EQT Deal Sends “Responsible” M-U Gas to Canada’s Largest Gas Utility
EQT Corporation, the largest producer of natural gas in the U.S, has cut a deal to send 15 petajoules (PJ) of RSG (responsibly sourced gas) from the Marcellus/Utica to Canada’s largest natural gas distribution company, Enbridge Gas, over the next 12 months. This is a major deal. Running the numbers, 15 petajoules works out to be roughly 14 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of Marcellus/Utica gas.
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Earlier this year, Equitrans Midstream announced it had filed a new pipeline expansion project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see 
Pennsylvania State Senator Katie Muth’s attempt to block a proposed frack wastewater treatment plant in Dimock (hours away from her own district) has completely bombed out. Muth tried to challenge and block a permit for the plant, an effort which was mostly rejected in court back in June (see 
We have chronicled a number of companies that buy royalty and/or mineral rights from landowners in the Marcellus/Utica over the years (see our previous stories about royalty mineral rights sales 
New shale permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica came roaring back during the week of Oct. 31 through Nov. 6. Both Pennsylvania and Ohio issued 13 new permits during that week. But what’s this? West Virginia issued a whopping 17 new permits! The prior week WV issued only a single new permit.
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Ascent Resources, originally founded as American Energy Partners by gas legend Aubrey McClendon, is a privately-held company that focuses 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. Ascent is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer (352,000 leased acres) and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The company issued its third quarter update yesterday. Ascent averaged production of 2.34 Bcfe/d for the quarter, up significantly from the 1.98 Bcfe/d it averaged in 3Q21 (18% increase). Production was also up from the 1.97 Bcfe/d produced last quarter, 2Q22 (19% increase). Nearly all of Ascent’s production (94%) was natural gas, while the rest was oil and NGLs.
A press release issued yesterday announced the partnership between an Appalachian driller we aren’t familiar with, Oil Well Shares (OWS), and Canada-based OYA Renewables to form a joint venture called Chrysalis Energy. The new company will use OWS’s 1.5 million leased acres across Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia to build solar farms, wind farms, and “energy storage infrastructure projects.” We have some thoughts about this partnership and how it may impact landowners.
ECA Marcellus Trust I, the royalty interest holder in some of the wells drilled and maintained by Greylock Energy in Greene County, PA, announced it will issue a payout (the equivalent of a dividend) to unitholders of 18 cents for 3Q22. That is the highest payout we’ve seen since we’ve been actively tracing it quarter by quarter. The company continues to hold back some profits ($90,000 in 3Q22) in order to build a cash reserve.
MDN editor Jim Willis lives in the Binghamton, NY, area. While traveling local highways and local town roadways, he often sees XNG tractor-trailers passing through the area (like the one pictured at left). XNG (Xpress Natural Gas) is a “virtual pipeline” company, compressing and hauling CNG (compressed natural gas) to customers in the northeastern United States. The company has a major depot in Montrose, PA, not far from MDN HQ, compressing and then transporting Marcellus gas to customers that don’t have the benefit of using pipelined gas. XNG has just ordered more CNG trailers.
In our opinion, Pennsylvania voters made a major mistake in electing Attorney General Josh Shaprio as their next governor (see 
EPA Administrator Michael Regan, who President Joe Biden picked to lead the agency in early 2021, has been every bit the radical we feared he would be. An investigation by Fox News Digital found Regan has held secret meetings with the leaders of Big Green groups–including the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and League of Conservation Voters (LCV)–groups that actively seek to destroy the U.S. fossil fuel industry and are funded with foreign “dark money.” If this were a different administration and Donald Trump’s EPA was found to be having secret meetings anti-renewable energy organizations, it would be plastered on the front page of every newspaper in the land–for weeks. But Regan meeting with and colluding with these foreign-backed groups? Not a peep.
EQT has sued its own (former) law firm, Baker Botts, and one of the partners at the firm, for allegedly giving the company bad advice with respect to the Hammerhead Pipeline gathering system owned by Equitrans Midstream (EQT’s former subsidiary). The lawsuit seeks at least $1 million in damages. Baker Botts is based in Texas, so the lawsuit was filed in the 61st District Court in Harris County, TX. Hammerhead is a $555 million, approximately 190-mile gathering system created by Equitrans to gather EQT’s production in southwest PA and haul it (64 miles) to Mobley, WV, where it will connect with the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and EQT’s Ohio Valley Connector pipeline (see