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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WV July Severance Tax Revenue Drops Like a Rock, Down 93%

West Virginia’s state budget runs from July 1 through the following year’s June 30. WV’s General Revenue collections for July 2023, the first month of Fiscal Year 2024, came in at a respectable $7.7 million above estimates, with total collections of $335 million. However, that $335 million collected is 12% lower than the $381 million…

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Equitrans Resumes Construction of MVP, Tweaking Southgate Plan

Equitrans Midstream issued its second quarter update yesterday, and WOW, what an update! The company had lots to talk about following the high drama surrounding its Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project over the past couple of months. Equitrans CEO Tom Karam said following the U.S. Supreme Court’s intervention, construction has now resumed on MVP and…

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FERC Approves Constr. Startup for Ohio Valley Connector Expansion

In February 2022, Equitrans Midstream announced it had filed a new pipeline expansion project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see Equitrans Files New $160M Pipe Expansion Project with FERC). Called the Ohio Valley Connector Expansion Project (or OVCX), the $160 million project will add compression along Equitrans pipelines in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia…

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WV NatGas Property Tax Rule Still a Mess, 303 Cases Appealed

The West Virginia State Legislature passed House Bill (HB) 2581 on the last day of the annual WV legislative session in April 2021. HB 2581 required the State Tax Commissioner to develop a revised methodology to value oil and natural gas properties for the purpose of assessing property taxes. The State Tax Department submitted an…

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Supreme Court Overturns 4th Circuit, MVP to Restart Construction

In an act of Supreme justice, the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, John Roberts, issued an order yesterday overturning the stays imposed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (4th Circuit) that were blocking the completion of the 94% done Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). Let the bulldozers start their engines!…

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31 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jul 17-23

New shale permits issued for Jul 17-23 in the Marcellus/Utica saw a nice increase. There were 31 new permits issued last week, up from the 23 issued the previous week. Last week’s permit tally included 13 new permits in Pennsylvania, 8 new permits in Ohio, and 10 new permits in West Virginia. The top permittee…

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Biden Admin Finally Files Supreme Court Brief Supporting MVP

Better late than never. Last week U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (liberal Democrat from West Virginia) filed an amicus curiae “friend of the court” brief with the U.S. Supreme Court to show his support for Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) in its fight against the actions of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (see…

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Mountain Valley Pipeline Politicos Talk A Good Game, But…

Mountain Valley Pipeline Politicos Talk A Good Game, But… Jim Willis on NGL Pipelines Editor & Publisher, Marcellus Drilling News (MDN)   [Editor’s Note: The politicos supporting the Mountain Valley Pipeline are talking a good game but only impeachment of tyrant judges will do if they want to end the nonsense.] On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin

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Congressional Delegation Files Friend of Court Brief Supporting MVP

On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (liberal Democrat from West Virginia) filed an amicus curiae “friend of the court” brief with the U.S. Supreme Court to show his support for Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) in its fight against the actions of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (see WV Sen. Joe Manchin…

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17 New Shale Well Permits Issued for OH-WV (Not PA) Jul 10-16

We’re trying not to sound too PO’d (personally offended) here, but once again, in what seems to be an every month or two occurrence, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) online oil and gas permitting database is throwing an error. So, we are left with no permit numbers for PA for the week of…

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WV Sen. Joe Manchin Files Friend of Court Brief to Support MVP

Yesterday, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Mountain Valley Pipeline’s (MVP) emergency application to vacate the stays of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (4th Circuit)…

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Mitch McConnell Calls Out Joe Manchin for Flip-Flop on Gas Stoves

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin is a typical politician. That is, he lies. His latest whopper concerns a measure he advanced to “prohibit” the Biden administration from “banning gas stoves,” which he touted in a recent video. However, just two years ago, Manchin opposed an amendment from Wyoming Republican senator John Barrasso that prohibited federal funds…

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EQT, Diversified Ask WV Fed Court to Toss Abandoned Well Lawsuit

Last summer, MDN brought you the news about a lawsuit against Diversified Energy and EQT over the issue of old and “abandoned” wells in West Virginia (see Big Green Uses WV Landowners to Sue EQT, Diversified re Old Wells). In April, a West Virginia federal judge allowed that lawsuit to continue as a class action…

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MVP Asks Supreme Court Chief Justice to Overturn 4th Circuit Stay

Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), in a move largely anticipated and expected, filed an “emergency application” on Friday with the U.S. Supreme Court, requesting the court block the recent “stay” on two key permits needed to complete the 94% completed MVP project recently imposed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (see All…

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