Gulfport’s Biggest Shareholder Says Current Board has Made a Mess
Gulfport Energy, one of the biggest drillers in the Ohio Utica Shale (210,000 acres), concentrates its drilling in the Ohio Utica and the Oklahoma SCOOP plays. Earlier this week the company made a major announcement: They are laying off 13% of the workforce, ending (for now) their stock share buy-back program, and “refreshing” the board with three new members (see Gulfport Fires 13% of Workers, Ends Stock Buy-Back, Board Changes). According to Gulfport’s largest shareholder, investment firm Firefly Value Partners, those changes are not enough.
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In February 2015 Rex Energy announced it would sell its Keystone Clearwater Solutions subsidiary which provides water services for shale drillers in the Marcellus/Utica (see 
It seems like MDN has reported on the possibility that an ethane cracker plant would get built somewhere in West Virginia forever–at least back to 2013 when then-Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin went to Europe looking for a cracker (see 
Last week Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro sat down to talk with the editorial board/reporters of the Washington (PA) Observer-Reporter. He refused to confirm or deny he’s actively conducting a witch hunt of the PA Marcellus Shale industry, including trotting dozens of people before a grand jury–even though the media has been reporting on his grand jury fishing expedition since February (see 
We previously told you New York Gov. Andrew “man-child” Cuomo is getting desperate in his bid to deflect blame from himself for his own actions in blocking new natural gas supplies to the New York City/Long Island area. He’s so desperate he threatened utility company National Grid with kicking them out of the state and giving their franchise to another company (see 
In a speech delivered October 31 to the P4 Climate Action Summit in downtown Pittsburgh, Mayor Bill Peduto declared his hatred for the petrochemical industry. He doesn’t want any more Shell crackers junking up his regional backyard. The highly negative reaction to Peduto’s idiotic (and pandering) remarks was swift. What petchem company wants to build in a region where the mayor of its largest city is trash talking the industry? In a bid to counter Peduto’s economically damaging remarks, some 20 county officials from Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Lawrence, Mercer, Washington and Westmoreland counties issued a joint statement on Wednesday to show their support for the petrochemical and shale industries in the region.
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: FERC approves three LNG export projects, additional liquefaction train in South Texas; Restaurant group sues over Berkeley’s natural gas ban; NATIONAL: Fracking Ban?! (video); US oil, gas rig count up 1 ahead of holiday season start; Harold Hamm: Private equity’s rush to get into shale development helped push oversupply issues; Gas prices languish as storage falls to near-record lows; Fossil fuels create jobs so why do Democrats hate them?; US agencies to push LNG by rail in 2020.
During the proxy fight earlier this year to control EQT Corporation’s board–and ultimately its management team–Toby Rice threw some sharp barbs including talk that EQT’s existing management was not up to the task of effectively running the company. The Rice boys said so, their board nominees said so, and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) said so. There will be change (i.e. personnel change) at the “operational level” said ISS. Imagine our surprise when, after assuming control, Toby said there would *not* be a wholesale replacement of top management (see 
The Sierra Club is a radicalized, far left “environmental” group that seems to have endless mountains of cash to finance frivolous lawsuit after frivolous lawsuit against any project or company with the moniker “fossil fuel” attached to it. The Clubbers have made trouble for both Dominion Energy’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline project, and now for Equitrans’ Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) by convincing lefty judges in a federal court to overturn previously issued permits from the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Equitrans has had enough of the Clubbers and their interference and recently unloaded on the group in a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
JobsOhio, a private, nonprofit corporation that works works on behalf of the state to drive job creation and new capital investment in Ohio by attracting business, contracts out economic research to Cleveland State University (CSU)–to keep tabs on the Utica Shale industry. Last year CSU researchers found that from 2011-2017 the Utica Shale had attracted an amazing $70 billion in new private sector energy investments (see 
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced yesterday it has awarded grants totaling $1,891,000 for 12 clean energy vehicle projects through its Alternative Fuels Incentive Grants (AFIG) program. What’s striking about the list of winners is just how many of them are for natural gas vehicles/technology, as opposed to electric. The DEP has another $3 million to blow on these grants by the end of the year, with a deadline for applications of Dec. 13. Line up to get yours!
As a country, we’re still struggling to correct the great harm done by the Obama Administration when it comes to fixing messes like the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. What is and what is not a “water” that comes under federal jurisdiction? In the Obama years everything down to mud puddles (we’re not kidding) could be considered WOTUS (see 
It’s been a while since we’ve update our calendar of events page. We just have. The list below includes events related (or of interest) to the Marcellus, Utica and other Appalachian shales happening from now through the end of this year. Be sure to check it out!