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30 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Mar 6-12

New shale permits issued for Mar. 6-12 in the Marcellus/Utica increased by one from the prior week. There were 30 new permits issued in total last week, including 21 new permits for Pennsylvania, 5 new permits for Ohio, and 4 new permits issued in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits was EQT with 7 new permits–all of them (interestingly) issued in Lycoming County, PA. The second highest number of permits went to Repsol, with 6 permits in Bradford County, PA. Chesapeake Energy came in third with 5 permits for Bradford County, PA.
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59 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 23-29

New shale permits issued for Jan. 23-29 in the Marcellus/Utica soared! There were 59 new permits issued in total, including 34 (!) new permits for Pennsylvania, 24 (!) new permits for Ohio, and just one measly permit issued in West Virginia. Chesapeake Energy was the runaway winner by grabbing 13 permits, all of them for wells in Bradford County, PA. EOG Resources was the runner-up, receiving eight permits for drilling in Noble County, OH.
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23 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 2-8

New shale permits issued for Jan. 2-8 in the Marcellus/Utica included 14 new permits in Pennsylvania, 8 new permits in Ohio, and just 1 new permit in West Virginia. The top recipient of permits for last week was Apex Energy, grabbing 6 permits to drill on a single pad in Westmoreland County, PA. Right behind Apex was Coterra Energy with 5 permits to drill on a single pad in Susquehanna County, PA. Opposite sides of the state.
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38 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 19-Jan 1

We’re catching up the permit report for the past two weeks (since we were off all of last week). Permits issued for Dec. 19 through Jan. 1 in the Marcellus/Utica included 19 new permits in Pennsylvania, 7 new permits in Ohio, and 12 new permits in West Virginia.
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Gun-Toting Judge in Landowner/EQT Royalty Lawsuit Resigns

David Hummel Jr.

Back in July, MDN reported on the somewhat odd case of a West Virginia Circuit Court judge who allegedly waved and pointed a gun at an attorney for EQT Corporation during a hearing about a case brought against EQT by landowners for improper deductions of post-production expenses from their royalty payments (see WV Judge in Landowner Royalty Lawsuit Points Gun at EQT Lawyer). At first, the judge said he never showed his firearm but instead brandished an item from a first aid kit. Whoops. It was caught on tape–and it was a gun (although whether he pointed it at someone is still in dispute). This odd case has just gotten more odd: The judge, David Hummel Jr., abruptly resigned last week.
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FERC Accepting Comments on Draft EIS for OVCX Pipe in PA-WV-OH

Earlier this year, Equitrans Midstream announced it had filed a new pipeline expansion project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see Equitrans Files New $160M Pipe Expansion Project with FERC). Called the Ohio Valley Connector Expansion Project (or OVCX), the $160 million project will add compression along Equitrans pipelines in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia that allow the company to flow an extra 350 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day) of natural gas. It appears OVCX is Equitrans’ “plan B” if the ultimate horror happens and Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) can’t be completed. FERC recently issued a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) and is accepting comments on that document (and the project) until Nov. 21.
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43 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Oct 31-Nov 6

New shale permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica came roaring back during the week of Oct. 31 through Nov. 6. Both Pennsylvania and Ohio issued 13 new permits during that week. But what’s this? West Virginia issued a whopping 17 new permits! The prior week WV issued only a single new permit.
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28 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Oct 24-30

Something of an improvement from last week’s new permits report when there were only 11 new permits. For the week of October 24-30, there were 28 new permits. But not because of the return of new permits in Pennsylvania. Instead, Ohio was the shining light. PA reported 11 new permits, all of them in Lycoming County, with seven going to Repsol and four going to Inflection Energy. Ohio issued 16 new permits, with Encino Energy grabbing six, Southwestern Energy getting five, and Ascent Energy receiving four. Finally, WV had a single new permit, for Tug Hill Operating (soon to be EQT), in Wetzel County.
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40 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Aug 29-Sep 4

Last week the three states with active Marcellus/Utica drilling, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, issued a collective 40 new drilling permits, way up from the 19 permits issued the week before. But there was a shocker. PA only issued nine new permits, while OH issued 14 new permits and WV issued a record high 17 new permits.
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EQT CEO Toby Rice Pulls Back the Curtain on Tug Hill $5.2B Deal

