trending Market Intelligence /marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/mjhdC_EWnKDgclRbGyxSIw2 content esgSubNav
In This List

Despite September uptick, Pa. permitting slowed 5% YOY

Podcast

Next in Tech | Episode 49: Carbon reduction in cloud

Blog

Using ESG Analysis to Support a Sustainable Future

Research

US utility commissioners: Who they are and how they impact regulation

Blog

Q&A: Datacenters: Energy Hogs or Sustainability Helpers?


Despite September uptick, Pa. permitting slowed 5% YOY

While Pennsylvania issued 27% more permits for new shale wells in September than it did in August, September permitting was 5% below the same month last year, according to the latest state data.

Activity statewide also shifted away from the dry gas northeast corner of the state to liquids-rich counties around Pittsburgh in the southwest, according to Department of Environmental Protection data Oct. 6.

EQT Corp., the nation's largest gas producer by volume, Range Resources Corp. and supermajor Chevron Corp. pulled 73 permits in the southwest corner of the state, 57% of the state's total. By comparison, northeast drillers Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. and Chesapeake Energy Corp. pulled 17 permits in the northeast.

Range pulled the most permits of any driller in the state, and combined with Blackstone Group Inc.-backed Huntley & Huntley Energy Exploration, LLC, now called Olympus Energy LLC, pulled 14 permits in Pittsburgh's Allegheny County, double the number of the previous year. Supermajor Chevron accounted for all 16 permits pulled in Fayette County, which saw no activity last year. Greene County, in the far southwest of the state, saw a 59% drop on permitting activity to seven permits as small independent CNX Resources Corp. pulled no new permits in the county compared to eight permits last September.

The latest permit data shows the growing dominance of deeper-pocketed majors and independents operating in Pennsylvania's shale. More than three-fourths of the new permits issued in September went to publicly listed companies as activity continues to focus on the counties on the northeast and southwestern corners of the state.

SNL Image