Allegheny County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Olympus/Huntley & Huntley | Pennsylvania | Regulation
Olympus Plan to Drill Wells Near Elizabeth High School Approved
Olympus Energy wants to drill six wells on a single pad in rural Elizabeth Township, a borough in Allegheny County on the east bank of the Monongahela River. The pad would sit about 2,400 feet (nearly half a mile) away from Elizabeth Forward High School. Some of the parents of students, and some of the administration, pushed back against Olympus’ drilling plan, using the kiddies as an excuse (see School Near Pittsburgh Pushes Back Against Olympus Plan to Drill). However, Elizabeth Township’s board of commissioners voted last night to approve the plan by a 5-2 margin.
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In 2022, the spot price for natural gas at the benchmark Henry Hub in southern Louisiana averaged $6.45 per million British thermal units (MMBtu), the highest annual average, in both real and nominal terms, since 2008. That’s the highest average in 14 years. Most casual observers would attribute the high price to Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and Europe’s sudden demand for non-Russian natgas–in particular, U.S. LNG. While there is no doubt Putin’s war had an influence, the truth is natgas prices were already on the rise before the war. It was a wild ride in 2022. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) recaps the year…
The Barack Hussein Obama administration went crazy with over-regulation in many areas. One of them was to redefine “waters of the United States” (or WOTUS) as everything down to, no exaggeration, mud puddles (see 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Casey Boyd named Steel Nation VP of Business Development; NATIONAL: Natural gas up 5%, after more than 50% tumble over 3 weeks; Goldman Sachs says warm winter weather a risk to gas price view; Why U.S. natural gas liquids production is surging; INTERNATIONAL: Canada adds 100+ rigs.
We love this story because it’s driving the left NUTS! In December, we told you about Ohio House Bill (HB) 507 (subsequently passed), a bill that expands drilling in Ohio state parks AND officially designates natural gas as a “green” form of energy (see 
Last November, the state of Pennsylvania decided to endorse a private industry application (by Shell and Equinor) instead of doing the hard work of submitting its own official application to attract a $1 billion hydrogen hub (see 
West Virginia is taking the lead in a coalition to apply for (and build) a regional hydrogen hub, funded by taxpayers as provided for in the so-called Biden infrastructure bill. Some 200 organizations (universities, businesses, trade associations, etc.) have joined the WV effort, called Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2), including the State of Ohio (see 
Given our stories today about hydrogen hubs, it seems like a good time to revisit the topic of “what is a hydrogen hub,” a “clean hub,” and what do all of the supposed colors of hydrogen that are thrown around really mean? Energywire recently published an article that answers five questions about “clean” hydrogen. The author says hydrogen’s uses, merits, and drawbacks as a climate tool remain “opaque” to some, including much of the public. Let’s clear up some of the opaqueness, shall we?
As we told you last week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has a new “acting” Chairman, Willie Phillips (see 
A group of landowners in Harrison and Doddridge counties (in West Virginia) sued Antero Resources, claiming the company had deducted post-production costs from royalties not allowed under the leases they had signed. Last year, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia ruled mostly in favor of the landowners. Antero appealed the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (4th Circuit). Yesterday, the judges of the 4th Circuit issued their ruling (full copy below). Nobody got everything they wanted–we’d call it a split decision. However, Antero did win the right to make deductions in certain circumstances.
Antero Midstream hired Veolia Water Technologies to build and operate a state-of-the-art frack wastewater recycling facility in Doddridge County, WV, which began operations in 2017 (see 
The “front month” (Feb. 2023) NYMEX Henry Hub price for natural gas took another nosedive yesterday, hitting its lowest price ($3.72/MMBtu) since Jan. 4, 2022. Why the drop? Weather, or course. But also expectations. Natural gas commodities trading is a strange art. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported yesterday that withdrawal from underground gas inventories was 221 billion cubic feet (Bcf) over the past week. The five-year average for the same period is 98 Bcf. Holy smokes! That’s a HUGE drawdown. And yet the market went the other way and crashed the price–because traders expected the drawdown to be even bigger–around 240 Bcf.