Apex Energy Clipped by PA DEP for Not Disclosing Frack Chemicals

According to Pennsylvania regulation 25 Pa. Code § 78a.122(b)(6)(iv), a drilling company must provide a list of the chemicals intentionally added to the stimulation [fracking] fluid by name and chemical abstract service (CAS) number in a Completion Report. The PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) says Apex Energy failed to provide that information on its…

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Cove Point LNG to Pay $60M per Year PILOT to Calvert County, MD

Cove Point LNG is an LNG export facility located in Lusby (Calvert County), Maryland. It is one of the most technically advanced and environmentally sensitive LNG facilities in the world. We recall as Dominion Energy was building the facility, environmental wackos uttered shrill warnings of habitat destruction coming for the Chesapeake Bay (where it’s located)…

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Leftists Tell PA Voters Harris Can’t Ban Fracking; They’re Wrong

It’s really fascinating to watch this presidential election. Yes, we’ve promised to try and keep the politics to a minimum, but we must report on things we notice that have the potential to affect the shale drilling industry in general, and the Marcellus/Utica in particular. Here’s an issue we cannot keep silent about. As we’ve…

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Appalachian Hydrogen & CCS Conf – Projects Coming in 2025

As you know, last year at about this time, the Bidenistas announced seven winners of the Hydrogen Hub Hunger Games contest (see Hydrogen Hub Winners Announced – WV Takes Prize in M-U Region). The West Virginia-led Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2), a project that will use Marcellus/Utica natural gas as the feedstock to produce “blue” hydrogen,…

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Ohio Utica 2Q24 Production – Oil Up 23%, Gas Down 4% vs Year Ago

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) released production numbers for the second quarter of 2024 yesterday. The story the numbers tell continues to be about Utica oil, which continues to rise each quarter. Ohio’s total oil production during 2Q24 was 8.01 million barrels, up 23% from 2Q23’s 6.5 million barrels and up 11% from…

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New Freeport Residents Sue EQT for Contaminated Water in Greene Co.

In July 2022, MDN brought you news of a possible frac-out, or “inadvertent return” that happens when drilling mud pops out of places where it’s not supposed to — places outside the borehole being drilled (see Possible Frac-Out Reported at EQT Well Site in Greene County, PA). A landowner who lives near a well being…

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Williams Asks FERC for Emergency Cert to Keep Transco REAE Online

On July 12, Williams asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to bring the final pieces of the Regional Energy Access Expansion (REAE) project online by the end of July (see Williams Asks FERC to Place Balance of Transco REAE Online Early). On July 26, FERC granted Williams’s request to bring online the…

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Sept. STEO Predicts NatGas Price to Stay Down Near $2 This Fall

Once a month, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) analysts issue the agency’s Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), their best guess about where energy prices and production will go in the next 12 months. Starting in June, the EIA axed its monthly Drilling Productivity Report that focused on shale plays and instead rolled it into the…

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Toby Rice – U.S. has Vital Role in Massive, Unmet LNG Demand

The RealClear Media Group has a suite of online publications that are just terrific. Among them is RealClearEnergy. Back in June, RealClearEnergy hosted the Energy Future Forum in Washington, D.C. Among the luminaries speaking (or being interviewed) was Toby Rice, CEO of the country’s largest natural gas producer, EQT Corporation. Toby addressed the role of…

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Cecil Twp Hellbent to Ban New Shale Drilling via 2,500-Ft Setback

The Board of Supervisors for Cecil Township in Washington County, PA, caved to pressure from radical leftists and, by a vote of 3-2, instructed the town’s solicitor to prepare a new zoning ordinance that increases setbacks from “protected structures” from 500 feet to 2,500 feet (a half a mile!), and add a setback of 5,000…

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Anti-Fossil Fuelers Pack Dominion Open House for Va. Gas Plant

Dominion Energy plans to build four small “peaker” electric generating plants in Chesterfield County, VA, near Richmond (see Dominion Plans to Build 1,000-MW Gas Peaker Plant Near Richmond, VA). The Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center (CERC) calls for building four 250-megawatt gas-fired power plants (1,000 MW total) that can jump into action during the coldest and…

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DC Circuit Rulings are Harming the U.S. LNG Export Industry

The liberal judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued a string of rulings this year that have greatly damaged the country’s LNG export industry. Those rulings, if left unchallenged, put future LNG growth in this country in doubt. So says energy expert David Blackmon, writing for the Forbes magazine…

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NYMEX HH Forward Market Signals 44% Gas Price Rise in 2025

The price of natural gas is the foundation for our entire industry. If the price is too low, as it is right now, drilling falls off (see today’s lead story about Coterra doing NO new drilling in the Marcellus). If there’s no (or little) new drilling, everything else suffers. Landowners’ royalty checks shrivel, oilfield services…

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Trend Accelerates: Pennsylvania Loses 2 More Rigs to West Virginia

A very big story is unfolding in the Marcellus/Utica, and nobody else is talking about it. There is a major reshuffling of rigs in the M-U, with Pennsylvania losing active rigs and West Virginia picking them up. Two weeks ago, PA dropped from 21 to 18 active rigs, the lowest count it has had in…

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