Coterra Recommits to Cut $200M/Year from Marcellus Budget

Coterra Energy, formed in 2021 by the merger of Permian oil driller Cimarex Energy and Marcellus gas driller Cabot Oil & Gas, issued its third quarter 2023 update yesterday. The company made far less profit in 3Q23 than it did one year ago, in line with most other big Marcellus/Utica drillers. Coterra made $323 million…

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U.S. Rig Count Hits New 2023 Low – Loses 7 @ 618, M-U Adds 1 @ 40

The U.S. rig count changed course again last week, dropping rigs after adding rigs (albeit anemically) for the prior three weeks in a row. The national rig count lost seven rigs last week — dropping to 618 active rigs — not only the lowest rig total this year but the lowest count since February 2022….

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CNX’s DeIuliis Explains Why He Did a Deal with the Devil (Shapiro)

On Friday, MDN brought you the news that CNX Resources CEO Nick DeIuliis had signed a voluntary deal with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to expand drilling setbacks and several other regulatory steps not mandated for shale drillers under PA law (see CNX Signs Deal with PA Gov. to Increase Setbacks, Other Changes). DeIuliis spoke to…

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CNX Signs Deal with PA Gov. to Increase Setbacks, Other Changes

We have to confess this news came suddenly out of left field. And we’re still struggling with what to make of it. Yesterday, CNX Resources CEO Nick DeIuliis, author of Precipice: The Left’s Campaign to Destroy America (in which he writes about the “leeches” of the left), stood at a podium in Washington County, PA,…

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PA Gov. Shapiro Ponders Appealing RGGI Carbon Tax Case

The next few weeks will tell the story of whether or not the final nail has been driven into the coffin of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax in Pennsylvania. Yesterday, we brought you the really big news that PA’s Commonwealth Court voted 4-1 to block the state from joining RGGI (see Near-Fatal…

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Energy Transfer Fixing Dent Recently Discovered in Mariner East 2X Pipe

The Mariner East Pipeline system, including Mariner East 1 (ME1), Mariner East 2 (ME2), and Mariner East 2X (ME2X), completed construction and went online in the first quarter of 2022 (see All Construction for Mariner East 2 Pipeline Now Done, Online 1Q). Pipeline operators like Energy Transfer (ET), the builder and operator of the ME…

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26 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Oct 23 – 29

New shale permits issued for Oct 23 – 29 in the Marcellus/Utica increased again. There were 26 new permits issued last week, versus 22 the week before. Last week’s permit tally included 18 new permits in Pennsylvania, 7 new permits in Ohio, and 1 new permit in West Virginia. Coterra Energy was the top permittee…

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Near-Fatal Blow for PA Carbon Tax – Commonwealth Court Blocks 4-1

In the end, Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court was not fooled by the Democrat left’s attempt to rename a tax as a fee to circumvent the necessary approval needed by the state legislature in approving taxes as provided for by the state constitution. We’re referring to the illegal attempt by former PA Gov. Tom Wolf in 2019…

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PA Shale Drillers Now Have Money-Back Guarantee for Permit Delays

The Pennsylvania State Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) should prepare to cough up some of the money it receives from the steep charges it assesses for Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation and Chapter 105 Water Obstructions and Encroachments permits. For YEARS, we’ve told you about these permits sometimes taking two, three, even six to eight…

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PA DEP Tries to Track Down & Make Deadbeats Pay to Plug Wells

A problem plaguing the entire country is old conventional oil and gas wells that were never adequately plugged and capped, called orphaned wells, because (supposedly) nobody knows who owns them. In the fall of 2021, President Biden signed into law the so-called Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, some $1.2 trillion in pork barrel spending, passed with the…

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PA Sen. Yaw Calls HB 170 Banning New Drilling Via Setbacks “Stupid”

Mama says, “Stupid is as stupid does.” The phrase from the modern classic Forrest Gump perfectly describes a proposal floating in the Pennsylvania legislature called House Bill (HB) 170, which would increase setback distances for shale wells from 500 feet to 2,500 feet — effectively killing any new shale well drilling anywhere in the state….

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PA Partisan Climate Initiative Launches for Mass Brainwashing ERA

The so-called Pennsylvania Bipartisan Climate Initiative officially launched last Friday. The group is made up of liberal Democrats — it is certainly NOT “bipartisan,” as it falsely claims. The aim and goal of the group is the mass brainwashing of the PA public, pushing the state’s poorly-written Environmental Rights Amendment (ERA) law. The group hopes…

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Columbia Gas Tests Hydrogen/NatGas Blends at Safety Town in SWPA

In 2016, Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania created a new training center in Monaca (Beaver County), PA, to train its workers to handle things that can go wrong with natural gas piped into homes (see the Post-Gazette story, Columbia Gas’ new training site a place where anything can go wrong). The small model neighborhood created by…

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Left Tries to Re-spin Unpopular RGGI Carbon Tax as Enviro Justice

The mental gymnastics leftists go through to justify their anti-freedom, anti-capitalist views is truly a marvel to behold. Take the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a carbon tax scheme aimed at shutting down coal- and natural gas-fired power plants. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf could not get the Republican legislature to agree to enroll the…

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