History Lesson: Discovery of Marcellus Gas Tied to Yom Kippur War
How, exactly, did the Marcellus Shale come to be? What spurred early interest to spend millions of dollars to sink a well in the Marcellus with the hope (gamble) that natural gas would flow from it? We all know that Range Resources sunk that first well in 2004, but there was a LOT that happened before to tee up the Marcellus as a potential target. The Marcellus Shale layer has been known about since the late 1800s. However, it wasn’t until the 1970s and the Yom Kippur War that serious interest in the Marcellus as a source of natural gas began in earnest. Read More “History Lesson: Discovery of Marcellus Gas Tied to Yom Kippur War”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: PA state senators weigh in on possible changes under Trump; Republican victory – David McCormick flips PA Senate seat; NATIONAL: From oil to EVs, Trump return set to shake up energy policy; Clean power operators strike cooperative tone over Trump return; What Trump’s reelection could mean for the IRA, offshore wind; Trump set to go after measures that are doing the most to fight climate change; Post-election outlook for midstream sector; INTERNATIONAL: Panama to cancel flags on four US-sanctioned LNG vessels; WTI and Brent climb as traders weigh mixed market signals. 
The privately-held Deep Well Services (DWS), headquartered in Butler County, PA, is one of our favorite oilfield services companies. DWS was born right here in the Marcellus/Utica in 2008. DWS specializes in “snubbing” work—completing those super-long laterals you read about. Although the company rarely brags publicly about the work it does on behalf of drillers, we happen to know that it has drilled the longest onshore wells in the 
Gulfport Energy, the third-largest driller in the Ohio Utica Shale (by the number of wells drilled), reported its third quarter 2024 numbers yesterday. The company drills Utica and Marcellus wells in Ohio. It also has an active drilling program in the Oklahoma SCOOP shale play. Gulfport’s net daily production for 3Q24 averaged 1,057.2 MMcfe/d (1.06 Bcfe/d), up slightly from 3Q23’s average of 1,056.9 MMcfe/d. Production in 3Q consisted of 861.6 MMcfe/d in the Utica/Marcellus (81%) and 195.6 MMcfe/d in the SCOOP (19%). The production mix comprised approximately 91% natural gas, 6% natural gas liquids (NGLs), and 3% oil and condensate. The company has spent $52 million on maintenance leasehold and land investment so far this year, pointing out that leasing still happens. 
Earlier this week, three of five supervisors in Cecil Township (Washington County), PA, voted to ban all new fracking via a new setback (distance from well to nearest structure) requirement of 2,500 feet (see 
According to Hart Energy, “massive” transformations are “shaking” the natural gas industry along the Gulf Coast via new pipelines in Texas and LNG export plants in Louisiana. However, the nation’s largest gas field on the eastern side of the U.S., the Marcellus Shale, is not seeing the same transformations. Why? “CEOs are often fighting political battles for permission to build infrastructure.” According to EQT Corp. CEO Toby Rice, the solution is to get back to building new pipelines. If only we could… 
AES Indiana, formerly known as Indianapolis Power & Light Company, is a utility company providing electric service to the city of Indianapolis. It is a subsidiary and largest utility of AES Corporation. In August, AES Indiana said that it wants to invest $1.1 billion in Pike County, IN, to convert the company’s two remaining coal-fired power plants to use natural gas (see 
Donald Trump and J.D. Vance have a monumental task ahead in fixing all of the things broken by the current administration, especially with regard to energy policy. A complete remake of the EPA would be a great place to start. A good house cleaning at the Department of Energy (DOE) would be another. What about policy issues? What should be the top issues to tackle that would have an immediate impact on the country and begin to restore our lost energy security? We have a few suggestions… 
The election of Donald Trump as President for a second term is about the best thing that has happened for Big Green groups in years. Why? They all (and we mean ALL) are fundraising using Trump’s name, hoping to shake some more coins out of the faithful lemmings that contribute to their twisted causes. We’re talking about groups like Earthworks, Sierra Club, Food & Water Watch, Environmental Defense Fund, National Resources Defense Council, and more. In our review of these groups’ websites and press announcements following Trump’s crushing victory, we noticed two things they all are doing: (1) fundraising to “fight Trump” and (2) pledging massive new rounds of lawfare against anything and everything the Trump administration does. Our message to these sickos: BRING IT ON! We’re ready for you this time. 
In late 2015, MPLX (i.e., Marathon Petroleum) bought out and merged in the Utica Shale’s premier midstream company, MarkWest Energy, for $15 billion (see 
Dan Doyle is president of 
Nearly eight months ago, the New York Senate passed a bill the Assembly had previously passed to ban the use of carbon dioxide in shale drilling (so-called “CO2 fracking”). Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul, a reliable anti-fossil fueler, still has not signed the bill into law. What the heck is going on? Why is she missing in action? We’ve written about this a few times, beginning two months after the bill was passed (
One of the reasons Kamala Harris lost (and lost big) is a complete tone deafness on energy issues, including the “pause” she and her boss put on approving new LNG export requests all the way back in January (see 
In a very short period of time, data centers and artificial intelligence (AI) appeared on the radar as very large potential customers for natural gas due to their need for power. Out of the blue, we began to read about drillers and pipeline companies talking with potential data center customers about flowing Marcellus/Utica molecules to their operations so they can generate their own electricity (for example, see 