PA DEP Hosting 3 Info Sessions on Scoring Bidenbucks to Plug Wells
With the presidential election only 80 days from now, the money coming from Washington, D.C. to swing states like Pennsylvania is flowing like a river, as we told you yesterday (see Convenient Timing: Biden-Harris Promise Pa. Another $152 Million). The orders have gone out to get this money (or rather, the promise of this money) out there asap. Gotta hang that big old carrot out there. PA Gov. Josh Shapiro snapped a sharp salute and said, “Yes, ma’am.” The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) will run three information sessions the week after next on the Orphan Conventional Oil & Gas Well Plugging Grant Program and how companies can grab their bribe piece of the action.
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At a packed meeting in May, the Indiana Township (Allegheny County, PA) Planning Commission voted unanimously (4-0) to delay a decision on rezoning a 59-acre parcel along Route 910 from office/commercial to light industrial — which would allow gas drilling on the site (see 
Over the past seven-plus years, BKV Corporation (Banpu Kalnin Ventures), the American arm of Banpu (96% owned by Banpu, Thailand’s largest coal mining company), has become one of the top 20 gas-weighted natural gas producers in the U.S. BKV originally entered the American shale sector by investing $500 million in 2016-2017 to buy existing Marcellus wells and acreage in northeast Pennsylvania. Then the company went wandering into other shale plays, including the Barnett (see 
America’s natural gas and oil industry announced “a landmark partnership” in late 2017 called The Environmental Partnership to “accelerate improvements to environmental performance in operations across the country” for lowering methane emissions (see 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Clinton County is business friendly, oil-gas company says; Second phase of Wyalusing natgas pipeline project underway; MSC members support Debby relief efforts; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Richlands receives $2 million to build natural gas-fired turbine and generator; Texas comptroller adds NatWest to list of energy boycotters; NATIONAL: J.D. Vance on tax-exempt foundations behind green energy; U.S. LNG ambitions shaken by regulatory setback; INTERNATIONAL: Oil ends two day drop on Middle East tensions; The real story of the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage. 
In early 2018, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) collected a whopping $1.7 million fine from Energy Corporation of America (ECA) for violations at 17 well sites in Cumberland, Jefferson, and Whiteley Townships in Greene County, and Goshen Township in Clearfield County (see 
CNX Resources released its first Radical Transparency™ assessment report yesterday. The initial results of nine months of continuous air emissions monitoring at natural gas well sites and compressor stations in southwestern Pennsylvania indicate that CNX natural gas development poses no public health risk. Period. The data is collected and disseminated to the public by an independent third-party contractor. This is objective, you-can’t-argue-with-it data shows CNX is not causing any kind of public health hazard. Big Green isn’t happy that their lying narratives are now countered by objective (truthful) data.
Epsilon Energy issued its second quarter 2024 update earlier this week. Epsilon, a relatively small company, used to concentrate most of its effort on developing Marcellus Shale wells. However, over the past few years, the company has expanded into other plays and now owns assets in the Anadarko (Oklahoma and Texas) and the Permian (Texas and New Mexico). Epsilon typically does not do its own drilling. The company joint venture partners with (gives money to) other companies, like Chesapeake Energy (in the Marcellus), and the other company does the drilling. For 2Q, Epsilon’s capital expenditures were $5.7 million, primarily related to work in Texas.
ECA Marcellus Trust I, the royalty interest holder in some of the wells drilled and maintained by Greylock Energy in Greene County, PA, announced yesterday that it will not issue a dividend to unitholders for the second quarter of 2024. The company paid 4.3 cents per unit in 1Q23, nothing in 2Q23, six-tenths of a penny ($0.006) in 3Q23, 3.0 cents in 4Q23, and most recently, 2.1 cents per unit for 1Q24. The company continues to hold back some profits ($90,000 in 2Q24) to build a cash reserve for “future known, anticipated or contingent expenses or liabilities.” 
We spotted some news that, on the surface, may not appear to be connected to the Marcellus/Utica, but we think it is. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) is investing approximately $843 million (CAD 1.2 billion) in Denver, Colorado-based Tallgrass Energy. CPP is a major investor in the Utica Shale (via Encino Energy), and Tallgrass is the owner and operator of the Rockies Express (REX) pipeline that flows Marcellus/Utica gas to the Midwest.
Many political pundits say the presidential election will come down to Pennsylvania. Whichever candidate wins PA — Trump or The Cackler — will likely win the White House. EVERYTHING that happens between now and then has a political component, including yesterday’s announcement by the Biden-Harris Dept. of Interior that yet another slug of up to $152 million is coming PA’s way for plugging orphaned and abandoned conventional oil and gas wells. This has politics written all over it. 
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 
