Kentucky Officials Grumble Over 12-Mile Pipe to Ohio Power Plant
Texas Gas Transmission, LLC, a subsidiary of Boardwalk Pipelines, LP, wants to build the Dearborn County Lateral Project — roughly 12 miles of new 20-inch natural gas pipeline that begins at Texas Gas’s existing system in Dearborn County, Indiana, dips south across the Ohio River into Boone County, Kentucky, then hops back over the river into Hamilton County, Ohio. The destination is Vistra Corp.’s Miami Fort Power Plant, a coal-fired station slated for shutdown until someone had the good sense to convert it to natural gas instead. The lateral would move 265,000 dekatherms per day (Dth/d) of firm transportation service. A dekatherm is roughly one thousand cubic feet of gas, so call it about 265 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day). Texas Gas filed with FERC in late May. Boone County leaders are not thrilled. Read More “Kentucky Officials Grumble Over 12-Mile Pipe to Ohio Power Plant”
U.S. drillers last week cut the number of rigs operating for the first time in six weeks, according to the venerable Baker Hughes rig count on Friday. The national count dropped by one to 587. Even though the count slipped from its 1+ year high, the current number is still 45 higher than this time last year (an 8% increase). The Marcellus/Utica count hasn’t budged for 11 weeks in a row, holding at a combined 36. However, the M-U’s chief competitor for resources and attention, the Haynesville, added one rig and now operates 56 gas-focused rigs, which is 20 more than we operate here in the M-U. Not so long ago, the M-U operated more than the Haynesville! 
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Indiana and Virginia encourage a speedy way to meet rising energy demand; NATIONAL: U.S. natural gas futures settle lower; Despite activist “coup”, NAS admits climate attribution has “significant challenges”; Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee holds FERC oversight hearing; INTERNATIONAL: Brent pulls back from $100; Overseas buyers in hot pursuit of USA crude; Lull in fighting as Iran holds Hormuz talks with Oman; Europe faces winter gas reckoning as global fight for LNG brews. 
The Marcellus/Utica region received 26 new drilling permits last week, July 13 – 19, up 19 from two weeks ago (after dipping down 21 three weeks ago). So goes the permitting yo-yo ride. Last week, Pennsylvania issued 23 new permits (after issuing just 1 two weeks ago). Ohio issued 2 new permits. And, West Virginia issued 1 new permit. The drillers who received new permits included: Antero Resources (1), Ascent Resources (2), CNX Resources (2), EQT (1), Expand Energy (3), Formentera Operating (1), Laurel Mountain Energy (5), Pennsylvania General Energy (6), and Range Resources (5). 
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is close to issuing an environmental assessment for the Constitution Pipeline, a 125-mile greenfield pipeline from the Marcellus gas fields of Susquehanna County, PA, to Schoharie County, NY (see 
In April, MDN reported that PowerTransitions, an independent power producer specializing in redeveloping legacy power facilities, had agreed to acquire five New York gas-fired power plants — Batavia, Hillburn, Massena, Shoemaker, and Sterling — totaling 323 megawatts (MW) from Alliance Energy Group affiliates (see 
A new S&P Global Energy study (full copy below) projects U.S. LNG will become the nation’s second-largest net export industry by 2031, trailing only civilian aircraft and parts. Feedgas demand for exports is expected to double to 36 Bcf/d within five years — 25% above the prior base case — as the U.S. surpasses a one-third share of the global market. Through 2040, LNG should support 555,000 jobs annually, add $1.4 trillion to GDP, and generate $2.9 trillion in business revenues, $206 billion in taxes, and $630 billion in labor income, on more than $1 trillion of supply-chain investment. Household gas costs rise just 1.6% from 2026-2031, and new Northeast pipeline capacity could cut peak winter prices more than 20%. 
Yesterday, EQT Corporation, the largest Marcellus/Utica-only producer by far, issued its second-quarter 2026 update. We’re pulling out what we consider to be the biggest news from that update for this separate post. During an earnings call with analysts, EQT CEO Toby Rice said that since the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved the company’s 31-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) Southgate project from southern Virginia into northern North Carolina in June (see 
EQT Corporation issued second quarter 2026 results on July 21, followed by an analyst call on July 22. Here’s what matters if you lease acreage to EQT — or own the stock. The company produced more gas using less money in 2Q, raising its estimate of how much it will produce in 2026 by 90 Bcfe to 2,375-2,450 Bcfe (which works out to 6.5 to 6.7 Bcfe/d). As a point of reference, the country’s largest natural gas producer, Expand Energy, is estimating production of 7.5 Bcfe/d in 2026. For landowners leased with EQT with older wells, there’s good news about workovers. 
Range Resources released second quarter 2026 results on July 21 and held its analyst call on July 22. For Marcellus landowners and RRC shareholders alike, there’s a lot packed into this one. Range produced 2.30 Bcfe/d in 2Q26, roughly 67% natural gas, up 5% from a year ago. Of particular note for landowners, Range’s drilling tempo for new wells will slow somewhat during the second half. However, great news for those already drilled. Range is drilling over 50% of its wells on existing pads this year. And, Range drilled a rare Utica well. Does that mean more Utica drilling is on the way for the company? 
Georgia Power announced yesterday that it will serve a new OpenAI data center project in Effingham County, Georgia — about 45 minutes from Savannah — expected to create thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in local investment. The $20 BILLION OpenAI facility will need roughly 3,200 megawatts (3.2 GW) of power, and OpenAI has agreed, under a 25-year deal, to provide up to 1,000 MW (1 GW) of flexible demand response, allowing Georgia Power to curtail deliveries during peak periods. The utility calls it among the largest single-facility demand response commitments in the U.S. OpenAI will cover full infrastructure and electric service costs with financial assurances, consistent with Georgia PSC rules. And yes! There is a direct connection to the Marcellus/Utica. Get ready; your future ChatGPT queries may be powered by M-U molecules! 
As part of Kinder Morgan’s second-quarter update, the company made an important announcement that (until now) it had not made. Namely, on May 26, 2026, TGP (Tennessee Gas Pipeline) placed in service its approximately $235 million Cumberland Pipeline project. The 30-inch pipeline is a 32-mile lateral originating from TGP’s existing 100 Line in Dickson County, Tennessee, and terminating at Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) new natural gas-fired power plant in Stewart County, Tennessee. Big Green tried its best to block this project along with the gas-fired power plant, but failed.