PA Budget Did More than Cut RGGI; New DEP Permit Turnaround Times
Last week, we brought you the fantastic news that the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax scheme in Pennsylvania is officially dead with the adoption of the 4-month late state budget (see VICTORY! PA Budget Deal Kills RGGI Carbon Tax for Good). It was a major victory for Republicans. We’re now learning the Republicans won a few more victories with the new budget, including strict new deadlines for the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to issue certain air and water permits, some of which affect the Marcellus industry. Read More “PA Budget Did More than Cut RGGI; New DEP Permit Turnaround Times”
Repsol S.A. is a Spanish multinational energy and petrochemical company based in Madrid. It is engaged in worldwide upstream and downstream activities. In the 2022 Forbes Global 2000, Repsol was ranked as the 320th-largest public company in the world. As of 2022, it has 24,000 employees worldwide. Repsol, with shares traded on the Spanish Stock Exchange, has major assets around the world. It also has approximately 214,000 net acres of leased land (with wells) in the Marcellus Shale, primarily located in northeastern Pennsylvania, specifically in Bradford, Susquehanna, and Tioga counties. Repsol is considering a “reverse merger” of its upstream assets (worth $19 billion) with APA (formerly Apache, a Permian oil driller), according to super-secret sources whispering to Bloomberg. 
In August, MDN told you that Black Bear Transmission (BBT), the owner of nine regulated short pipeline transmission systems in the Southeastern U.S. totaling approximately 1,700 miles of pipeline, with a throughput capacity of about 2.6 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), was selling itself to Enstor Pipeline Holdings, LLC, for an undisclosed sum (see 
Last week, the Baker Hughes U.S. national rig count gained rigs for the second week in a row. The national count increased by one rig, rising from 548 to 549. The BH rig count has added rigs in four of the last five weeks. Rigs in the Marcellus/Utica remained the same last week at a combined 37, the same number for seven weeks in a row. Pennsylvania remained unchanged at 17 active rigs (seven weeks in a row). Ohio was the same at 13 rigs (eight weeks in a row). And West Virginia maintained its 7 rigs, which it has operated since May 30 (25 weeks in a row). There were 23 rigs targeting the Marcellus and 14 targeting the Utica. 
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Shell ordered to pay Venture Global legal tab in LNG arbitration; NATIONAL: U.S. natgas inventories enter winter at similar level to 2024, most since 2016; U.S. LNG export build-out to boost natural gas demand; Cheniere sees US LNG plants using 40 bcf of natural gas per day in coming years; The remarkable rise of natural gas; The latest political scam — “affordability” — is really taking off; INTERNATIONAL: Oil rises as geopolitics heat up; UN tells Australia (but not China) that drilling for gas might be a breach of “international law”; COP30 flounders on the rising tide of climate and energy reality; Ten years after the Paris climate agreement, climatism is crumbling; Saudi Aramco to sign US LNG agreements during crown prince’s visit to Washington; Protesters in Pikachu costumes demand Japan end fossil fuel financing at U.N. conference; Ukraine secures US LNG imports from Greece to cover winter needs. 
You knew the number of new permits issued in the M-U would come back down to earth sooner or later. Last week it happened. After three consecutive weeks with numbers of 37, 39, and 37, the number of new permits issued fell to 24 last week. Still respectable, but not in the coveted 30s. Pennsylvania issued 16 new permits last week, up from 13 the prior week. Ohio issued 6 new permits, down from 8 the prior week. West Virginia was shut out, issuing no new permits last week, which was the main reason why the number fell precipitously. 
We continue to win so much, it feels strange. But hey, we can get used to it! Back in April 2021, we reported that the leftist Democrats who run the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) had, for the third time, rejected giving the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) Southgate project a necessary Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 water quality certification permit (see 
Infinity Natural Resources (INR), headquartered in Morgantown, WV, focuses 100% on the Marcellus/Utica. The company went public earlier this year with a $265 million ($20/share) initial public offering, giving INR a $1.18 billion market capitalization (see 
In April, Knighthead Capital Management, Homer City Redevelopment (HCR), and Kiewit Power Constructors Co. announced a plan to convert the former Homer City Generating Station, previously the largest coal-fired power plant in Pennsylvania (Indiana County, 50 miles east of Pittsburgh) into a more than 3,200-acre natural gas-powered data center campus, designed to meet the growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (see 
One month ago, we reported that Ohio Republican Senators had introduced Senate Bill (SB) 219, the first significant update to Ohio’s oil and gas laws since the Kasich administration more than a decade ago (see 
U.S. retail natural gas prices are rising across all sectors due to higher wholesale costs, particularly the Henry Hub spot price, which is expected to increase by 58% in 2025 compared to 2024. This increase translates unevenly to consumers. Electric power plants and the industrial sector are expected to see the most significant price hikes, forecast at 37% and 21%, respectively, as their costs are more directly tied to fluctuations in wholesale prices. Residential and commercial customers, however, are expected to experience smaller increases of 4% each. This smaller impact is due to utilities adjusting their rates more gradually, and wholesale commodity costs constitute a smaller portion of the final retail bill for these sectors, which also include significant fixed charges for transportation and distribution. 
For seven looooooong years, Pennsylvania Senate Republicans (and MDN, we modestly add) have fought against enrolling the Keystone State in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax scheme. RGGI taxes gas- and coal-fired power plants, charging them so much per ton of carbon dioxide emitted. The aim is to eliminate these sources and replace them with unreliable renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar. PA’s former failed Governor, Tom Wolf, tried to force the state to join RGGI via an executive order (see 
Federal safety officials are investigating leaks of ethane near two small underground storage tanks at the Cove Point LNG export terminal in Maryland and have requested that they be taken out of service immediately, citing potential safety concerns. The cause of the leak appears to be related to the tanks or their piping. However, Cove Point LNG, a facility owned and operated by a Berkshire Hathaway Energy subsidiary, maintains that the 40-gallon tanks are “safe to operate under the current conditions” and that the leaks have never posed an unsafe condition for employees or the community. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a proposed safety order in mid-October, and the company has requested an informal consultation to discuss it.