Fired Expand CEO Nick Dell’Osso Becomes CEO of Gulfport Energy
In early February, Expand Energy announced it is moving its corporate headquarters from Oklahoma City, OK, to Houston, TX. That was the headline and lead in the announcement. And oh, by the way, the company’s very successful CEO, the guy who guided the merger of Chesapeake Energy with Southwestern Energy and has made the resulting Expand Energy *the largest* natural gas producer in the country, Nick Dell’Osso, had “stepped down” effective immediately (see Earthquake at Expand Energy: CEO Nick Dell’Osso Fired by the Board). Old Saint Nick landed on his feet. Gulfport Energy announced yesterday that Nick has been appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Gulfport, effective May 28, 2026. Read More “Fired Expand CEO Nick Dell’Osso Becomes CEO of Gulfport Energy”
DT Midstream (DTM) is an owner, operator, and developer of natural gas interstate and intrastate pipelines, storage and gathering systems, compression, treatment, and surface facilities, including major assets that are in (or flow molecules from) the Marcellus/Utica. Last week, the company issued its first quarter 2026 update. CEO David Slater announced two new projects to expand pipelines that carry Marcellus/Utica molecules. He also announced a project to build a new lateral to an Indiana power plant and a new interconnect that flows more M-U molecules into the NEXUS pipeline. Great things are happening at DTM! 
Three weeks ago, the Trump Department of Energy announced it is moving forward with funding for five of the original seven Biden-awarded hydrogen hub projects, spending $5 billion of the originally allotted $7 billion (see 
We had to do a double-take when we spotted an editorial, written by the editors of the liberal Bloomberg News service, running under the title, “Data Centers Aren’t the Enemy — They’re the Future.” Bloomberg’s editorial board argues that proposed restrictions or moratoriums on data centers would be a major mistake, given their growing importance to cloud computing, AI, and the broader economy. Do you like using Facebook? Do you search Google? Do you have an Amazon Alexa in your home that you use with voice commands? Do you talk to your cell phone with voice commands? That all comes from data centers (some of it AI). If you block data centers, you block the internet. It’s that simple. 
NATIONAL: U.S. natural gas futures give back gains; U.S. LNG feedgas drops dramatically during spring maintenance season; INTERNATIONAL: Oil falls as ceasefire holds; Trump broke OPEC – he may regret it; War puts LNG future in the spotlight; Norway to reopen gas fields that were shut down; EU energy ministers to discuss domestic gas drilling, document says. 
Devon Energy and Coterra Energy shareholders have approved all proposals needed to complete the companies’ previously announced all-stock merger, which is expected to consummate on May 7, 2026. More than 98% of the votes cast by Devon shareholders and more than 99% by Coterra shareholders supported the deal. Executives said the merger will create a larger shale operator with complementary assets, improved scale, enhanced margins, free cash flow growth, and stronger shareholder returns. 
Yet another rankly hypocritical move by the Democrats in the Pennsylvania legislature. Yesterday, every single Democrat in the PA House voted in lockstep (as they typically do, under the leadership’s complete control) to pass House Bill (HB) 2076, titled “Advancing Geothermal Energy Development.” The Dems were assisted by 16 Republicans who were (charitably) hoodwinked. No matter. The bill won’t pass in the Senate. But why point out this vote? Because the “advanced” geothermal energy that the House wants to promote and regulate uses the very same drilling rigs and fracking as is used to drill in the Marcellus shale, revealing the hypocritical lies of the Democrat left in demonizing fracking. But there’s another reason we’re highlighting this news: The environmental left (including House Democrats) is seeking to increase drilling setbacks in the state from 500 feet to 3,281 feet (and, in some cases, 5,280 feet). Do the House Dems realize the new setbacks would not only ban ALL shale fracking in the state but also all geothermal fracking? 
President Donald Trump’s proposal for a $33 billion, 9.2-gigawatt gas power plant in Ohio—funded by Japanese investment, including SoftBank—aims to address soaring energy demands from data centers (see 
Last week, CNX Resources issued its first quarter 2026 update. During 1Q26, CNX drilled 14 Southwest PA Marcellus wells, frac’d 6 wells (3 SWPA Marcellus and 3 Central PA Utica wells), and turned-in-line (TIL’ed) 12 wells (6 SWPA Marcellus, 3 CPA Marcellus, and 3 CPA Utica wells). Included in that activity were three of the company’s longest Marcellus laterals to date, all of which exceeded 22,000 feet, including a company record lateral that reached 23,369 feet (4.4 miles!), and a company daily drilling record of 9,252 feet of lateral in 24 hours. Production in 1Q26 was 1,693.0 MMcfe/d, up from 1Q25 (1,642.3) and up from 4Q25 (1,654.8). 
What happens on the other side of the world sometimes affects the Marcellus/Utica. So far, the Iran war has not affected prices (or demand) in the M-U for natural gas. However, if the war continues to drag on for months, it could potentially affect us by affecting the price of LNG on the world market. About one-fifth (20%) of global LNG trade depends on the Strait of Hormuz, with effectively no other way to get it out. Oil can, potentially, find other pathways out of the Persian Gulf (via overland pipelines). But such is not the case with LNG from Qatar. 
Last week, the combined Marcellus/Utica Baker Hughes rig count remained at 37 active rigs for the sixth week in a row. The M-U’s chief competitor, the Haynesville, added two rigs and now runs 58 active rigs, some 21 more than the M-U. Clearly, drillers are choosing to put their money into the Haynesville over the M-U despite that play’s higher costs because (a) it’s closer to the Gulf Coast LNG export facilities, and (b) it’s easier to build pipelines in Louisiana and Texas than it is in the northeast. The national count added three rigs last week and now operates 547 rigs. 
Last Friday, TC Energy reported a robust first quarter in 2026, highlighted by a 14% increase in comparable EBITDA to $3.1 billion and record delivery volumes across its North American pipeline network. For the Marcellus and Utica shale region, the standout development is the newly announced $1.5 billion Appalachia Supply Project on the Columbia Gas system. Slated for 2030, this expansion will add 0.8 Bcf/d of takeaway capacity to meet surging electricity and data center demand. Appalachia is explicitly identified as a major contributor to the growth in U.S. natural gas production, and is expected to account for over 55% of the growth by 2035. 
The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Equinor USA Onshore Properties Inc. (formerly Statoil) in a multi-million dollar tax dispute last Friday. The case has major implications for how the state calculates severance taxes for natural gas liquids. The decision reversed an intermediate court’s procedural dismissal, entitling Equinor to over $19 million in tax refunds for the years 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, and 2019. The dispute centered on the definition of “gross proceeds” and the timeliness of administrative appeals in a years-long battle with the West Virginia tax commissioner.