Ascent Res. 2Q – Drilled 21 & Fracked 22 Wells, Added 20 to Sales

Ascent Resources, founded as American Energy Partners by gas legend Aubrey McClendon, is a privately held company focusing 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. Ascent, headquartered in Oklahoma City, OK, is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer (356,700 leased acres) and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The company issued its second quarter…

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EOG Essentially Confirms DT Midstream Building Its Utica Pipeline

In 2020, EOG Resources, one of the largest oil and gas drillers in the U.S. (with international operations in Trinidad and China), sold *all* of its Marcellus assets, which were located in Bradford County, PA, to Tilden Resources for $130 million (see EOG Resources Sells Marcellus Assets for $130M, Exits Basin). EOG left the M-U…

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U.S. Rig Count Drops Another 5 Rigs, M-U Loses 1 More Rig

For the fourth week in a row and the 13th time in the last 14 weeks, the U.S. active rig count lost rigs. It’s grueling. Last week the number decreased by five rigs after falling five rigs the week before–now down to 659 active rigs across both oil and gas. The Marcellus dropped one rig…

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DT Midstream Makes FID on New Greenfield Pipeline in Ohio Utica

DT Midstream (DTM), headquartered in Detroit, owns major assets in the Marcellus/Utica region and other regions. DTM issued its second quarter 2023 update yesterday. The company announced it had reached a final investment decision (FID) to build a new greenfield gathering system in the Ohio Utica Shale. The gathering system will transport associated gas from…

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U.S. Rig Count Drops Another 5 Rigs, M-U Loses 2 More Rigs

For the third week in a row and the 12th time in the last 13 weeks, the U.S. active rig count lost rigs. Last week the number decreased by five rigs after falling six rigs the week before (see U.S. Rig Count Drops Another 6 Rigs, Now Lowest Level in 16 Mos.). Both the Marcellus…

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OH Court to Rule on Challenge of Law Allowing Drilling Under Parks

In January, Ohio House Bill (HB) 507 became law with the signature of Gov. Mike DeWine (see OH Gov. Signs Bill Expanding Drilling in State Parks, NatGas “Green”). The new law allows shale drilling under (but not on top of) Ohio state-owned land. HB 507 encourages (pushes for) more drilling under state-owned land. Even though…

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800,000 Tons of Drilling, Frack Waste Unaccounted for in NY-PA-OH

Researchers with the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) recently published a study in the journal Ecological Indicators. The study’s intent was to measure whether or not frack waste dumped in local landfills has radiation that is leaking out in groundwater (leachate) from those facilities. Research like this, if legitimate (and accurate), is a good thing. We…

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Decisions on Drilling Under OH State Parks Coming “Next Few Months”

In early June, shale drillers could, for the first time, begin to apply for permits to drill under (not on top of) Ohio state lands and state parks under newly formulated rules established by the Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management (OGLM) Commission (see Ohio State Lands Now Open for O&G Leasing – Virtual Ribbon-Cutting)….

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Bidenistas Dispense $163 Million to Plug Old O&G Wells in OH-PA-WV

In the fall of 2021, President Biden signed into law the so-called Infrastructure bill, some $1.2 trillion in pork barrel spending, passed with the help of turncoat Republicans (see Biden So-Called $1.2T Infrastructure Bill Passes Thanks to RINOs). Only about 9% of the $1.2 trillion will go to actual infrastructure projects like roads and bridges….

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U.S. Rig Count Down 9th Week in a Row, M-U Holds, Haynesville -6

The weekly rig count for the U.S. has continued to be anemic for over two months now. With its venerable rig count, Baker Hughes reported last Friday that overall, the U.S. rig count continued to bleed rigs–down another eight rigs to 674 in the week ending June 30. That’s the lowest count since April 2022,…

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Former OH House Speaker Gets 20-Yrs in Prison for Nuke Bribe Scandal

Here’s the sad end of a sad chapter in Ohio’s history–the conclusion to the largest bribery scandal in the state’s history. We’re referring to Ohio House Bill (HB) 6, a law granting billions (plural) of dollars to FirstEnergy to prop up the company’s economically failing nuclear power plants. FirstEnergy bribed state legislators to pass, and…

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M-U Rig Count Holds Even; U.S. Count Down 8th Week in a Row

The weekly rig count for the U.S. has continued to be anemic over the past two months. Baker Hughes, with its venerable rig count, reported last Friday that overall, the U.S. rig count continued to bleed rigs–down another five rigs to 682 in the week ending June 23. That’s the lowest count since April 2022…

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EOG Plans Less Drilling in TX Permian, More Drilling in OH Utica

EOG Resources CEO Lloyd “Billy” Helms spoke at the J.P. Morgan Energy, Power and Renewables Conference in New York City yesterday. Helms had some very interesting comments on his company’s strategy moving forward–a strategy of keeping drilling activity in the Permian about even (not expanding), but increasing drilling activity in other plays, including the Ohio…

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U.S. Gas Rig Count Whacked Again Last Week – PA & WV Each Lose 2

The weekly rig count in the U.S., particularly in gas-focused plays, continues to be of concern. That is, it keeps decreasing and then not recovering the decrease. Last Thursday, Baker Hughes said the U.S. lost another eight rigs total (oil and gas)–the seventh week in a row the rig count has decreased. Two weeks ago,

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