The Marcellus Shale | April 2023

Field Overview

The Marcellus Shale is the largest gas play onshore in the US. Located in the Northeast, it supplies the high-demand markets along the East Coast. Most of the basin’s gas is produced through unconventional methods, while the little oil produced is mostly by conventional means. Some of the top formations include the Onondaga and the Huntersville.

State Drilling Statistics

Active Drilling Rigs in Basin- 42 (+2)
Total Rigs in Pennsylvania- 26 (+2)
Total Rigs in the United States- 755 (-)
Total U.S. Rigs 8.2% YTD

State Permitting Data
Permits Approved – 88

Marcellus Top Producers
Top Producer By BOE – Chesapeake

Basin Highlights

Green groups sue to stop Ohio from leasing state parks for oil and gas drilling

Legislation that permits state parks to be leased for fracking and redefines the potent greenhouse gas methane as “green energy” has been the subject of a temporary injunction issued on April 6 in an effort to stop it. On April 7, the law was supposed to take effect, but the court has not yet reacted to the injunction. The rule, which originally dealt with the maximum number of chicken chicks that could be sold at once, gradually expanded in breadth and size to benefit both the fossil fuel and petrochemical sectors as well as major players in the agriculture sector. The expansive law gives the fossil fuel industry free reign to frack Ohio’s 75 extremely popular state parks. It also includes new restrictions for agricultural and electric utilities, as well as a ban on the sale of dyed chicks, bunnies, and ducklings.

Board approves new air pollution standards for conventional oil and gas industry, over objections

Over the objections of industry trade groups and Republicans who argued that the commission shouldn’t have used an emergency approval to get the new rules in place, the Independent Regulatory Review Commission approved new air pollution standards for the conventional oil and gas industry. The move comes as the state is racing to meet a deadline imposed by the federal government. “Clearly, the emergency rulemaking process was undertaken deliberately on the last day of the 2021-22 legislative session to hamstring the General Assembly on our statutory obligation to review regulations. It is an abuse of the emergency rulemaking process — an emergency created not because the House Environment Committee exercised its prerogative, but because the Wolf Administration’s management of DEP allowed it to go six years — including two years since put on notice by EPA — to promulgate a rulemaking that complies with both the EPA requirements and Pennsylvania’s own statutory standards,” according to a letter submitted to IRRC by Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Lycoming, the chairman of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, along with other Senate Republicans.

Operators with the Most Permits in PA

Top Producers By Gas

Rig Count

PA Oil Production

PA Natural Gas Production

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PETRO Engineering, PLLC via the following sources unless otherwise
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www.eia.gov
www.drillinginfo.com
www.bhge.com
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