Yesterday MDN brought you the news that EQT Corporation is buying the West Virginia assets of Tug Hill Operating–the company’s THQ Appalachia operation–for $5.2 billion (see Confirmed: EQT Buys Tug Hill’s THQ Appalachia for $5.2 Billion). The deal adds roughly 90,000 leased acres (mainly in Marshall and Wetzel counties) to EQT’s massive existing footprint. It also adds an extra 800 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of production to EQT’s current 5.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). EQT CEO Toby Rice went on the record with the Pittsburgh Business Times to share his reasoning and thoughts behind the Tug Hill acquisition. Rice pulled back the curtain, giving a behind-the-scenes look at how deals like this come together. One of the big motivations for Rice is that he loves loves loves Marshall County, WV.
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Confirmed: EQT Buys Tug Hill’s THQ Appalachia for $5.2 Billion

The rumors were right. Yesterday we brought you the news (rumors), as reported by both Reuters and Bloomberg, that EQT Corporation was about to seal a deal to buy Tug Hill’s THQ Appalachia operation with major assets in West Virginia (see EQT Close to Buying Tug Hill’s THQ Appalachia for $4+ Billion). Reuters reported the deal would be worth $4 billion. Bloomberg reported the deal would be worth $5.2 billion. Bloomberg (we are surprised to say) was right. EQT issued a press release yesterday afternoon announcing the deal and confirming the details.
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EQT Close to Buying Tug Hill’s THQ Appalachia for $4+ Billion

In June, MDN brought you the news that Tug Hill was shopping its THQ Appalachia division (Tug Hill’s West Virginia assets) for $5 billion (see Tug Hill’s THQ Appalachia Shops Itself for $5 Billion). Yesterday both Reuters and Bloomberg reported a deal is close and may even be announced today (Tuesday). However, the price of the deal reported by the two news services differs by quite a bit. Reuters reports a deal price for the THQ Appalachia assets of roughly $4 billion, while Bloomberg pegs it at $5.2 billion.
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45 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Aug 15-21

After several weeks of anemic permit numbers for Pennsylvania, last week PA came roaring back by issuing 30 permits to drill new shale wells. Some 12 of those permits went to Coterra Energy for two pads in Susquehanna County. EQT (aka Rice Drilling) received six permits for a single pad in Greene County, and Chesapeake Energy also received six permits split between two pads–one pad in Bradford County and the other in Lycoming County.
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13 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Aug 1-7

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) reporting website finally fixed whatever problem was plaguing it (this time), so we now have the permit report from August 1-7. Pennsylvania only issued seven new permits during that time, with three going to Range Resources in Washington County and three going to Southwestern Energy in Susquehanna County. Ohio issued a single new permit to Southwestern in Monroe County. And West Virginia issued five new permits, with four of the five going to EQT in Wetzel County.
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16 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jul 18-24

For the week of July 18-24, the three Marcellus/Utica states issued just 16 permits to drill new shale wells, down from 43 the prior week. Pennsylvania and West Virginia both issued eight new permits each. Ohio issued a big, fat, goose egg. PA issued three permits each to Greylock Energy (Green County) and Pennsylvania General Energy (Tioga County), and one each to EQT and Seneca Resources. WV issued four permits each to Jay-Bee Oil & Gas (Tyler County) and Tug Hill Operating (Wetzel County).
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WV Judge in Landowner Royalty Lawsuit Points Gun at EQT Lawyer

This is one of those more bizarre court cases we’ve heard about. In April 2021, MDN reported that a group of West Virginia landowners/rights owners filed a claim against EQT, alleging the company had allowed leases to lapse, then at a later date, reentered their property and drilled new wells without permission (see Federal Judge Allows EQT Trespass Lawsuit in WV to Advance). The case, Huey v. EQT, has been in and out of federal court. A West Virginia Second Judicial Circuit Judge, hearing a related part of the case, is accused of pulling out a gun and leaving it on his bench pointing at the attorney representing EQT, who was, understandably, quite nervous.
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