Marcellus Drilling News

Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH

Ohio HB 201 Adds Fee to Utility Bills to Upgrade NatGas Pipes
December 22, 2023January 24, 2024

Ohio House Bill (HB) 201 was recently passed by both the state House and Senate and now sits on the desk of Gov. Mike DeWine (a somewhat swampy Republican, although far superior to governors like Kathy Hochul and Josh Shapiro). HB 201 started life as a bill to block the Buckeye State from following California’s lead in adopting emissions that are stricter than national regulations and call for the phaseout of the internal combustible engine by 2035. Somewhere along the way, the bill added an additional measure allowing the state’s natural gas utilities to recover the costs of installing new pipelines by tacking a fee on utility bills. It is the pipeline amendment that has the radicals going nuts in the state.
Read More “Ohio HB 201 Adds Fee to Utility Bills to Upgrade NatGas Pipes”
Energy Services | Keystone Clearwater Solutions

PA Shale Water/Wastewater Company Expands to Texas Permian
December 22, 2023January 24, 2024

It’s been a few years since we reported on Keystone Clearwater Solutions, a company that provides water services (clean water for fracking and wastewater hauling) for shale drillers in the Marcellus/Utica. At last check, in 2021, the company purchased the operations of competitor ECM Energy Services, based in PA, further expanding Keystone’s operations in the Keystone State (see Keystone Clearwater Buys ECM Energy’s PA Water Transport Biz). We’re happy to report Keystone is expanding to the Texas Permian oil play.
Read More “PA Shale Water/Wastewater Company Expands to Texas Permian”
Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues

Bernstein Analyst Predicts Average NYMEX HH Price in 2024 Mid-$2
December 22, 2023January 24, 2024

It is that time of year when various analysts, agencies, organizations, and everyone else offer their predictions for 2024. When it comes to what will happen with the price of natural gas, we like to select various predictions that we think are interesting and offer a view we find compelling. We spotted such a prediction about the price of natural gas in 2024 from an analyst with Bernstein. She makes the sobering prediction that the average price for NYMEX natural gas futures contract (THE price most quoted, from the Henry Hub) will be…
Read More “Bernstein Analyst Predicts Average NYMEX HH Price in 2024 Mid-$2”
About MDN

MDN Will be Off for Holidays from Dec. 25 Through Jan. 1
December 22, 2023January 24, 2024

We wish you a Merry Christmas…and a Happy New Year! MDN will take off (i.e. no new stories posted) between Monday, Dec. 25th, and Monday, Jan. 1st, in observance of the holiday season. Don’t worry, we’ll still keep an eye on the news, and if anything earth-shattering happens, we’ll post about it. However, our intent is to take a break from writing for an entire week. We will see you again on Tuesday, January 2nd. A brief note to thank you, our loyal readers, from the bottom of our heart. Thank you for subscribing and resubscribing year after year. We take our responsibility seriously to bring you the news — in context — throughout the year. We look forward to 2024 with eager anticipation for what it will bring in the Marcellus/Utica.
Best of the Rest

Other Stories of Interest: Fri, Dec 22, 2023
December 22, 2023January 24, 2024

OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Alaska Democratic Party considers a call to end all oil production; NATIONAL: USGS updates database for O&G wastewaters with 23 new datasets; GOP report highlights 2023 energy; The needs of the grid are changing, infrastructure must change too; Republicans hold hearing ‘to prevent energy poverty’ in America; INTERNATIONAL: Startup of Russian LNG project delayed over US sanctions.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Fri, Dec 22, 2023”
Energy Services | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide VA | Statewide WV | Virginia | West Virginia

FERC Grants MVP Request to Double Transportation Rates
December 21, 2023January 24, 2024

