Special Briefing Oct. 16 on WV’s Gas-Fired Power Plant Opportunities
In August, newly elected West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey announced a plan that includes the state growing its electric energy production from a current 16 gigawatts (GW) of generation to a massive 50 GW by 2050—what Morrisey calls the “50 by ’50” plan (see WV Gov. Morrisey Wants 50 GW of PowerGen in State by 2050). Natural gas will play a starring role in accomplishing that objective. At next week’s AI Energy Conference 2, being held in Pittsburgh on October 16, Bryce Custer, founder of Ohio River Corridor, LLC, will deliver a special presentation on the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and the rapidly evolving power generation landscape in West Virginia. He’ll discuss Morrisey’s vision to rapidly expand the state’s power generation and how it can be accomplished. Read More “Special Briefing Oct. 16 on WV’s Gas-Fired Power Plant Opportunities”
After gaining rigs for four weeks in a row, last week the Baker Hughes U.S. national rig count stayed even, neither gaining nor (more importantly) losing any rigs. The count remained at 549 active rigs. Sadly, Pennsylvania lost one rig, from 18 to 17, after maintaining its count for 10 consecutive weeks. Ohio kept 13 rigs in the Utica for a second week after gaining a rig two weeks ago. West Virginia kept its seven active rigs, the same number since May 30 (four months). The combined M-U count was 37 rigs, with 23 rigs targeting the Marcellus layer and 14 targeting the Utica. 
Disappointingly, the Trump Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 3-0 to maintain a “consent order” that prevents private equity firm Quantum Energy Partners from owning stock in EQT and prohibits the CEO of Quantum from serving on EQT’s Board of Directors. This is all to do with EQT’s purchase of fellow driller Tug Hill in 2023. In September 2022, EQT announced a deal to buy privately owned Tug Hill Operating’s West Virginia shale assets (90,000 acres and 800 MMcf/d of production in West Virginia) for roughly $5.2 billion (see 
Mon Power and Potomac Edison are local utilities and subsidiaries of FirstEnergy Corp. The two companies recently submitted an Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) to the West Virginia Public Service Commission, outlining how they will continue to deliver reliable, cost-effective power to West Virginia homes and businesses over the next decade. The big news (for us) is that the companies are seriously exploring the possibility of building a new 1,200-megawatt natural gas combined-cycle power plant, which is expected to be operational around 2031. 
For the week of September 15 – 21, the number of permits issued to drill new wells in the Marcellus/Utica decreased from the previous week, but not by much. There were 24 new permits issued across the three M-U states last week, down from 26 issued two weeks ago. Pennsylvania finally improved a bit, but only because of one driller. PA issued 11 new permits last week, with 10 of the 11 going to Range Resources. Range’s permits were spread across three counties, with one permit in Allegheny, five in Beaver, and four in Washington. The other PA permit went to Beech Resources for a well in Lycoming County. 
Last Thursday, MDN informed you about a public hearing scheduled for that day by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WV-DEP) for the Adams Fork Energy Project in Mingo County (see 
In the closing hours of the 2014 West Virginia legislative session, the legislature passed Senate Bill (SB) 373, the Aboveground Storage Tank Act (see 
In April, MDN told you of a proposal by Fundamental Data for the “Ridgeline Facility,” a large natural gas power plant and data center that will be built between Davis and Thomas, WV (see