MACH2 Hydrogen Hub, Opposed by PA Green Groups, Crashing & Burning
In October 2024, the Bidenistas announced the Hydrogen Hub Hunger Games winners (see Hydrogen Hub Winners Announced – WV Takes Prize in M-U Region). Seven projects were selected from 33 finalists. Among the winners was the West Virginia-led Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2), which is a project that will use Marcellus/Utica natural gas as the feedstock to produce “blue” hydrogen, which is hydrogen made from natgas where carbon dioxide from the process is captured and either used or stored underground. ARCH2 qualifies for up to $925 million of your taxpayer money. Another winner was the Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub (MACH2) project, centered in Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware. MACH2, funded up to $750 million, will give a few economic table scraps to the Philly area, which excites and titillates PA politicians. However, according to Inside Climate News, the MACH2 project is crashing and burning. Read More “MACH2 Hydrogen Hub, Opposed by PA Green Groups, Crashing & Burning”
One month ago, we brought you the news that Diversified Energy and EQT Corporation had settled a class action lawsuit originally brought by several West Virginia landowners (see 
Last week, MDN told you the country’s largest electric grid, PJM Interconnection, which covers all or parts of 13 states, including PA, OH, and WV, is making changes to how it decides which new power plants can connect to the system first. The new policy *favors* adding natural gas-fired power over other types of power like unreliable solar and wind (see 
Yesterday, the Energy Workforce & Technology Council released its monthly jobs report, highlighting a rebound in employment across the U.S. energy services sector. Total jobs in the sector were reported at 655,630 for November 2024, reflecting an increase of 1,890 positions from October, according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and analysis conducted by the Energy Workforce & Technology Council. Overall employment in the energy sector has been higher each month compared with corresponding months last year beginning in June—an indicator that activity in oil and gas is ever-so-gradually beginning to increase again. 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Shapiro DEP awards $24 million to Chesapeake Bay watershed; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: California law causes refineries to close, prices to soar; NATIONAL: BP seeks buyers for US natural gas pipeline system stake, sources say; The odds for/against U.S. tariffs on imported Canadian, Mexican crude; Meta joins the nuclear-powered AI fray; INTERNATIONAL: BP, JERA to consolidate offshore wind assets under new JV; Norway, Australia end overseas financing for unabated fossil fuels; Brits pay billions to waste wind energy; Why Mexico still sits on the sidelines at OPEC+ meetings. 
The Baker Hughes national rig count dramatically increased last week, adding seven rigs for a national count of 589. Note that the national count continues to be rangebound between 581 and 589 since June (except for Sep. 13, when it hit 590 for a single week). Will we break out of the rut and go higher? Stay tuned. Meanwhile, the Ohio Utica lost one rig last week, but the Pennsylvania Marcellus picked it up, keeping the combined M-U count at 35. 
Upper Burrell (Westmoreland County, PA) town supervisors have historically been receptive (or at least tolerant) to the Marcellus Shale industry that has so blessed their town and Westmoreland County (
Two pipeline industry titans are going after each other again. Energy Transfer and Williams previously tangled over an aborted proposed merger, a saga that stretched from 2015 until it was finally settled in 2023 (see 
In January 2023, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, an extremist, floated a plan to ban natural gas hookups in every single new home and business across the “Empire” State (see 
You’ve heard of UFOs—Unidentified Flying Objects. What about UOWs? That would be Undocumented Orphaned Wells. Not to be confused with undocumented illegal aliens. Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, located in Berkeley, California, have figured out how to use artificial intelligence (AI) to scan and read old maps, recognizing oil and gas well symbols on those maps to generate potential well locations that can then be verified via satellite imagery and field surveys. This may be the first practical thing to come out of Berserkely in years! 
Who let the DOGEs out? Who, who, who, who. (To be sung to the tune of the iconic song, 
For the week of Nov 25 – Dec 1, permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica dropped dramatically. Only 12 new permits were issued last week, less than half the 28 issued the week before. The Keystone State (PA) issued just two new permits, one to EQT in Greene County and the other to Range Resources in Washington County. The Buckeye State (OH) issued six new permits last week. All six went to Encino Energy (EAP), with four in Carroll County and two in Columbiana County. The Mountain State (WV) issued four new permits, three of which went to Southwestern Energy (now Expand Energy) in Ohio County and one to Antero Resources in Tyler County. 
CNX Resources announced yesterday it had struck a deal to buy the assets of Apex Energy II, LLC, a portfolio company of funds managed by Carnelian Energy Capital Management, for $505 million. Apex owns wells, acreage, and pipelines in Westmoreland County, PA. The Apex assets are close to, in some cases adjacent to, CNX’s considerable assets in the region. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025.