The 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project will be completed and go online sometime in the first quarter of 2024 (see Equitrans Admits the Obvious – MVP Won’t be Online Until 2024). In September of this year, MVP filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to amend its original certificate (that established the rates it could charge) to increase the rates it charges for new customers (not existing/already contracted customers). Earlier this week, FERC granted MVP’s request to raise rates.
Read More “FERC Grants MVP Request to Double Transportation Rates”
Ascent Resources | Belmont County | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Gulfport Energy | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Ohio | XTO

Court Orders Ohio Drillers to Produce Documents in Royalty Dispute
December 21, 2023January 24, 2024

Back in the summer of 2020, MDN told you about a lawsuit brought by an Ohio rights owner called TERA, an organization that appears to own the royalty rights for a number of leases with wells in Belmont County, OH, drilled by different producers, suing the producers for drilling into the Point Pleasant shale layer when the lease only mentions the Utica layer (see OH Landowners Sue Rice, Ascent, XTO, Gulfport for Drilling Too Deep). That lawsuit continues to grind on. Last week, a judge ruled the drillers being sued must produce certain documents sought by the plaintiff (rights owner).
Read More “Court Orders Ohio Drillers to Produce Documents in Royalty Dispute”
Geothermal | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Project InnerSpace Conducting PA Geothermal Study Aimed at O&G
December 21, 2023January 24, 2024

In September, MDN told you about a non-profit organization called Project InnerSpace, which has been reaching out to public officials, academics, and oil and gas interests in Pennsylvania, pitching a transition from fossil fuel extraction to geothermal energy using the same workers and potentially, the same infrastructure (see Siren Song of Geothermal Calls to PA Conventional & Shale Drillers). In January, Project InnerSpace published a “first-of-its-kind, landmark study” titled “The Future of Geothermal in Texas.” The organization has now turned its sights on two more O&G states: Pennsylvania and Oklahoma. Project Innerspace announced yesterday it will research and publish reports for PA & OK in the summer of 2024.
Read More “Project InnerSpace Conducting PA Geothermal Study Aimed at O&G”
Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation

FERC Republican Commissioner James Danly Stepping Down Dec. 31st
December 21, 2023January 24, 2024

And then there were three…Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Commissioners, that is. Currently, there are two Democrats and two Republican commissioners. Lately, the “Acting” Chairman of FERC, Willie Phillips (a Democrat), has voted more with the two Republicans than with Big Green sock puppet Democrat Allison Clements (a former attorney for the far-left National Resources Defense Council). However, it was good to have the option to block something (via deadlock) with two Republican votes if necessary. That opportunity will now be gone with the departure of Republican FERC Commissioner James Danly at the end of this year.
Read More “FERC Republican Commissioner James Danly Stepping Down Dec. 31st”
CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

Charif Souki Exits Tellurian & Driftwood LNG with $8 Million Payout
December 21, 2023January 24, 2024

Last week, Charif Souki, an Egyptian-born but naturalized U.S. citizen, was booted from the company he co-founded, Tellurian (see Tellurian Fires Charif Souki – Out as Chairman & Executive Officer). The board fired Souki but let him keep a board seat. Souki is now gone from the board, too. He worked out a deal to leave the company with a severance package worth roughly $8 million.
Read More “Charif Souki Exits Tellurian & Driftwood LNG with $8 Million Payout”
Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues | Research

Morningstar Natural Gas Price Outlook 2024: Recovery Coming
December 21, 2023January 24, 2024

DBRS Morningstar is a leading provider of independent rating services and opinions for corporate and sovereign entities, financial institutions, and structured finance instruments globally. Rating more than 4,000 issuers and 60,000 securities, DBRS Morningstar is the fourth-largest credit rating agency in the world and a market leader in Canada, the U.S. and Europe in multiple asset classes. The agency published a commentary on Monday that will be of interest to the MDN audience: “North American Natural Gas Market Outlook: Price Pressures Through Early 2024 Followed by a Recovery” (full copy below).
Read More “Morningstar Natural Gas Price Outlook 2024: Recovery Coming”
Best of the Rest

Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Dec 21, 2023
December 21, 2023January 24, 2024

OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Court rules Oregon’s landmark climate change regs invalid; NATIONAL: Rockefellers still heavily invested in oil companies; How gas pipeline rates are really set and why you should care; INTERNATIONAL: ING plans to phase out of oil and gas financing after COP28; Oil edges up as rising US stockpiles dim Red Sea chaos.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Dec 21, 2023”
Energy Services | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | North Carolina | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

FERC Approves MVP Southgate Request for 3-Yr Extension to Build
December 20, 2023January 24, 2024

In July of this year, the Democrat Governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) asking the four commissioners to deny Mountain Valley Pipeline’s (MVP) request for a time extension to build the MVP Southgate expansion project into his state (see NC Leftist Gov. Cooper Asks FERC to Deny MVP Southgate More Time). A month later, 28 Democrats in the U.S. House did the same thing (see 28 U.S. House Democrats Ask FERC to Reject MVP Southgate Project). We’re happy to report FERC ignored them all and yesterday granted the Southgate project a three-year extension to build.
Read More “FERC Approves MVP Southgate Request for 3-Yr Extension to Build”
Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

New Drilling Under “Gasland” Dimock Coming Sooner Than Thought?
December 20, 2023January 24, 2024

A year ago, in December 2022, MDN brought you the great news that Coterra Energy (formerly Cabot Oil & Gas) would be allowed to restart drilling in a nine-square-mile area in Dimock, PA (Susquehanna County) following a “no contest” plea deal with PA’s then-Attorney General, Josh Shapiro, on a misdemeanor charge (see PA DEP Allows Coterra (Cabot O&G) to Resume Drilling in Dimock). After reviewing the DEP consent order, we discovered a provision that says Coterra can’t restart drilling in the Dimock/Carter Road banned area until a new water system for local residents has been installed, which is estimated to happen around the end of 2027 (see PA DEP Consent Order Delays Restart of Coterra Drilling in Dimock). However, maybe that interpretation is wrong. A new article by the left-leaning Associated Press implies that drilling in Dimock could restart anytime.
Read More “New Drilling Under “Gasland” Dimock Coming Sooner Than Thought?”
Diversified Energy | Energy Companies

4 U.S. House Democrats Launch Witch Hunt Against Diversified Energy
December 20, 2023January 24, 2024

Democrats play dirty. At least, four Democrats from the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee are playing dirty. On Monday, Diversified Energy, with major assets in the Appalachian region (including the Marcellus/Utica), began to trade its stock on the New York Stock Exchange alongside of continued trading on its “home” exchange, the London Stock Exchange. The very same day, four Democrats — Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Kathy Castor (D-FL), Diana DeGette (D-CO), and Paul Tonko (D-NY) — sent a very public letter to Diversified CEO Rusty Hutson launching a probe into the company, implying that Diversified will never be able to plug all of the old wells that it owns (when it comes time to retire them), essentially accusing the company of planning to defraud the public. News of the Democrat smear job hit like a hammer, causing Diversified’s stock price to plunge by more than 15% (although it has since somewhat recovered).
Read More “4 U.S. House Democrats Launch Witch Hunt Against Diversified Energy”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

EIA Dec DPR: Another Big Production Drop Coming in M-U, Haynesville
December 20, 2023January 24, 2024

The latest monthly U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Drilling Productivity Report (DPR) for December, issued Monday (below), shows EIA believes shale gas production across the seven major plays tracked in the monthly DPR for January will *decrease* production from the prior month of December. This is the sixth month in a row that EIA has predicted shale gas production will decrease for the combined seven plays. EIA says combined natgas production will slide by 200 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day). The Marcellus/Utica, called “Appalachia” in the report, is predicted to decrease by 135 MMcf/d in January compared with December, the biggest decrease in gas production for any of the seven plays.
Read More “EIA Dec DPR: Another Big Production Drop Coming in M-U, Haynesville”