News

Ohio Delays Decision on More Fracking Under Salt Fork State Park

The Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) met yesterday to consider whether to allow fracking under (not on) two Ohio state-owned lands, including the Leesville Wildlife Area in Carroll County and Salt Fork State Park in Guernsey County. Commissioners approved moving forward to the next step with Leesville, which is to accept bids….

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Murrysville Rejects Antis’ Petition to Cancel Leases Under Parks

Last December, Murrysville (PA) Council members voted to lease land for shale drilling under two town parks—Duff Park and Murrysville Community Park (see Murrysville, PA to Vote in Dec. on Plan to Drill Under Two Parks). Murrysville is located in Westmoreland County, in the southwestern part of the state. Olympus Energy pitched proposals to lease…

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OH Lawmakers Asked to Waive Competitive Bids to Plug Orphaned Wells

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) asked a panel of lawmakers called the Ohio Controlling Board to waive the need for competitive bidding for $11.2 million in contracts to plug orphaned oil and gas wells around the state. Yesterday, the Controlling Board approved the request. The contracts were awarded to two companies: Next LVL…

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Shell Pa. Cracker Ready for Prime Time, but Has an Achilles’ Heel

Last Friday, RBN Energy published a blog post declaring that the Shell ethane cracker in Monaca (Beaver County), PA, is now “firing on all cylinders.” The post retrospectively covers the project’s history, from construction through recent problems as the plant was commissioned to the present day. We learned something interesting: Shell, a petrochemical giant and…

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NYC Dem Politicians, Radical Groups Seek to Jail Big Oil Execs

What is happening in American politics is shocking. Unfortunately, we are so shocked almost daily that we’re (as a society) becoming numb to it. Never in the history of our country have the members of one political party sought to jail their political opponents. It’s happening now, and the party/movement in question comes from the…

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E&P Highlights: Oct. 21, 2024

Here’s a roundup of the latest E&P headlines, with a large contract announced offshore Gulf of Mexico and strategic partnerships aimed at optimizing oilfield production. This post appeared first on Hart Energy.

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PA Rig Count Stays Down, M-U @ 32; National Count Drops 1 @ 585

Two weeks ago, Pennsylvania lost two rigs, down to just 13 active rigs, the lowest PA’s rig count has been since July 2016 (see PA Craters, Drops 2 Rigs, M-U @ 32; National Rig Count Adds 1 @ 586). That’s the lowest rig count for PA in more than eight years. Last week, PA and…

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Kentucky Utilities Want to Build 2 New NatGas Power Plants

Kentucky has seen unprecedented economic growth in recent years like other southern states. Data centers are looking to Kentucky for future expansion. Louisville Gas and Electric Company (LG&E) and Kentucky Utilities Company (KU), both part of PPL Corporation, are forecasting in their Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) the need for additional power generation due to the…

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WV’s Hope Gas Seeks to End “Farm Taps” for 600 Customers

It is just coming to light for us now that back in August, Hope Gas, a large local utility company that provides gas service to more than 131,000 residential, industrial, and commercial customers in thirty-seven West Virginia counties, filed a rate case with the state Public Service Commission (PSC) looking to convert customers who use…

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AES Indiana Committed to Converting Last Coal Plants to NatGas

AES Indiana, formerly known as Indianapolis Power & Light Company, is a utility company providing electric service to the city of Indianapolis. It is a subsidiary and largest utility of AES Corporation. In August, AES Indiana said that it wants to invest $1.1 billion in Pike County, IN, to convert the company’s two remaining coal-fired…

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Investors Not Happy with Air Products’ Focus on “Green” Hydrogen

Air Products, headquartered in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania (Allentown area), once manufactured huge rocket-looking “production trains” or “heat exchangers,” which are pieces of equipment that turn natural gas into liquefied natural gas (LNG), in a plant in Wilkes-Barre, PA. The heat exchangers manufactured by Air Products in Wilkes-Barre were two-thirds of a football…

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