PA DEP Approves Shale Wastewater Injection Well in McKean County
Here’s a story that escaped our radar…until now. Catalyst Energy, Inc., proposes converting an existing gas production well on Route 646 in Cyclone (Keating Township in McKean County, PA) into a shale wastewater injection well. The well would handle up to 30 truckloads of wastewater per day. The prospect of the traffic and location near some homes did not sit well with some local residents. However, the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved the plan on Jan. 11, although it didn’t publicly announce the approval until Tuesday, Jan. 23.
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Here’s a story we haven’t written about in over three years. American Water Management Services (AWMS) owns a wastewater injection well in Trumbull County that supposedly caused a low-level earthquake (that nobody could feel) in 2014. Actually, there are two injection wells located at the site, both operated by AWMS. They were both “temporarily” shut down by the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources following the quake nobody could feel (see 
In June 2019, the New York State legislature passed a horrific “energy” bill that was later signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo (see 
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is reporting U.S. dry natural gas production in the Lower 48 states reached an all-time monthly high of 105.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in December 2023. In 2023, Lower 48 dry natural gas production increased 3.7% (3.6 Bcf/d) from 2022. Dry natural gas production increased 3.8 Bcf/d in the fourth quarter of 2023 (4Q23) compared with the average for the first three quarters of 2023. The increase was led by production from the Marcellus/Utica region, followed by the Permian.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Impact fees breathe life into county & municipal projects; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Texas upstream oil employment keeps growing; NATIONAL: Predictive maintenance plays crucial role in oil and gas; Kinder Morgan remains bullish on natural gas demand growth; INTERNATIONAL: EU needs to double powergen by 2040 to meet net zero.
Yesterday we brought you the latest update on EOG Resources’ oil drilling program in the Utica Shale (see 
Pennsylvania House Bill (HB) 170, introduced early last year, would increase setback distances for shale wells from 500 feet to 2,500 feet — effectively killing any new shale well drilling anywhere in the state (see 
From time to time, the issue of wells that need plugging appears in the news. We highlighted one such story earlier this week (see 
In March 2023, the West Virginia legislature passed House Bill 3110, giving the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) extra funds to hire more oil and gas well inspectors. At that time, the state had just ten inspectors to oversee not only all of the state’s 75,000 documented/known wells but also the state’s estimated 15,000 abandoned wells. Frankly, it’s an impossible task for so few inspectors. HB 3110 provided funding for another 10 positions (20 inspectors total). In the past year, the DEP has hired another five, with two more in the pipeline, for a total of 17. It would be better if they had 40 or more!
In May 2023, MDN brought readers the sad news that New York State has fallen and is now under a Communist dictatorship, with the freedom to choose energy sources now gone (see 
One week ago, the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) Foundation published a report called “Impact of Electrifying Natural Gas Transmission Compression” (full copy below). The Foundation commissioned global consulting and technology services provider ICF to assess and write a report on the potential impacts of electrifying natural gas transmission compression as one tool to address greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions along the natural gas supply chain. What did the researchers find?
Analysts for S&P Global Commodity Insights have been pouring over the forward prices for natural gas contracts in 2024 and the news is not good. Traders actively bidding on forward contracts in 2024 have priced natural gas below $4/MMBtu. In the forwards market, the summer 2024 strip was $2.45/MMBtu as of Jan. 22, after spending most of 2023 solidly above $4/MMBtu. December 2024 Henry Hub forwards settlements have averaged $3.69 year to date, according to data from S&P. The reason for prices remaining low for all of 2024? A delay in several new LNG export operations from coming online.
Perhaps our headline is slightly misleading. EOG is not the modern equivalent of Jed Clampett walking along and seeing crude bubbling up out of the ground (as in the fictional 
Here’s the reality. People are moving out of states like New York due to high taxes and the stripping away of freedoms. Those of us living in NY now live in virtually a Communist state (and we’re not exaggerating). We can’t choose our energy sources. We can’t even use single-use plastic bags at the grocery store! NY has fallen. But NY’s mass exodus is the gain of states in the Southeastern U.S. Florida is the number one destination. Also high on the list are North Carolina and Georgia. With the increase in population, and the rapid influx of new business, and the push to convert automobiles to use electricity instead of gasoline, utility companies in the Southeast are asking (more like begging) for permission to build new natural gas power plants to meet all of the new demand for electricity. Of course, the extra gas somehow has to get to the plants.