According to the data experts at Enverus, the U.S. oil and gas rig count ended the year at 407 rigs, down slightly more than 50% from the same point in 2019. The Marcellus play ended the year with 32 active rigs, and the Utica with 6 active rigs (total of 38 active rigs in the M-U). At the end of 2019, there were 840 rigs operating in the U.S.
Read More “Enverus U.S. Rig Count Ends 2020 Down 50% from 2019”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Environmentalists see opportunity for legislature in 2021, but also expect repeats of old fights; DEP sets Jan. 13 virtual hearing on Chapter 102/105 permits for Phase I PennEast Pipeline project; Biden and Harris know energy development is a winning issue in Pennsylvania; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Apparent radical leftist attack on gas lines in Colorado, leaving thousands without heat; Negotiators announce deal on climate change bill; Massachusetts will require all new cars sold be electric by 2035; NATIONAL: Evangelicals salute the Biden climate team; ‘A slap in the face’: The pandemic disrupts young oil careers; Why President Biden won’t be bad for natural gas; Five U.S. LNG projects get export term extended through 2050; US producers capture record volume of associated gas production in 2020; The top 10 RBN energy prognostications for 2021; John Kerry: false prophet of the climate apocalypse; INTERNATIONAL: Company produces methane-capturing face mask for cows.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Mon, Jan 4, 2021”
We wish you a Merry Christmas..and a Happy New Year! MDN will take off (i.e. no new stories posted) between Dec. 24 and New Year’s Day in observance of the holiday season. Don’t worry, we’ll still keep an eye on the news and if anything earth-shattering happens, we’ll post about it. However, our intent is to take a break from writing for an entire week. We will see you again on Monday, January 4th.
A brief note to thank you, our loyal readers, from the bottom of our heart. Thank you for subscribing and resubscribing year after year. We take our responsibility seriously to bring you the news–in context–throughout the year. We look forward to a better 2021 with eager anticipation for what it will bring in the Marcellus/Utica.
Below is a list of the top 10 most-read stories from 2020 on the MDN website. It is cliche now to say it, but we’ll say it anyway: We can’t wait for 2020 to be over and to put it behind us. We’ve made this article free and open to the public. Feel free to share the link with others who may be interested in a recap of the M-U industry for 2020! We’ve appended a postscript to each summary to update you on any key developments since that story was first published.
Read More “Top 10 Most-Read Stories on MDN for 2020”
We have some super-exciting news to share–what we believe is an MDN exclusive. DeepRock Disposal Solutions has secured all of the necessary permits and authorizations it needs (over 30!), including authorization from the U.S. Coast Guard, to begin transporting shale (produced) wastewater via barge on the Ohio River. DeepRock will begin its barge service in first quarter 2021.
Read More “Barging Fracked Wastewater on Ohio River Approved! Starts in 1Q21”
A well in the Marcellus Shale in (of all places) Plum Borough in Allegheny County, PA (a suburb of Pittsburgh) has become the longest onshore lateral drilled in the Marcellus Shale. Olympus Energy (formerly Huntley & Huntley Exploration) has drilled and completed a well with a 20,060-foot lateral–3.8 miles long!
UPDATE: This post was revised from the original. See our note below.
Read More “SWPA Olympus Well Becomes Longest Marcellus Onshore Lateral”
What if we gave the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) a $2.5 million grant to study a link between peanut butter and childhood cancer. Researchers could only use the money to study any potential link between peanut butter and kids getting rare cancers. Sounds absurd, right? What if there is NO link between peanut butter and cancer in kids? What if there IS a link to some other environmental factor like, say, an old uranium dumpsite nearby? But the remit is ONLY to research peanut butter. Sound silly? Sound stupid? Substitute “shale drilling” for “peanut butter” and you can see how absurd it is for Pennsylvania to announce awarding $2.5 million to Pitt to study a single potential cause for rare childhood cancers in southwestern PA.
Read More “Pitt Researchers Get $2.5M for Fake Study to Link Shale & Kid Cancer”
We’ve heard of fossil fuels, but until we spotted a press release from Ohio, we’d never heard of a fossil fish. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has just signed a bill into law designating the fossil fish species Dunkleosteus terrelli (a mean-looking critter) as the official Fossil Fish of Ohio. Dunkleosteus is the second fossil animal and third geologic state symbol to be added to Ohio’s list. The new official Fossil Fish can be found in (you guessed it)…shale deposits.
