Blackhill Energy | Bradford County | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Encino Energy | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Greene County (PA) | Jefferson County (OH) | Monroe County | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Southwestern Energy | Susquehanna County | Weekly Permits
29 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jul 24-30
New shale permits issued for Jul 24-30 in the Marcellus/Utica were down just a couple, but still a nice number. There were 29 new permits issued last week, down from the 31 issued the previous week. Last week’s permit tally included 22 new permits in Pennsylvania, 7 new permits in Ohio, and no new permits in West Virginia. The top permittee for the week was EQT Corporation, receiving a whopping 16 permits in Greene County, PA.
Read More “29 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jul 24-30”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Eric Taylor joins OhioSE team as project manager, shale specialist; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Tailfin lands Georgia Natural Gas contract; Biden admin quietly settles with eco groups to restrict oil drilling in Gulf; NATIONAL: Gas cooking appliances remain at risk despite new DOE data; US LNG exports rise in July as maintenance works completed; INTERNATIONAL: Oil rises as Saudis extend production cuts.
Chesapeake Energy Corporation, the country’s third largest publicly-traded natural gas producer, issued its second quarter 2023 update yesterday. The company reports a profit of $391 million in net income during 2Q23, down from $1.2 billion in 2Q22. The drop was due to lower gas prices and less production. Second quarter net production was 3,653 MMcfe per day (or 3.7 Bcfe/d, 96% natural gas, and 4% liquids), down 11% from 4,125 MMcfe per day in 2Q22. In the Marcellus, the company drilled three of the five fastest wells in company history, including the fastest well, a 10,383-foot lateral, to a total depth of 17,083 feet in less than eight days.
Gulfport Energy, the third-largest driller in the Ohio Utica Shale (by the number of wells drilled), emerged from bankruptcy in May 2021 with a new board and top management. In January of this year, the company appointed a new CEO, John Reinhart, the former President and CEO of M-U driller Montage Resources Corporation before that company was gobbled up by Southwestern Energy (see 
West Virginia’s state budget runs from July 1 through the following year’s June 30. WV’s General Revenue collections for July 2023, the first month of Fiscal Year 2024, came in at a respectable $7.7 million above estimates, with total collections of $335 million. However, that $335 million collected is 12% lower than the $381 million collected in July 2022. What seems to be a major difference is a crash in severance tax (on coal and natural gas) collections, down some 93% year over year.
Newly-elected Gov. Josh Shapiro, who appears to be completely ineffective since taking office (which is not necessarily a bad thing), appointed a working group in April to help guide him on what he should do concerning the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax and the broader issue of global warming (see 
Energy Transfer (ET) is one of the country’s largest midstream (pipeline) companies. ET is the builder and operator of important pipelines in the Marcellus/Utica region, including Rover, natgas pipeline through Ohio delivering M-U molecules to the Midwest, Canada, and beyond, and the Mariner East pipelines that deliver NGLs from Eastern Ohio and PA to the Marcus Hook refinery in the Philadelphia area. ET’s operations extend throughout the country. NGLs are an important part of the picture for ET, as was mentioned during the company’s second quarter update yesterday.
Equitrans Midstream issued its second quarter update yesterday, and WOW, what an update! The company had lots to talk about following the high drama surrounding its Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project over the past couple of months. Equitrans CEO Tom Karam said following the U.S. Supreme Court’s intervention, construction has now resumed on MVP and will likely take 4-5 months to finish up the 94% completed project. He expects MVP, barring any severe weather issues that might slow construction, will be online and flowing 2 Bcf/d of Marcellus/Utica molecules by the end of this year. Hallelujah!
In February 2022, Equitrans Midstream announced it had filed a new pipeline expansion project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see 
DT Midstream (DTM), headquartered in Detroit, owns major assets in the Marcellus/Utica region and other regions. DTM issued its second quarter 2023 update yesterday. The company announced it had reached a final investment decision (FID) to build a new greenfield gathering system in the Ohio Utica Shale. The gathering system will transport associated gas from new wells being drilled in the rich window of the Utica.
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 
In 2021 as he was running for the office of Governor in Virginia, Glenn Youngkin pledged if he won, he would remove the state from the onerous carbon tax on coal- and gas-fired power plants called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Following his recent review of a new regulation to remove the state from RGGI, Youngkin is on the cusp of keeping his promise this year (see 
On Friday, the Biden Administration proposed a new rule to amend the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations. The White House’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) proposed changes to NEPA that it says would speed up permitting for clean energy and other projects on federal land. Unfortunately, it does just the opposite. The new rule will slow down urgently needed development under the guise of “environmental justice.” This is an ongoing attempt by the Bidenistas to take a wrecking ball to the good work done during the Trump Administration to make it easier to build major infrastructure projects.