Expand Energy Reopens the Taps, More Drilling & Production Coming
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 fourth quarter and full-year update yesterday. In 4Q24, Expand operated an average of twelve rigs to drill 44 wells and turned 41 wells in line, resulting in net production of approximately 6.41 Bcfe per day (91% natural gas). Read More “Expand Energy Reopens the Taps, More Drilling & Production Coming”
In late 2022, MDN told you that Canadian-based Enerplus, with sizable non-operated assets in the northeast Pennsylvania Marcellus, had sold certain Canadian assets so it could concentrate most of its activity on drilling in the North Dakota Bakken (see 
Two weeks ago, MDN brought you the exciting news that President Trump pledged to get the long-dead Pennsylvania Marcellus to New York State Constitution Pipeline built (see 
After the shocking news in 2022 that then-U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (from West Virginia) had sold out his state and the entire country by agreeing to support the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) bill, the details began to come out about just how bad the bill (now law) really is for the oil and gas industry. First and foremost, it slapped a new methane tax on oil and gas activities (see 
Wow! What a difference 10 years and the election of Donald J. Trump can make. In May 2015, MDN reported that HSBC Bank (otherwise known as The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) circulated a note to investors telling them they should divest from fossil fuel companies. HSBC said if they didn’t divest from fossil energy, they “may one day be seen to be late movers, on ‘the wrong side of history’”. We told you then that fossil fuel supporters should consider divesting from HSBC (see 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Beaver County Marcellus Awareness Community launches Eyes On Air webpage; Chris Kendall appointed to Range Resources board of directors; NATIONAL: USA crude oil inventories drop; After a month of Trump’s pro-oil and gas moves, Dems target his energy emergency; Natgas markets have long been challenging, a new level of wildness may be on the horizon; U.S. natural gas exports soar to new highs as additional LNG supply hits the water; INTERNATIONAL: Trump says Canada, Mexico tariffs to take effect, adds new China duty; WTI jumps above $70 on Canada & Mexico tariff plan. 
Range Resources Corporation, the very first company to drill a shale well targeting the Marcellus Shale layer in Pennsylvania (in 2004), issued its fourth quarter and full-year 2024 update yesterday. Range produced 2.20 Bcfe/d in Q4. For all of 2024, the company averaged 2.18 Bcfe/d, approximately 68% natural gas. The company reported completing (bringing online to sales) 44 shale wells in all of 2024. While Range did not specify how many wells it drilled during 4Q24, using data from the 3Q24 update when it had completed 30 wells at that point, Range brought an additional 14 new wells online during 4Q. 
Here’s a company we’ve not written about since 2021: IOG Capital and its subsidiary IOG Resources. Back in 2015 we first told you that IOG Capital had cut a deal with Seneca Resources to fund Seneca’s Marcellus drilling program in Elk, McKean and Cameron counties in northcentral Pennsylvania (see 
You know we delight in connecting the dots that others often miss. We spotted big news in the quarterly update for DT Midstream (DTM), headquartered in Detroit, which owns major assets in the Marcellus/Utica region and other regions like the Haynesville. Earlier this year the company closed on the purchase of three pipeline systems, two of which flow Marcellus/Utica molecules (see 
As we reported two days ago, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, acting like a junkie cut off from his drugs, finally got the Trump administration to restart the flow of drugs (i.e., money) that had been paused to give Elon Musk’s DOGErs a chance to ensure the payments are legit (see 
We explored an important issue last September—the ballooning cost of plugging orphaned oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania (see 
Coterra Energy, formed by the merger of Cabot Oil & Gas (drills for natural gas in the Marcellus) and Cimarex Energy (drills for oil in the Permian and Anadarko basins), issued its fourth quarter and full-year 2024 update yesterday. The headline news (for us) is that the company announced it will restart its Marcellus drilling program in Susquehanna County, PA, “in the coming months” of early 2Q25. Whew! That puts a big, fat smile on our face. Also of note: Coterra exited 2024 with a three-year production high in the Marcellus, although that statement is not backed up with the raw data. Coterra produced 2,042.8 MMcf/d (2.04 Bcf/d) in 4Q24, versus producing 2,304.9 MMcf/d (2.30 Bcf/d) in 4Q23—11% less than the year ago period. In the bowels of the report, we learned that the company had stopped curtailing production in December. So, must be the “production high” was the rate flowing in December. 
The Pennsylvania Senate Appropriations Committee held a budget hearing yesterday in Harrisburg. The Department of Environmental Protection’s Acting Secretary Jessica Shirley was on the hot seat. Although many topics were discussed, Senators were most interested in speeding permit reviews, Governor Shapiro’s Lightning Energy Plan, and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax Shapiro insists on inflicting on the state. A key topic that caught our attention was a call for Shirley to fire “intractable” DEP employees. The discussion echoed DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency headed by Elon Musk).