FirstEnergy Admits to $61M Payment in Massive Bribery Scandal
Ohio’s House Bill (HB) 6 is a law granting billions (plural) of dollars to FirstEnergy in an attempt to prop up the company’s economically failing nuclear power plants. FirstEnergy is accused of bribing state legislators to pass, and keep passed, HB 6 by paying out $61 million (see FirstEnergy Involved in Bribery Scheme to Pass $1B Nuke Bailout Law). It is the biggest bribery scandal in Ohio history. FirstEnergy is finally, openly, admitting they paid the bribe money. Yet the company still refuses to admit that what they did is a crime.
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Last week MDN brought you news of a new forced pooling bill under consideration in this year’s West Virginia legislative session (see 
Last Saturday Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s office published, via the Pennsylvania Bulletin, a list of agency-by-agency regulations currently in development with an estimated schedule for future actions. In the list is the all-important (to the oil and gas industry) Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). It’s been our observation when the government in general, and DEP in particular, changes a regulation, it typically makes it more onerous (and expensive) to comply with. Some of the upcoming changes to DEP regulations happening this year we’ve already warned you about. Others are new to us.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: An open letter to President Biden on shale energy; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Colorado’s legal cannabis farms emit more carbon than its coal mines; NATIONAL: U.S. Silica, Smart Sand report rising demand for proppant by E&P customers.
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 and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The company issued its fourth-quarter and full-year 2020 update earlier this week. According to Ascent CEO Jeff Fisher, “Ascent has successfully delivered on its operational and financial objectives in 2020.” Ascent reports it shut-in (curtailed) roughly 100 million cubic feet equivalent per day (MMcfe/d) of production in 4Q. The company produced 1.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcfe/d) during 4Q, down from 2 Bcfe/d in 3Q.
Here’s a company we’ve not written about since 2016: IOG Capital. Back in 2015 we first told you that IOG Capital had cut a deal with Seneca Resources to fund Seneca’s Marcellus drilling program in Elk, McKean and Cameron counties in northcentral Pennsylvania (see 
Earlier this week MDN brought you the news that the Biden administration, via its Acting Solicitor General, filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting PennEast Pipeline’s appealed case to overturn a lower court decision barring the company from using eminent domain to condemn land owned or controlled by the State of New Jersey (see 
It’s kind of funny to watch how leftists react when something doesn’t go their way. Tell someone on the left “no” or “wait” or “you’ll have to pay for that” and they melt like snowflakes. Sometimes they pitch the equivalent of a temper tantrum. That was our thought as we read about a leftist Democrat politician from New Jersey, Lisa McCormick, and her reaction to the Biden administration filing a brief that supports the PennEast Pipeline in U.S. Supreme Court.
The U.S. oil rig count pushed to an 11-month high in the week ended March 10, led by a continued recovery in the Permian basin, according to Enverus. The number of active net oil rigs rose by five over the past week to 371, the highest since the week ended April 15 of last year. However, gas-focused rigs decreased. Bummer. The Marcellus in the dry gas northeastern PA region lost two rigs and the Utica in Ohio lost 1 rig. Another gas-focused play, the Haynesville in Louisiana, lost 1 rig.
Diversified Gas & Oil (DGO) owns close to 8 million acres of leases with some 60,000 (mostly) conventional oil and gas wells. Their focus has been to acquire quality production and cash flow–regardless of the well or commodity type (gas or oil)–in the Appalachian Basin. DGO currently owns over 400 Marcellus/Utica shale wells in their portfolio too. Earlier this week the company issued its fourth-quarter and full-year 2020 update. Although the company reported a $23 million loss for 2020 (versus making $99 million in 2019), CEO Rusty Hutson says he is “exceptionally pleased with our results in 2020” and the way the company navigated a turbulent 2020.
Hilcorp is a major driller founded in 1989 by Jeff Hildebrand. It is one of the largest privately-held (stock not publicly traded) oil and natural gas exploration and production companies in the U.S. Headquartered in Houston, TX, Hilcorp has over 1,825 employees in multiple operating areas including the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana, Wyoming, New Mexico, Alaska, and (yes) in the Marcellus/Utica. While they don’t have a huge presence here in the northeast, Hilcorp does actively drill shale wells in Lawrence County, PA and Columbiana County, OH. The Youngstown Business Journal reports Hilcorp is advancing its program in the northern portion of the Ohio Utica.
Wow, look how far the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has fallen under Gov. Tom Wolf and his subservient lackey Pat McDonnell. The DEP yesterday announced the release of “equity principles to guide investments through Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.” Translation: Here’s how we’re going to waste (i.e. “invest”) all of the $2.36 billion we’ll raise through the RGGI carbon tax, and here’s how we’ll “help” those we’re screwing with the carbon tax. Of course, those who will pay this insane tax include each and every resident and business in PA that uses electricity. In other words, everyone. You’ll ALL get soaked with this new tax. Observe what Wolf has done to your gasoline taxes in PA and apply that to electricity–that’s what’s coming your way if RGGI is implemented.