PA DEP Shakes Down Range $294K for Unplugged Conventional Wells

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

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US Well Locks in Long-Term E-Fracking Contracts with Range, EQT

In a pair of announcements earlier this week, U.S. Well Services announced it has signed new long-term deals with both Range Resources and EQT to supply “electric fracking” services. We told you in February 2020 that Range had signed on with U.S. Well Services to continue using its electric fracking service (see Range Resources Converts

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M-U Companies Must “Walk the ESG Walk” to Get Investment Money

click for larger version On Wednesday, Hart Energy held its annual DUG (Developing Unconventional Gas) East event. This year the event was virtual instead of in-person at the convention center in Pittsburgh. One acronym seemed to be on the lips of nearly every speaker at this year’s event: ESG, which stands for “environment, social, governance.”

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Weekly Shale Drilling Permits for PA, OH, WV: Nov. 23-27

Last week Pennsylvania issued 12 new shale well drilling permits with a mix of permits issued in both the southwest (wet gas) and northeast (dry gas) regions of the state. Ohio issued 7 new permits, all of them except one in the same county (Jefferson). West Virginia was a goose egg–no new permits issued last

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Shale Gas Drillers in M-U Outshine Shale Oil Drillers Elsewhere

An article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal says there is a “split reality” emerging for U.S. shale drillers. Shale oil drillers are struggling to survive, while shale gas drillers, particularly in the Marcellus/Utica, are slowly seeing signs of financial recovery. The upshot is that you should consider investing in shale gas drillers (and not shale

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Range Signs Deal to be Main Ethane Supplier for PTT Ohio Cracker

Earlier this week we brought you a post exploring whether or not PTT Global Chemical will, in the end, actually build a $10 billion ethane cracker plant in Belmont County, Ohio (see Is PTT Going to Build a Cracker in Belmont County, OH…or Not?). Yesterday gave us one more strong signal for the “yes they

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Weekly Shale Drilling Permits for PA, OH, WV: Sep 14-18

Last week Ohio finally broke the drought of not issuing permits for new shale wells in the Buckeye State. Finally! Last week Pennsylvania issued 13 new permits for wells on three well pads. Ohio issued 4 new permits for wells on two well pads. And West Virginia issued 1 new permit.This post appeared first on

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M-U Drillers Prominently Featured at DOE Virtual NatGas Summit

Richard Weber, CEO of PennEnergy Yesterday the U.S. Dept. of Energy hosted a virtual 2020 Natural Gas Summit in Washington, D.C. DOE Secretary Dan Brouillette and Director of the White House National Economic Council Larry Kudlow were the two hosts and speaker/moderators. However, at least two prominent Marcellus/Utica driller CEOs participated, including Richard Weber from

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Hopeful Signs for Turnaround in the Marcellus/Utica Industry

One of our favorite M-U reporters, Paul Gough of the Pittsburgh Business Times, went in search of news about Appalachian shale drilling and its future. He found some rays of light. Gough talked with several of our favorite M-U people–CNX CEO Nick DeIuliis, Deep Well Services CEO Mark Marmo, and Range Resources COO Dennis Degner.

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PA DEP Hires Private Lawyers to Defend Against Atty General Probe

Really? Is this what it’s now come to? Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro is so desperate to make a criminal case against someone, anyone, in the shale industry, he’s even going after state employees–workers at the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). In a bid to raise his visibility among state voters (so he can

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Range Resources 2Q – Production Up 10% Despite MarkWest Outage

Production for Range Resources was up a healthy 10% year over year in second quarter 2019, according to Range’s 2Q19 update issued late last week. Range produced 2.3 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d) in 2Q. For the first half of the year Range brought online 39 Marcellus/Utica wells and plans to bring online

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PA Court Denies “Standing” for Grandma Fighting Range Well

A grandmother concerned that if Range Resources were to build a well pad three-fourths of a mile from her granddaughter’s school (in Washington County, PA) instead of building it a full mile from the school, tried to gain legal standing to challenge a permit granted to Range by Mount Pleasant Township. Grandma says her granddaughter

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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Continues Vendetta Against Range Resources

Pennsylvania Attorney General, Josh Shapiro, and the anti-drilling Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, continue their tag-team effort to criminalize and humiliate Range Resources. Shapiro, a sleazy politician, is investigating so-called environmental “crimes” committed by shale companies in a bid to boost his chances of being the next nominee to run for governor (see PA AG Investigates Shale Drillers

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