PA Judge Tosses Royalty Owners’ 10-Year Fracking Antitrust Lawsuit
In 2015, a group of landowners in northeastern Pennsylvania who had leased their land for fracking filed a lawsuit against Chesapeake Energy, Anadarko, Statoil (now Equinor), Mitsui E&P, and Access Midstream (later bought by Williams), alleging the companies had improperly deducted post-production costs (e.g., gas gathering and transportation expenses) from royalties owed to the landowners in breach of their respective leases. The lawsuit also alleged collusion and conspiracy to defraud the landowners (antitrust violations). The lawsuit was on hold for many years while other lawsuits played out. In 2024, a federal court in Scranton unpaused the lawsuit, and the judge ruled, tossing out the landowners’ royalty claims (see Pennsylvania Drillers Defeat Landowner Lawsuit After 9 Years). There was one remaining aspect of the lawsuit: antitrust violations under the Sherman Act. We’re just learning now that the same judge ruled in late December that the royalty owners did not suffer an “antitrust injury,” dismissing the remainder of the lawsuit. Read More “PA Judge Tosses Royalty Owners’ 10-Year Fracking Antitrust Lawsuit”
Last October, the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) accepted applications for large-scale power projects, also known as “dispatchable” generation, that can provide energy quickly during periods of peak demand under the state’s Next Generation Act (see 
We spotted a short article alleging EQT has “abandoned” a shale well in Washington County, PA, and thought it would be a good opportunity to (once again) discuss the misnomer of “abandoned” oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania. Let’s begin with the news as reported… 
AI data centers are all the rage. The news (local and national) is full of such stories, playing up opposition to data centers. We’ve written plenty about AI data centers on MDN, given the close connection to gas-fired power that’s needed to operate them. We’ve also told you about a developing trend of “behind the meter” gas-fired power plants, built at the same location as a data center. That’s when the data center is built next to a power plant or vice versa. The electricity goes directly to the plant and never flows through the local power grid. Another part of this story is that sometimes the gas-fired power plant that’s on-site powering the data center receives its gas from a well drilled at the same site! The gas flows directly into the gas plant (bypassing gathering pipelines), and the plant produces electricity for the data center. And therein lies a potential, very thorny issue. 
NATIONAL: U.S. natural gas jumps on colder weather outlook; USA Compression completes acquisition of J-W Power; WoodMac sees USA tight oil output shrinking in 2026; Climate policy 2025 was much good news; Victory as Trump withdraws America from UN climate framework & IPCC; Is natural gas a trade or a trap after hitting new lows?; Energy wisdom is lacking among public officials; INTERNATIONAL: Oil jumps as Iran tensions escalate; Trump says he’s inclined to exclude Exxon from Venezuela; European gas prices climb on heating demand, Iran risks. 
The Marcellus/Utica rig count gained 1 rig five weeks ago in the Ohio Utica, bringing the total to 39 rigs. For the past five reports in a row, the M-U has maintained that count—the most rigs it has operated in more than a year. Pennsylvania has held at 18 active rigs for eight consecutive weeks. Ohio has operated 14 rigs for five straight weeks (its highest in over a year). And West Virginia maintained 7 rigs, which it has operated since May 30, 2025. There were 24 rigs targeting the Marcellus and 15 targeting the Utica. The national count lost 2 rigs last week, bringing the total to 544 active rigs. 
Last year, Houston-based EOG Resources acquired Encino Acquisition Partners for $5.6 billion, establishing the Utica Shale as a “third foundational play” alongside its Permian and Eagle Ford assets (see 
Last summer, Texas Eastern Transmission Pipeline Company (aka TETCO, owned by Enbridge) filed to build the Appalachia to Market III Project, abbreviated A2M III (see 
Data center forecasts — beyond existing data centers — made up 45% of the $47.2 billion in capacity costs in PJM’s last three capacity auctions, according to a report by Monitoring Analytics, PJM’s so-called independent market monitor. Data center load accounted for $6.5 billion, or 40%, of the $16.4 billion in costs from the PJM Interconnection’s December capacity auction (the most recent auction). PJM’s market monitor directly and unequivocally blames new data centers for higher electricity prices, instead of putting the blame where it really belongs: On Democrat governors who have restricted new gas-fired power plants. 
In 2025, U.S. natural gas prices at the Henry Hub averaged $3.52/MMBtu, representing a 56% increase from the inflation-adjusted record lows of 2024. This upward trend was fueled by rising LNG export capacity and intense winter heating demand, punctuated by late-year polar vortex events. Although record-high summer production and reduced electric power sector consumption moderated prices mid-year, regional volatility persisted. While most hubs saw increases, the Northeast experienced dramatic spikes due to pipeline constraints. 
It hardly seems worthy of a post to update you on new permits to drill in the Marcellus/Utica when just one permit was issued. We suppose there may be a lag at the various environmental agencies that issue permits, but maybe not. The sole permit issued last week was in Washington County, PA, to Rice Drilling (aka EQT). The details of that well are in the report below. We will re-run our permit search next week to see if any additional permits appear for last week, Dec. 29 through Jan. 4. 
Vickery Energy Partners, LLC, a portfolio company of the private equity firm Quantum Capital Group, announced yesterday that it has closed on the acquisition of Tribune Resources. The transaction includes assets located primarily in Wetzel, Tyler, Harrison, and Doddridge counties, West Virginia, totaling approximately 38,000 net acres and more than 200 million cubic feet equivalent per day (MMcfe/d) of net production. 
Iroquois Gas Transmission’s Enhancement by Compression (ExC) project would increase horsepower at three compressor stations — two in New York and one in Connecticut — by an extra 125 MMcf/d, to flow more Marcellus/Utica gas into New York City and New England. The two NY compressors are in Dover and Athens. The CT compressor is located in Brookfield. In September, we told you that the Sierra Club paid for a fake study bashing the Connecticut portion of the project (see 
Last October, a seven-member, all-Democrat group of Pennsylvania House of Representatives members announced a six-bill legislative package aimed at regulating the “responsible development” of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers in the state (see