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FTC Finalizes Consent Order from EQT Purchase of Tug Hill WV Assets
Nearly one year after EQT announced a deal to buy privately-owned Tug Hill Operating’s West Virginia shale assets for roughly $5.2 billion (see Confirmed: EQT Buys Tug Hill’s THQ Appalachia for $5.2 Billion), the deal was finally completed in August (see EQT Finally Completes Acquisition of Tug Hill and XcL Midstream). Both EQT and Tug Hill’s backer, Quantum Energy Partners, announced the deal was consummated. But was it?
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The U.S. rig count dropped again last week, for the third week in a row. The count shed another four active rigs, now down to 619 — the lowest point since February 2022. The count in the Marcellus/Utica, after falling by one two weeks ago, held steady last week at 38, which is the lowest it has been since the beginning of this year. The national rig count is down 143, or 19%, below this time last year. There’s no indicator the trend will reverse anytime soon.
The left thought it had won the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) battle with three colluding (corrupt) and sympathetic judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (4th Circuit). But then Congress, under the leadership of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, passed the “debt ceiling” bill that forces the completion of MVP (see 
Hope Gas, a Local Distribution Company (LDC), otherwise known as a utility company, provides gas service to approximately 112,000 residential, industrial, and commercial customers in thirty-five West Virginia counties. In January, Hope announced it was buying the West Virginia division of Peoples Gas, currently owned by Essential Utilities, for an undisclosed amount (see 
Waco Oil & Gas Co., Inc., headquartered in Glenville (Gilmer County), WV, signed a proposed consent decree (settlement agreement) with the West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection and the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to settle an “alleged” charge of violating the federal Clean Water Act and West Virginia state law for “unauthorized discharges of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States in Braxton County, West Virginia.” Waco will pay a $825,000 penalty — split evenly between the feds and WV. Waco will also pay big bucks to restore “the vast majority of the impacted waters” and to provide “compensatory mitigation for waters that cannot be restored.” No doubt the bill will far exceed $1 million in total.
In the fall of 2021, President Biden signed into law the so-called Infrastructure bill, some $1.2 trillion in pork barrel spending, passed with the help of turncoat Republicans (see 
In an administration full of destructive regulatory actions and legislation targeting fossil energy for extinction, the so-called Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) stands out as one of the worst. The IRA was made possible by a traitorous vote by West Virginia Democrat U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (see 
Have we finally turned a corner? Hit rock bottom and have begun a rebound? We are referring to the Baker Hughes U.S. rig count. Last Monday, we reported the weekly rig count had finally gained a rig–the first time since June (see 
For the first time since June, the national active U.S. rig count added rigs–a single rig–last week. The new active U.S. rig count is 632, up from 631 the previous week. Unfortunately, the Marcellus/Utica lost yet another rig, sinking to 39 active rigs. Once again, West Virginia was the unlucky state that lost a rig, now running just 8 shale rigs. The rig counts for both Pennsylvania and Ohio stayed the same last week.
The swamp gets swampier. U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, from West Virginia, Chairman of the powerful Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is rumored to be pushing a staff member to fill the open Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Commissioner slot. There is an open seat for a Democrat after Manchin blocked Richard “Dick” Glick from continuing beyond the end of his second term (see 
Quick! Apply pressure to the wound before the patient (in this case, the Marcellus/Utica) bleeds out. Another week, another lost rig in the Marcellus. We can’t seem to stem the flow of rigs leaving. The national rig count also lost one rig overall. For the eighth week in a row and the 17th of the last 18 weeks, the U.S. active rig count lost rigs. The total is now down to 631 active rigs across both oil and gas (down from 632 last week). At least the loss is slowing. West Virginia dropped one rig after adding one last week. The rig counts for both Pennsylvania and Ohio stayed the same last week.
Antero Resources and Antero Midstream have donated a massive $4 million to West Virginia University’s Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources to help train the next generation of petroleum and natural gas engineers. Antero’s gift is the largest philanthropic donation to the school to date. It will support undergraduate and graduate students in the petroleum and natural gas engineering program.
Last week, MDN brought you information about what happens next when (not if) the mighty 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline gets completed (see 
Last week, MDN told you about the great news coming from the Gas and Oil Association of West Virginia, Inc. (GO-WV) and its newest annual Gas Facts report covering the impact in WV from the shale energy industry in 2022 (see