Chesapeake Plans to Place 80 Wells into “Suspended Animation”
In early March, MDN told you about a new strategy by Chesapeake Energy to drill new shale gas wells but leave them offline (see Chesapeake Brings Japanese “Just in Time” Concept to Gas Wells). As we explained in that article, Chessy is doing more than drilling DUCs (drilled but uncompleted wells). They are actually completing the wells but not “turning them inline” (or TILs), meaning they aren’t yet connected to the pipeline network. The wells are ready to go except for turning them on. We now have a better idea of how many of these “suspended animation” wells Chessy plans to drill in 2024.
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Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro traveled to Scranton, PA, in mid-March to announce a proposal to “immediately pull Pennsylvania out of a multi-state carbon cap-and-trade program” (the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI) and instead enroll PA in its very own RGGI-like carbon tax program (see 
An article appears today in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette detailing how some people already are (or are planning to) make money from plugging orphaned and abandoned oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania (and elsewhere). It involves the same old cockamamie scam of carbon tax credits. The rough outline is this: Companies measure how much methane is currently leaking from a well. Then they fix it (presumably using government money to at least help pay for plugging), and once it’s fixed, they issue/create a carbon tax credit (or token) that someone else can buy on a public marketplace. Why buy it? So that person or company or entity can keep right on “polluting” — the carbon credit will “offset” their pollution. What a scam!
Last week, the Baker Hughes rig count dropped another three rigs after dropping five the week before. The count went from 624 active rigs two weeks ago down to 621 last week. The national count is officially rangebound. Since last October, the national count has gone as low as 616 and as high as 629. And that’s it. No higher and no lower. The Marcellus/Utica remained the same last week at 42 active rigs. No rigs moved around within the three M-U states. Pennsylvania kept 21 active rigs, Ohio had 12 rigs, and West Virginia ran 9 rigs.
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Dark money-fueled law firm joins Mass. climate suit against Big Oil; Bipartisan opposition kills Colorado’s proposed fracking ban; Jerry Jones bet big on natural gas last week; NATIONAL: Oil and gas executives predict WTI oil price; INTERNATIONAL: Why the renewables market does not work.
As we have in previous years, MDN will not publish today (Friday) in observance of Good Friday and the Easter holiday. We hope you enjoy this blessed time of year!
Hopefully, we’re now at the conclusion of an effort to overturn a bill passed in early 2022 by the West Virginia legislature, Senate Bill (SB) 694, which finally brought forced pooling for shale wells to the Mountain State after eight years of trying (see 
Yesterday, MDN reported that Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost took legal action on Monday, seeking to force Austin Master Services (AMS) in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), OH, to correct “egregious violations of Ohio law” regarding the storage of oil and gas waste that he says threatens the Ohio River and Martins Ferry’s drinking water supply (see 
Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the seemingly moribund effort to drill shale wells on land located in Ohio’s Wayne National Forest (WNF) is active once again. WNF is a patchwork of public and private mineral rights that covers over a quarter million acres of Appalachian foothills of southeastern Ohio. For years, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) blocked new permits and drilling in WNF. During the Trump administration, the BLM began to auction off federal leases and permits (
According to the data geeks at the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. natural gas production grew by 4% in 2023, which was similar to the growth in 2022. U.S. gas production in 2023 averaged a whopping 125.0 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day). In 2023, more natural gas was produced in the Appalachia (Marcellus/Utica) region of the Northeast than in any other U.S. region, accounting for 29%, or 37.7 Bcf/d, of gross natural gas production. However, production growth in Appalachia slowed because our region doesn’t have enough pipeline takeaway capacity to transport more natural gas out of the region to the markets that would buy it.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), corrupted by the Bidenistas, voted 3-2 (three Democrats vs. two Republicans) to issue a final regulation that will force all publicly traded companies to disclose their so-called greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the imaginary climate risks their businesses face (see 
BlackRock, the largest investment firm in the world with over $9 trillion in assets under management, continues to reap the bitter fruit of its woke ESG investment strategies. Last week, we told you that Texas has pulled some $8.5 billion away from BlackRock over its ESG ways (see 
Last week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved an Enbridge project to update its East Tennessee Natural Gas (ETNG) pipeline system. The project is referred to as the ETNG System Alignment Program Project, a project that heretofore was not on our radar screen. ETNG plans to add two electric compressor stations and pipeline capacity in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. In what has become a typical pattern, FERC Chairman Willie Phillips (Democrat) and Commissioner Mark Christie (Republican) voted to approve the project. Radicalized Commissioner Allison Clements (Democrat, former NRDC attorney) voted against approving the project.