

Weekly Shale Drilling Permits for PA, OH, WV: Feb 15-19

All three M-U states received permits to drill new shale wells last week. Pennsylvania received 10 new permits. Ohio received 6 new permits. And West Virginia received 3 new permits.
Read More “Weekly Shale Drilling Permits for PA, OH, WV: Feb 15-19”

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

Weekly Shale Drilling Permits for PA, OH, WV: Jan 11-15

Two of three M-U drilling states received permits last week. Pennsylvania scored 14 permits to drill new shale wells. Ohio received no new permits for Utica wells. West Virginia received 5 new permits to drill new shale wells.
Read More “Weekly Shale Drilling Permits for PA, OH, WV: Jan 11-15”

| | | | | | | |

Southwestern, Equinor Win Post-Production Deduction Lawsuit in WV

Just coming to light (for us) is a decision issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Dec. 1, a ruling on post-production deductions by drillers when calculating gas royalties “at the wellhead” in West Virginia. The drillers, in this case, were Southwestern Energy and Equinor (formerly known as Statoil). The drillers won the right to claim certain post-production deductions.
Read More “Southwestern, Equinor Win Post-Production Deduction Lawsuit in WV”