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Where M-U Drilling is Now, Where Might It Be Headed Next
According to an extensive report appearing on the World Oil website (and in the November issue of the magazine), multiple possible futures lie ahead for the Marcellus and Utica shales. So, which future will come to pass? Today, both industry and government see the Marcellus and Utica formations as tremendous opportunities for companies and state governments, with domestically produced energy, jobs, and a huge economic impact. Read More “Where M-U Drilling is Now, Where Might It Be Headed Next”
Three weeks ago, MDN told you that Coterra Energy, formed in 2021 by the merger of the Marcellus-focused Cabot Oil & Gas and the Permian/Anadarko-focused Cimarex Energy, has succumbed to the siren song of more oil drilling (see 
In October, Diversified Energy Company (formerly Diversified Gas & Oil) announced it had signed a deal to supply 40 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas over three years to a “major Gulf Coast LNG facility” for exporting (see 
Watching the crazy environmental left crack up following the Republican victory (particularly Trump) in November is, we have to admit, pretty fun. Lefties say the craziest things. Just watch “The View” sometime. Most non-governmental environmental groups, like the Sierra Club and Food & Water Watch (FWW) have pledged to litigate even more than they did in Trump’s first term. Apparently, they have unending funds from George Soros (i.e., György Schwartz) and other Big Left funders to hire sleazy lawyers to file blizzards of frivolous lawsuits. The thing is, this time, these groups won’t know what’s hit them come Jan. 20th. We predict the Trump administration will hit so hard and so fast that these groups won’t be able to catch their collective breath. 
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: NY’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act in trouble; NATIONAL: Biden pushes out over $100 billion in clean energy grants as term winds down; Shale oil is more likely to boom than peak; Exxon Mobil appoints low-carbon fox to guard the upstream henhouse; U.S. “energy dominance” is key to Trump’s peace bid; Bill Maher schools Jane Fonda on radical climate change; INTERNATIONAL: Oil surges on US sanctions and OPEC+ delays; Wressle seeks environmental permit consent for gas refining and small-scale fracks; France, Netherlands were top destinations for US LNG in November; GALACTIC: Using mirrored satellites to reflect sunlight down to earth’s solar panels at night. 
There is an important development for landowners AND drillers in a class action case that began some seven years ago. A civil suit was brought by Harrison County oil and gas owners against Antero Resources Corp., claiming the company had deducted post-production costs from royalties not allowed under the leases they had signed. In 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia ruled mostly in favor of the landowners. The District Court sent two certified questions to the state Supreme Court. The Supremes ruled on both issues in November. The court ruled that energy companies cannot deduct post-production costs without explicit lease language, favoring royalty owners over drillers. 
When EQT first announced it intended to build the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), stretching from Wetzel County, WV, to Pittsylvania County, VA, the project came with an estimated price tag of $3.5 billion and an estimated completion date of 2018 (see 
In July, the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) opened up the shuttered Austin Master Services (AMS) radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), Ohio, to begin cleanup work at the facility (see 
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), working natural gas in storage in the Lower 48 states ended the natural gas injection season (Apr 1 – Oct 31) with 3,922 billion cubic feet (Bcf), the equivalent of 3.9 trillion cubic feet (Tcf). U.S. inventories are starting winter 2024–25 with the most natural gas since 2016, which is typically bearish for natgas prices. The more supply you have with the same demand, the more prices will decrease. However, weather is the big unknown variable. A cold winter could quickly drain supplies and lead to higher prices. 
In June, we told you that a once-respected oil and gas consultancy had become a partisan purveyor of pap (see 
Rystad Energy, based in Norway, is an independent energy research and business intelligence company providing data, analytics, and consultancy services to clients exposed to the energy industry across the globe. In an article published by OilPrice.com, Rystad analysts make this bold claim: “Triggered by incoming US President Donald Trump, the next four years could prime the liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets for a golden era.” Look for the Trump administration to “accelerate US LNG infrastructure expansion through deregulation and faster permitting, bolstering global supply.” After years of uncertainty about U.S. LNG thanks to a dithering President Biden, someone with demonstrable cognitive decline, LNG is “back” under Trump, and global markets are delighted. 
For the week of Nov 18 – 24, permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica continued to be strong, with 28 new permits issued, down just two from the 30 issued the prior week. The Keystone State (PA) issued 11 new permits, with five going to CNX Resources, all in Allegheny County. Two permits were issued to Southwestern Energy (now Expand Energy) in Lycoming County. The remaining four were single permits issued to EQT Corporation (Greene County), Infinity Natural Resources (Indiana County), Range Resources (Washington County), and Apex Energy (Westmoreland County). 
The Baker Hughes national rig count dropped another rig last week and now sits at 582. The national count continues to be rangebound between 581 and 589 since June. Slicing the national count slightly differently—by oil-focused vs. gas-focused rigs—oil rigs fell by two to 477 last week, their lowest since July, while gas rigs rose by one to 100. Last week, all three Marcellus/Utica states maintained the same count for the third week in a row, with PA operating 15 active rigs and Ohio and West Virginia operating 10 rigs each, for a combined 35 rigs. That’s the third week in a row the M-U has operated 35 rigs. It feels like the doom and gloom is finally starting to lift. 
In early October, Infinity Natural Resources (INR), with 90,000 acres in the Marcellus/Utica, filed an IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), hoping to raise $100 million (see