19 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Mar 4 – 10
There were 19 new permits issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica during the week of Mar. 4 – 10, up 2 from 17 permits issued the prior week. Pennsylvania issued 11 new permits. Ohio issued 5 new permits. And West Virginia issued 3 new permits. Range Resources and Ascent Resources tied for most new permits with 5 each. Range received 5 permits to drill in two PA counties: Lycoming and Washington. Ascent received 5 permits to drill in Belmont County, OH. Chesapeake Energy got 3 permits to drill in Bradford County, PA, and Seneca Resource also received 3 permits for Tioga County, PA. Southwestern Energy scored 2 permits for Ohio County, WV, and CNX Resources received a single permit for Marshall County, WV.
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In February, MDN brought readers the news that Tenaska, one of the largest privately operated companies in the U.S., is building a carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) hub spanning tens of thousands of acres in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia (see 
Last week, the Baker Hughes rig count lost seven rigs after gaining three rigs the week before. The count went from 629 active rigs two weeks ago to 622 last week. The national count has consistently stayed between 620 and 625 (or one or two above or below that range) since last October until recently, when it went higher for a few weeks. But now it’s back in the same long-term range. The Marcellus/Utica remained the same last week with Pennsylvania at 24 rigs (the most since last June), Ohio with 12 rigs, and West Virginia with 8 rigs. The M-U combined is running 44 rigs, which it has run in four of the last five weeks.
Here’s something you don’t read about every day. An oilfield services company, Heavy Iron Oilfield Services, recently moved from its birthplace (founded in 2011) in Washington (Washington County), PA, across the border to a new location in Chester (Hancock County), WV. Washington County is a hotbed of drilling activity in Southwestern PA. But then again, Hancock County sees a lot of drilling, too. The reason for the move? Easier access to multiple job sites in the tri-state area and a pool of qualified workers to expand the business.
West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore has sent notices to six additional financial institutions warning them of potential inclusion on the state’s Restricted Financial Institution List (can’t do business with the state) after his office made an initial determination that the institutions appear to be engaged in boycotts of fossil fuel companies as defined under state law. This is not the first time Moore has put Big Banks on the blacklist (see 
Members of the Wet Virginia State Senate voted on Friday to permanently retain a flawed oil and gas well valuation formula. The Senate vote comes after the House had previously voted to do the same thing (see 
According to Reuters, oilfield service companies and drillers have put the brakes on hiring and “further job cuts could loom” as natural gas producers respond to sliding prices by slashing spending on new wells to reduce excess production. We told you yesterday that Chesapeake Energy announced a coming rig and frac crew cut in the Marcellus (see 
Two really big (huge) pieces of news are coming from yesterday’s Equitrans Midstream fourth quarter and full-year 2023 update. The first bit of news is that Equitrans is actively considering a buyout offer. The company doesn’t use that exact language, but that’s what’s happening. This should come as no surprise, given the rumor mill on a potential Equitrans sale heated up last December (see 
Last summer, MDN told you that a new system to assess valuations of shale wells in West Virginia had turned into a royal mess (see