click for larger version Penn State researchers have and continue to do important research around the benefits AND risks of Marcellus Shale drilling. Recently Penn State researchers published a study in Energy Policy, an Elsevier scientific journal, reviewing the presence of fine particulars (called PM 2.5) in proximity to well pad drilling sites in the
Read More...Tom ShepstoneShepstone Management Company, Inc. . … Pennsylvania State Rep. Jim Struzzi is demanding Tom Wolf drop his petulant RGGI initiative now that the IRRC has recommended a delay. Pennsylvania’s Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) has said “whoa” as to implementing Tom Wolf’s RGGI plans for a new carbon tax on all Pennsylvanians. State Representative
Read More...Yesterday the country’s largest natural gas producer, EQT Corporation, released its 4Q and full-year 2020 update, holding a conference call with analysts to discuss the results. The update shows the company produced an average of 4.45 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natural gas in 4Q. Although there was plenty of “free cash flow”
Read More...The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is once again spinning an error by a major Marcellus driller, Range Resources, as some sort of evil plot to avoid and defraud the DEP. Due to a mistake by a former employee, Range misclassified 42 old conventional wells on acreage it owns and did not plug the
Read More...A new attack against the Marcellus Shale industry in Pennsylvania comes from fossil fuel haters attempting to dispute permits reissued for existing (NOT new) shale wastewater storage and recycling facilities scattered across the state. Antis seek to shut down pipelines, rail shipments, recycling facilities, injection wells–anything they can to stop to prevent drillers from extracting
Read More...Last June MDN told you about a plan by McCandless, a township in Allegheny County, PA (near Pittsburgh), to block any and all shale drilling within its borders by getting creative (see McCandless Twp Tries to Block Shale Drilling with New Zoning Law). McCandless cooked up changes to its zoning laws that make it illegal
Read More...Jim WillisEditor & Publisher, Marcellus Drilling News (MDN) [Editor’s Note: Four House Democrats from Western Pennsylvania are stating their opposition to Tom Wolf’s seventh attempt to impose a severance tax!] As we reported two weeks ago, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (Democrat) has, for the seventh year in a row, introduced a Marcellus-killing severance tax proposal as part
Read More...Alexander StevensPolicy AnalystInstitute for Energy Research …. … … [Editor’s Note: Tom Wolf is a spoiled trust-funder obsessed with the fact he can’t just dictate a severance tax be imposed on Pennsylvanians at his will.] Over the past week, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has once again promoted the idea of levying a severance tax on the natural
Read More...Last Friday National Fuel Gas Company (NFG), the parent company for Seneca Resources and Empire Pipeline, issued its latest quarterly update for the quarter ending Dec. 31 (NFG’s first quarter 2021, everyone else’s fourth quarter 2020). Among the pearls of good news for NFG is that the company is adding a rig back in Tioga
Read More...In January MDN told you that after five loooong years, a federal judge in Scranton, PA had finally ruled the Wayne Land and Mineral Group (WLMG) v. Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) lawsuit will go to trial this year (see Judge Rules Wayne Landowner Lawsuit re DRBC Frack Ban Continues). We’ve since learned the trial
Read More...Natalie DeCarioExternal Affairs Coordinator, Cabot Oil & Gas … … February’s free monthly Think About Energy webinar will focus on the first 100 days of the Biden Administration and their plan moving forward. As we roll into a new year, we know that few things remain unchanged. A new administration, economic recovery from a global pandemic,
Read More...We don’t write much about Alta Resources, a shale drilling company co-founded by the inventor of shale fracking, George Mitchell. But that doesn’t mean Alta doesn’t drill in the Marcellus. The company owns some 547,000 gross (239,000 net) acres producing natural gas from approximately 900 wells in the Marcellus Shale across Bradford, Wyoming, Sullivan, Lycoming,
Read More...On Joe Biden’s first day in occupying the White House, he signed an Executive Order (EO) suspending new oil and gas leasing while the Interior Department reviews existing leases and permitting practices for 60 days. The aim is to make the federal lease ban permanent. However, some permits on existing leases will continue to be
Read More...Northern Oil and Gas, Inc., a company that invests in non-operated oil and gas assets (they let others do the drilling), announced yesterday it has purchased 64,000 net acres producing ~120 MMcfe/d (million cubic feet equivalent per day) in the Marcellus/Utica from Reliance Industries Limited (RIL). The cash purchase price is $250 million.This post appeared
Read More...Chesapeake Energy will emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy next week having dumped $7 billion of old debt (out of $8.9 billion) and taking on $2.5 billion in new debt financing (see Court Approves Chesapeake Bankruptcy Plan to Dump $7B of Debt). Yesterday the company issued an announcement to say it is raising $1 billion of
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