Thorny Legal Issues in Reusing Old PA O&G Wells for Geothermal
Last November MDN told you about a research paper published by Penn State that says the state should look at repurposing old conventional oil and gas wells for use as geothermal energy sources (see Penn State Suggests Reusing Old O&G Wells for Geothermal Energy). The idea is to use some of the hundreds of thousands of abandoned oil and natural gas wells dotting the countryside in Pennsylvania, run tubing into those wells, circulate water through the tubing, and transfer Mom Earth’s natural heat to the water and then use the heated water to heat homes and farms and businesses that are located nearby. Neat! Except according to the Houston Harbaugh law firm, there are LOTS of thorny legal issues involved before such a plan can work.
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MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Local couple first EQT leaseholders to contribute to WCCF fund; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Calif. Gov. Newsom signs law requiring businesses to disclose emissions; NATIONAL: Investment titan BlackRock mutes ESG talk amid backlash; The oil patch is primed for an era of megadeals; Bidenomics at work: ‘green’ hydrogen is a very expensive waste of money; INTERNATIONAL: Chevron shuts down natural gas platform near Gaza Strip; Despite echoes of 1973, this is not your father’s oil crisis.
It’s Columbus Day! MDN will not publish our regular list of stories today — but have no fear; we will be back tomorrow (Tuesday) with a full lineup. Take a moment today to celebrate the world’s most famous Italian, the guy who started it all, the guy who discovered the Americas, and what would one day become the greatest country on earth: The United States of America!
Equitrans Midstream, the builder of the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project, wants to extend the pipeline by an extra 75 miles from the current terminus in Pittsylvania County, VA, to Alamance County, NC, to provide natural gas for heating and electric generation. The extension is called MVP Southgate. In typical fashion, Democrats oppose it (see 
In August 2022, MDN brought you the news that Hearthstone Utilities, a Naperville, Illinois-based company, was planning to move its corporate headquarters to Morgantown, West Virginia (see 
The so-called Center for Climate Integrity (CCI), backed with FOREIGN MONEY, is behind most of the lawsuits filed by municipalities around the country (cities, counties, states) against Big Oil & Gas companies, claiming fossil energy companies know and have known for years that using their products is toasting Mom Earth into oblivion. It is the most outrageous abuse of the justice system we know of. The lawsuits are instigated (and funded) by CCI and a litany of colluding tax-free nonprofits. In August, we told you all the signs are pointing to CCI targeting Pennsylvania (see 
U.S. natural gas exports set a record high in the first half of 2023, largely thanks to LNG exports. However, don’t forget that nearly as much natural gas is exported to Mexico and Canada via pipelines as LNG is exported to other countries via cargo ships. For the first six months of 2023, the U.S. exported an average of 11.6 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) of gas via LNG, and 8.8 Bcf/d via pipelines. Added together, the 20.4 Bcf/d of natgas we exported during 1H23 was the most ever exported for the first half of any year on record. Pop the cork!
New shale permits issued for Sep 25 – Oct 1 in the Marcellus/Utica were up a few ticks from the previous week. There were 23 new permits issued last week, up from 21 permits issued two weeks ago. Last week’s permit tally included 10 new permits in Pennsylvania, no new permits in Ohio, and a surprising 13 new permits in West Virginia. Two companies tied for top permittee, one you know, one you may not know. Olympus Energy received 5 permits to drill in Westmoreland County, PA. Consol Mining Company received 5 permits to drill in Monongalia County, WV. Consol used to own CNX Resources before spinning off CNX into its own company. Consol concentrates on coal mining. We were surprised to see Consol wandering back into shale drilling.
The left thought it had won the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) battle with three colluding (corrupt) and sympathetic judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (4th Circuit). But then Congress, under the leadership of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, passed the “debt ceiling” bill that forces the completion of MVP (see 
Once upon a time (roughly 12 years ago), Chesapeake Energy and other shale drillers were leasing property in Columbiana County, OH, in deals that often paid $6,000 per acre for a signing bonus and granted 20% royalties for any oil or gas produced. According to an analysis by the Youngstown Business Journal, those days are long gone. However, many of those original leases have expired, and there is a new push to re-lease in the county, says a Youngstown attorney specializing in oil and gas. Just don’t expect big signing bonuses and royalty rates.
In the fall of 2021, President Biden signed into law the so-called Infrastructure Bill, some $1.2 trillion in pork barrel spending, passed with the help of turncoat Republicans (see 
Summit Midstream Partners, formed in 2009 and headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, operates natural gas, crude oil, and produced water gathering (pipeline) systems in several unconventional shale plays, including the Marcellus and Utica. On Tuesday, the company issued an operational update based on third-quarter results (no financials, just operations). The company saw significant quarterly volume growth across nearly every segment, including 19% volume growth in its Northeast (Marcellus/Utica) segment. However, the big news from the update is that the company has received overtures to buy some or all of the entire company. The Summit board is now actively considering those offers.
TransCanada Corporation, which renamed itself TC Energy in 2019, bought out/merged in U.S.-based Columbia Pipeline Group (now Columbia Gas Transmission) in 2016 (see