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PA Re-Adds One Rig to 13; National Rig Count Even 2nd Week @ 585
Two weeks ago, Pennsylvania lost another rig, going from 13 rigs down to 12 rigs, the lowest that state has operated in the last 17 years (see PA Drops Another Rig to 17-Year Low; National Rig Count Even @ 585). Last week, PA picked up one rig, so the tally is back to 13. It’s still not great, but we suppose it’s progress. A little over two months ago (as of August 23), PA operated 21 rigs. We went through a period of rapid rig loss in the Keystone State. Last week, Ohio and West Virginia maintained their respective counts of 10 active rigs each. Read More “PA Re-Adds One Rig to 13; National Rig Count Even 2nd Week @ 585”
In September, the Board of Supervisors for Cecil Township in Washington County, PA, caved to pressure from radical leftists and, by a vote of 3-2, instructed the town’s solicitor to prepare a new zoning ordinance that increases setbacks from “protected structures” from 500 feet to 2,500 feet (half a mile), and add a setback of 5,000 feet from schools and hospitals (almost a full mile, 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 third quarter 2024 update last week. The company turned in respectable financial numbers, making a profit of $252 million in 3Q24, down 22% from the $323 million it made in 3Q23. Unfortunately, there was bad news for the Marcellus. The company is boosting the amount of gas it curtails from the Marcellus to 340,000 MMcf/d gross (288,000 MMcf/d net) during November. Both new drilling and new completions (fracking) in the Marcellus are zero for now. Sadly, the company is operating NO rigs in Marcellus right now. 
DT Midstream (DTM), headquartered in Detroit, owns major assets in the Marcellus/Utica region and other regions like the Haynesville. DTM issued its third quarter 2024 update last week. Of high interest to us was the announcement that DTM is upsizing a previously announced project to connect its Stonewall Gathering System to Equitrans Midstream’s (now EQT) Mountain Valley Pipeline in West Virginia, giving DTM customers the ability to reach Mid-Atlantic markets with their molecules. 
The Ohio Natural Energy Institute (which 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: US regulators reject amended interconnect agreement for Amazon data center; Trump has reason in Pennsylvania to feel better than Harris; PA Republican McCormick is hitting the right notes; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Commonwealth LNG commits to MiQ natgas certification; NATIONAL: US DOE awards $473.6 million more for grid resilience projects; How AI is incrementally fueling energy sector innovation; Will AI drive a nuclear renaissance, or a natural gas boom?; CNN climate reporter warns Trump win could affect ‘life on earth’; INTERNATIONAL: Iran relies on natural gas for nearly 90% of its power generation demand. 
For the week of Oct 21 – 27, there were 17 permits issued to drill Marcellus/Utica wells, up from 14 permits issued the prior week. The Keystone State (PA) had 12 new permits, with five going to Chesapeake Energy (now Expand Energy) in Wyoming County and two each for PennEnergy Resources (Beaver County) and Coterra Energy (Susquehanna County). Single permits were issued to Pennsylvania General Energy, Inflection Energy, and XPR Resources. The Buckeye State (OH) had five new permits, with four going to Gulfport Energy in Belmont County. The other OH permit was for Infinity Natural Resources (INR) in Guernsey County. The Mountain State (WV) issued a big, fat zero new permits last week. 
Antero Resources, which is 100% focused on the Marcellus/Utica with over 500,000 net acres under lease (and the largest M-U driller in West Virginia), issued its third quarter 2024 update yesterday. The company reports net production averaged 3.4 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d) during 3Q24, a decrease of 2% year-over-year. Of the company’s 2024 production, liquids (NGLs) averaged 206 thousand barrels per day (MBbl/d), an increase of 2% from 3Q23. Natural gas production averaged 2.2 Bcf/d, down 4% from 3Q23. The company lost $20 million in 3Q24 versus making $17.8 million in profit in 3Q23. 
In May 2023, two radicalized Big Green groups—the Environmental Integrity Project (based in D.C.) and the Clean Air Council (based in Philadelphia)—filed a lawsuit against the Shell Polymers Monaca Plant (ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA), claiming the plant has repeatedly violated federal air pollution limits (see 
Since 2014, the share of U.S. electricity generation from natural gas in the summer has increased every year, increasing from 29% in 2014 to 45% in 2024 (see 
Almost overnight, the conversation concerning power use in the U.S. changed. For years and years, electric power demand has been fairly static. Then, seemingly from nowhere, came the rise of AI and data centers, which are power-hungry. A year ago, we weren’t talking about data centers. Now, hardly a day goes by without a story on MDN (in mainstream news!) about powergen and data centers/AI. We have another story on this topic, which illustrates the dramatic growth of data centers in the PJM region. 
EQT Corporation delivered its third quarter 2024 update yesterday. The big focus for EQT during 3Q was closing on the purchase and beginning the reintegration of its long-lost midstream division, called Equitrans Midstream (owner of the Mountain Valley Pipeline). CEO Toby Rice said, “All cylinders are firing,” and that 60% of the tasks needed for the integration have already been done. The company produced 581 Bcfe in 3Q, which is an average of 6.3 Bcfe per day—about a half Bcf less than the new Expand Energy. EQT is now in second place on the list of top natgas producers in the U.S. It wouldn’t take much for EQT to regain the top spot if it wanted to.