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Infinity Natural Resources Adds Second Rig to Drill in PA Marcellus
Infinity Natural Resources (INR), headquartered in Morgantown, WV, focuses 100% on the Marcellus/Utica. The company went public earlier this year with a $265 million ($20/share) initial public offering, giving INR a $1.18 billion market capitalization (see INR IPO Does Better than Expected, Stock Trading Pops 10% Higher). INR issued its second public quarterly update yesterday. Among the bits of news is that INR recently contracted a second drilling rig to drill four natural gas wells in the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale, which are expected to be turned online to sales this summer. Read More “Infinity Natural Resources Adds Second Rig to Drill in PA Marcellus”
A series of earthquakes (low level, sometimes felt, most of the time not felt) have hit Guernsey and Noble counties in eastern Ohio. According to the latest news we can find, some five quakes have hit since April 22, and another couple of quakes hit earlier in the year, in January/February. There is an existing fault line in the area, near Cambridge, known as the Burning Springs-Cambridge fault zone, formed more than 4.6 million years ago. So, earthquakes in the region are not unknown. The question is, why this most recent flurry? The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) claims it’s tied to oil and gas activity in the area. 
Yesterday, the seven members of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (five Democrats and two Republicans) heard oral arguments in a lawsuit that attempts to force PA to accept the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), an obscene carbon tax on coal- and gas-fired power plants. Former Democrat Governor Tom Wolf tried to force the state to join RGGI in 2019 (see 
Investment firm ArcLight Capital Partners, LLC, announced it has acquired an additional 25% interest in Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America (NGPL). As a result of the transaction, ArcLight will become the largest owner of NGPL with a 62.5% economic ownership interest, alongside partner Kinder Morgan, Inc., which continues to own a 37.5% economic interest and operates the pipeline. NGPL is the largest transporter of natural gas into the Chicago-area market, as well as one of the largest interstate pipeline systems in the country. It is also a major natural gas transporter to large LNG export facilities and other markets on the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. Most importantly, Marcellus/Utica molecules flow into NGPL. 
Energy Transfer’s (ET) Lake Charles LNG project is in the news again. In April, we told you that ET had landed a new partner to help pay for the project, MidOcean Energy, which will cover 30% of the cost of building the plant (see 
Commonwealth LNG has finalized a binding agreement with Glencore LTD, one of the world’s largest globally diversified natural resource companies, to form a strategic LNG partnership. Under the terms of the agreement, Glencore will purchase 2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG for 20 years from Commonwealth. Yes, there is a key link between Commonwealth LNG and the Marcellus/Utica. 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: EPA terminates $15M climate justice grant to Pittsburgh and Philly non-profits; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Aramco in talks with Woodside for Louisiana LNG stake; New York and New Jersey need natural gas; Could Trump make it easier for DTE to build natural gas plants?; NATIONAL: S&P Global says USA crude oil production now expected to decline in 2026; After more than a decade of little change, U.S. electricity consumption rising again; US oil output has peaked, but don’t expect a rapid decline; U.S. LNG feedgas demand dropped due to maintenance and outages; Navigating the diverging landscape of climate disclosure laws; INTERNATIONAL: Crude rebounds over 11% from lows; President Trump visits Saudi Arabia. 
Wow, what a difference four years can make! In May 2021, Gulfport Energy, the third-largest driller in the Ohio Utica Shale (by the number of wells drilled), emerged from bankruptcy with a new board and new management (see 
Earlier this year, an undisclosed shale driller asked the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) to consider opening up an additional 4,360 acres of state-owned Egypt Valley Wildlife Area in Belmont County for shale drilling under the land (see 
WhiteHawk Energy is smitten with PHX Minerals. WhiteHawk has been trying to get PHX down the marriage aisle in any way it can for nearly two years. PHX has repeatedly given WhiteHawk the cold shoulder (
A key issue has come about with the rapid increase in carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects around the country, including here in the Marcellus/Utica region. Where does one store (sequester) all that carbon dioxide (CO2)? The answer is underground in a Class VI injection well. Class VI wells are a relatively new classification for injection wells, created by the federal EPA in 2010. Earlier this year, the federal EPA bestowed “primacy” on West Virginia, granting the WV Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) the authority to approve new Class VI injection wells, bypassing the federal EPA (see 
In his first two days in office, Joe Biden declared war on the oil and gas industry. One of the first things he did was to revive an interagency working group on the “social cost” of greenhouse gas emissions and directed the issuance of an “interim” cost (see