AI is Reshaping How Oil & Gas Wells Get Drilled in the Marcellus
As we so often say, we love how creative and innovative the oil and gas industry is! We spotted an article that discusses how AI (artificial intelligence) is transforming oil and gas drilling operations across diverse environments—from Alaska’s harsh North Slope to deepwater operations off Guyana to U.S. shale fields like the Permian Basin and (yes) the Marcellus Shale. AI-driven systems now interpret real-time sensor data from drill strings, adjust drilling parameters automatically, optimize directional drilling, monitor drilling fluid chemistry, and evaluate cement integrity faster than human operators. Results include drilling speeds up to 50% faster and pressure-imbalance detection 10-12 minutes earlier than with conventional methods. Read More “AI is Reshaping How Oil & Gas Wells Get Drilled in the Marcellus”
Democrats are attempting to pull a new con job on the American public. They are, according to the New York Times and Grist, “recalibrating” their climate strategy amid economic concerns, moving away from aggressive anti-fossil-fuel positions that defined the Biden era. Americans now see the exposed face of environmental extremism that seeks to ban fossil energy, and they don’t like it. So, in order to cling to what little power they have left, the Dems are changing their messaging (spinning new lies and half-truths) that downplay their ongoing, irrational hatred of fossil energy. Don’t be fooled. 
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Hochul defends fracking ban as Blakeman presses for it to be overturned; NATIONAL: U.S. natural gas futures post weekly loss; Federal judge rules the EPA unlawfully ended “justice” block grants; Largest wind farm in the U.S. slated to begin commercial operations; Sierra Club uses N.C. turkey farm stock photo to attack Texas produced water reuse; CFACT presses BlackRock’s Larry Fink on ESG opt-outs; INTERNATIONAL: Oil drops to four-month low; LNG tanker traverses Hormuz as deal lifts reopening hopes; Shell plots $1B wind farms sale; ExxonMobil explores acquisitions including Woodside. 
Last week was a disappointing week for new permits issued to drill shale wells in the Marcellus/Utica. The M-U region received just 8 new drilling permits from June 1 – 7, down from 30 permits issued two weeks ago. The main reason for the disappointing low number is that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) reported no new permits issued, which it sometimes does (and then “catches up” in the following week). Last week, Pennsylvania issued 7 permits, and West Virginia issued just 1 new permit. The drillers who received new permits included EQT, Expand Energy, and Vickery Energy. 
In February, President Donald Trump unveiled a record-breaking $33 billion natural gas power plant in Piketon (Pike County), Ohio, to be operated by SB Energy, a subsidiary of Japan’s SoftBank (see 
The same three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit who blocked the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) for *years* suddenly changed course in late April, ruling on an extension of MVP into North Carolina called Southgate. Big Green, represented by the Sierra Club and Appalachian Voices, sued to block a permit issued by North Carolina regulators for the Southgate project. While the three judges grumbled and complained about Southgate during oral arguments (see 
Earlier this year, the board of commissioners in Montour County, PA, voted unanimously to reject Talen Energy’s request to rezone empty agricultural land near Talen’s Montour Power Plant for a proposed data center (see 
We are encouraged by recent developments in two Pennsylvania townships, one in northeast PA, the other in southwest PA, with respect to moving forward with data center projects. We get it. People are up in arms, some feeling as though data centers are being “forced” on them by less-than-transparent builders. Noise. Lights. Water usage. All are concerns. However, as we’ve stated many times, reasonable people can work together, sort through the issues, and move these projects along. That’s what we’re seeing in Olyphant, PA, a suburb of Scranton in Lackawanna County, and in South Strabane Township in Washington County. 
Earlier this week, MDN told you that WhiteHawk Minerals (formerly WhiteHawk Energy), a natural gas mineral and royalty interest owner in the Marcellus and Haynesville plays, with over 3.4 million gross acres under lease for drilling, started trading its stock following a $200 million IPO (see 
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) issued its latest monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) on Tuesday. Using the official EIA dartboard, the STEO is the agency’s monthly best estimate of where energy prices and production will go over the next 12 months. There was a revision to the agency’s prediction about the spot price (at the Henry Hub) for natural gas in 2026 and 2027. Last month, the EIA predicted 2026 would end up with an average HH price of $3.50/MMBtu and 2027 would see an average of $3.18/MMBtu. On Tuesday, the EIA revised both numbers up. The agency sees an average price of $3.60 this year, up a dime from last month, and $3.46 in 2027, up a robust 28 cents. 
Yesterday, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Jessica Shirley visited the site of an orphaned well being plugged in Allegheny County, PA, to celebrate the plugging of the 400th orphaned well since Josh Shapiro assumed the governorship in January 2023. There’s nothing wrong with Shapiro’s bragging and chest-puffing, except that Ohio plugged 480 orphaned wells last year. Since January 2023, Ohio has plugged 1,214 orphaned wells, compared to PA’s 400 wells (3X more). Which makes us ask: Why does it take so much longer and cost so much more to plug wells in PA than in OH? 
There’s plenty of cheap, abundant, clean natural gas available in the Marcellus/Utica region. One of the biggest challenges (for drillers and landowners) has been moving those molecules to markets that need them, like New York State and New England. Every single inch of a pipeline project in the northeast is fought over, with radicalized environmentalists using lawfare as their favorite tactic to oppose projects. Their resistance is based on the false belief that fossil fuels like natural gas are somehow evil. But even though the enviro-left has done its best, there are several pipeline projects in the works that will flow molecules from the M-U into and through New York and into New England. 
Big Green groups rallied Tuesday in Peekskill (Westchester County, NY) against Enbridge’s proposed Project Beacon, a natural gas pipeline expansion that would increase capacity on the Algonquin Gas Transmission line. Radicals lied by saying the project would “burden ratepayers” already facing high living costs. How do you figure? Algonquin is a transmission pipeline, and its expansion will be paid for by Enbridge (and its shareholders), not by increasing local utility rates. Yet these liars are never called out for their false statements by the media. 
Sempra Infrastructure announced that its Port Arthur Pipeline Louisiana Connector has entered service, marking progress on U.S. energy infrastructure aimed at supplying global natural gas markets. CEO Justin Bird said the project was completed ahead of schedule and under budget. The pipeline will transport up to 2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of U.S. natural gas, including Marcellus/Utica gas, to Port Arthur LNG Phase 1, which is now under construction with a nameplate capacity of about 13 million tonnes per annum (MTPA). The project links with the Gillis Hub Pipeline and the LA Storage facility under construction. It includes 72 miles of 42-inch pipeline and a compressor station. 
In February 2025, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved a plan by PJM Interconnection, the country’s largest electric grid (which covers all or parts of 13 states, including PA, OH, and WV), to fast-track the addition of new gas-fired power plants (see