Read More “Ohio Gov. DeWine Signs Bill Designating New State Fossil Fish”
Week after week and month after month anti-fossil fuel “environmental” groups, aided and abetted by their willing accomplices in mainstream “media”, bash away at Energy Transfer’s Mariner East (ME) pipeline projects, particularly in the southeast PA region near Philadelphia. What you don’t hear are stories of how ME has transformed and benefited individuals and entire companies–for the better. We have one such story below, written by a woman who owns a small business in the Philly area.
Read More “Woman Small Biz Owner Thanks ME Pipe for Dreams Come True”
Last week Pennsylvania issued 25 new shale well drilling permits in both northeast and southwest PA, although most of the permits for SWPA. Ohio issued 4 new shale well permits, all of them to the same company (Encino Energy) and the same well pad (in Harrison County). West Virginia issued 6 new shale well permits, one in Lewis County and the rest in Tyler County.
Read More “Weekly Shale Drilling Permits for PA, OH, WV: Dec 14-18”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: WV Gov. Jim Justice acknowledges Biden presidency, says U.S. is not ready to move away from coal and gas; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Broadway Mill kicks coal after transition to natural gas completed; NATIONAL: The worst may be over for U.S. oil; U.S. shale oil just had its worst year and the pain could bleed into 2021; Biden’s Cabinet picks could fuel EPA, FERC pipeline wars; US natural gas in storage forecast to post another triple-digit withdrawal; INTERNATIONAL: Russia to U.S. President-elect: don’t upset the oil market.
Read More “Other Stories of Interest: Wed, Dec 23, 2020”
Nuverra Environmental Solutions (formerly Heckmann) is one of the largest companies in the United States that handles transportation and disposal of shale drilling wastewater and leftover rock and dirt from drilling (drill cuttings). The company has major operations in the Marcellus/Utica region. Yesterday Nuverra announced its board of directors has approved the adoption of a “limited duration stockholder rights plan” (i.e. poison pill provision) to “protect stockholder interests.”
Read More “Nuverra Swallows Poison Pill to Prevent Hostile Takeover”
The Ohio Supreme Court just delivered a decision that affects one particular landowner (and former mineral rights owner), but also has implications for all Ohio landowners and rights owners. And by extension, implications for drillers that pay royalty payments. The Supremes found in Gerrity v. Chervenak that the landowners in the case (the Chervenaks) did enough due diligence when searching for the rights owner who had moved out of the area. The Supremes said the landowner performed the proper steps to reclaim ownership of the severed mineral rights under their land.
Read More “OH Supremes Say Landowner Looked Hard Enough, Keeps Mineral Rights”
Anti-fossil fuelers love to protest things. Fine. Let them protest. This is (still) America. But when antis tip over into illegal acts like blocking legal activities of building pipelines or drilling wells, or when antis tip over into acts of vandalism like destroying equipment, that’s NOT okay. Antis call it “protesting.” We call it criminal behavior. A bill just passed in the Ohio legislature calls such activity what it is–crimes. And now (provided Gov. DeWine signs the bill into law, which is expected), such miscreants will pay stiff fines and in some cases do jail time for their crimes.
Read More “Ohio Passes Bill Punishing Illegal Protesters at O&G Sites”
The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) is one of the crown jewels of our federal government. NETL is a U.S. national laboratory under the Dept. of Energy Office of Fossil Energy. NETL focuses on applied research for the clean production and use of domestic energy resources. Capturing and using carbon dioxide is a key focus of NETL’s programs.
Read More “NETL Morgantown, WV Working on Carbon Capture for Gas-Fired Plants”
From the “With friends like this…” department, we have some upsetting news to report. The incoming chair of the American Gas Association (AGA), David Anderson, president and CEO of Northwest Natural Holding Co., says it’s time to “think big and think differently” about the end of natural gas. Anderson likes hydrogen and methane from landfills and the buttholes of animals, instead of natural gas that comes out of the ground. Go figure.
Read More “American Gas Association Gets New Chair Who Disrespects Natural Gas”