Published Marcellus Drilling News 12.4.24 

Yesterday, the Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) released its latest quarterly Natural Gas Production Report for July through September 2024 (full copy below). There were 63 new horizontal wells spud (drilled) in 3Q24, the same exact number as in 2Q24, but 3Q’s number was a decrease of 39 wells (-38%) compared to the third quarter of 2023. The number of new wells drilled, 63, is the lowest since 2008 (except for 2Q24, which was also 63). This was the eighth consecutive quarter with a year-over-year (YOY) decline in new wells spud. Natural gas production volume was 1,838 billion cubic feet (Bcf) in 3Q24, down 33 Bcf (1.8%) from the 1,871 Bcf produced in 3Q23.

If you can call it that, the one bright spot is that production in 3Q24 was up slightly (2.5%) from 2Q24.

The IFO revised its report format beginning with the 1Q23 update, omitting a couple of key charts. Based on available IFO data, we created our own charts below.

Here are the IFO’s PA quarterly production numbers going back to 4Q17, as compiled by MDN:

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The following chart shows wells spud (drilled) by quarter since 2020, grouped by quarter:

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The next chart is the same information grouped by year instead of by quarter:

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The third “wells spud” chart shows data since 2020 as a linear chart to give you an overall sense of the direction of new well drilling, which isn’t the kind of trend we want to see:

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The report (below) mentions that the average spot price for natural gas in PA in 3Q24 was $1.44/MMBtu, and the Henry Hub was $2.11/MMBtu. We embedded the chart at the top of this post. Prices continue to be a disaster, which is why drilling is down.

Link to full article: IFO 3Q24 Report: New Wells Drilled in Pa. Lowest Since 2008 | Marcellus Drilling News

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