Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Washington County
PA DEP Approves MarkWest Processing Plant Expansion in SWPA
Last November, MDN brought you the great news that MPLX (aka MarkWest Energy) would file to build an expansion at its existing Harmon Creek facility in Smith Township, Washington County, PA (see MPLX to Build New Harmon Creek III Gas Processing in PA Marcellus). MPLX wants to add a 300 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day) processing plant and 40,000 bbls/d (barrels per day) de-ethanizer to the facility. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced via last Saturday’s PA Bulletin that it has issued the necessary air permit for the project. Read More “PA DEP Approves MarkWest Processing Plant Expansion in SWPA”
In January 2024, MDN told you about a long-closed landfill that seeks to reopen in Liberty and Pine Townships in Mercer County, PA (see 
ECA Marcellus Trust I, the royalty interest holder in some of the wells drilled and maintained by Greylock Energy in Greene County, PA, announced on May 9 that it will issue a 5.2-cent dividend to unitholders for the first quarter of 2025. The company continues to hold back some profits ($90,000 in 1Q25) to build a cash reserve for “future known, anticipated or contingent expenses or liabilities.” 
Last December, MDN told you that the future of what could become the country’s largest LNG export facility, Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass 2 (CP2), was in question following a court order from the the leftwing U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (see 
Last week, two different quasi-governmental agencies, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), issued summer assessments for whether or not the country could experience problems with having enough electric power for this summer. Both assessments conclude the same thing: IF we don’t have any extreme weather events, and if unreliable renewable sources like solar and wind don’t crap out for an extended period, we’ll be fine. However, if we do have a hot spell or solar/wind fail, we’re in trouble. In particular, New England and the central part of the country from top to bottom are at most risk. However, even the PJM area could experience some problems. 
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Occidental, UAE’s ADNOC to explore JV to develop South Texas direct air capture hub; As the federal government abandons the climate fantasy, New York doubles down; NATIONAL: Natural gas retreats amid repeated substantial injections, EBW analyst says; DOE cuts off $89 million Harvard grant amid stand-off with Trump; Trump can end the World Bank’s climate hypocrisy; Mile high Marxist Bernie Sanders proves there is no climate emergency; Wasting away in wind-and-solarville; INTERNATIONAL: OPEC+ did not lift production to kill the oil price, SEB says; China fossil fuels production retreats from record levels. 
For the week of May 5 – 11, the number of permits issued to drill new wells in the Marcellus/Utica was up four from the previous week. Last week, 26 new permits were issued in the M-U. In the Keystone State (PA), 13 new permits were issued. The top permittee was Seneca Resources, which had eight permits spread across two pads in Lycoming and Tioga counties. Olympus Energy, which is being sold to EQT, scored four permits for a pad in Allegheny County. And Infinity Natural Resources (INR) received a single permit in Indiana County. 
In February, President Trump signed an executive order (EO) creating the National Energy Dominance Council, directing the new council to move quickly to increase domestic oil and gas production (see 
West Virginia has more than 21,000 abandoned and orphaned oil and gas wells. Plugging them to prevent environmental problems is a thorny issue, as it is in other states like Pennsylvania and Ohio (and Texas, and Oklahoma, etc.). Regulatory hurdles make it expensive. A WV bill not previously on our radar made its way through the legislature and was signed yesterday by Governor Patrick Morrisey: House Bill (HB) 3336. The bill (now law) makes it cheaper and faster to plug abandoned and orphaned oil and gas wells in the Mountain State. 
We spotted a story that got us thinking. Pennsylvania is the #1 exporter of electricity in the country, exporting some 26% of all the electricity it produces. Such exports give the state an opportunity to profit from building more gas-fired power, leveraging cheap Marcellus gas. However, exporting electricity is a complex issue. PA State Senator Kristin Phillips-Hill, Republican from York, PA, is sounding the alarm over the electricity exporting issue. She makes some great points… 
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) issued its latest monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook last week, the agency’s monthly best guess about where energy prices and production will go in the next 12 months. In this latest assessment, EIA dropped its estimates for the Henry Hub spot price. The agency expects the HH price to average $4.10 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in 2025, $0.20 lower than last month’s forecast. However, EIA expects the annual average price in 2026 to be $4.80/MMBtu, which is $0.20 higher than last month’s forecast. EIA forecasts the Henry Hub spot price will average $4.20/MMBtu during the third quarter of 2025. 
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that the average number of wells completed simultaneously (simul-frac’d) at the same location in the Lower 48 states has more than doubled, increasing from 1.5 wells in December 2014 to more than 3.0 wells in June 2024. By completing (fracking) multiple wells at once rather than sequentially, operators can accelerate their production timeline and reduce costs per well. 
Expand Energy, formed by the merger of Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern Energy, is the largest natural gas producer in the U.S. with approximately 1.9 million leased net acres. Expand drills and operates in three distinct regions: Northeast Appalachia (Pennsylvania), Southwest Appalachia (mostly West Virginia, but also Pennsylvania and Ohio), and the Haynesville (Louisiana). The company issued its first quarter 2025 update two weeks ago. In 1Q25, Expand operated an average of 11 rigs drilling 46 wells and turning 89 wells in line to sales, resulting in net production of approximately 6.79 Bcfe per day (92% natural gas). The company expects to exit 2025 at a production level of roughly 7.2 Bcfe per day, with projections to grow to 7.5 Bcfe per day in 2026. 
Yesterday, MDN brought you the news that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) is laying the blame for a series of low-level earthquakes in southeastern Ohio on fracking at a shale well in Noble County (see