Facts & Rumors # 658
September 26, 2026
Marcellus, Utica, Permian and Eagle Ford Plays
U.S. Energy Secretary Wright Says Diesel Export Ban Won’t Work. Reuters. US Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Wednesday said a US ban on diesel exports would not work and could push up gasoline and jet fuel prices, a stance at odds with President Donald Trump, who is backing the idea. Diesel prices have surged to record highs due to the US-Israeli war with Iran and the conflict in Ukraine, angering farmers and other users of the fuel ahead of the midterm elections in November that will decide control of Congress. “The blunt tool of banning diesel exports definitely doesn’t work,” Wright said at an event hosted by the Economist in New York.
TXOGA President Staples: A Diesel Ban Today Means a Weaker America Tomorrow. Texas Insider. “Banning exports of diesel would cripple domestic jobs, lead to fuel shortages here at home and put power in the hands of China and Russia by forcing our allies to turn to those countries to meet their needs. America’s energy leadership is needed now more than ever, and the best way to protect Texas and American consumers is to encourage continued investment in infrastructure which means more production, pipelines, processing and refining,” said TXOGA President Todd Staples. “Global disruptions to the supply chain will eventually be resolved and Texas will emerge stronger and consumers better protected than ever. A ban today means a weaker America tomorrow and should be rejected by all Americans.”
Why a U.S. Diesel Export Ban May Not Lower Prices. The New York Times. Weeks away from the midterm elections, President Trump is considering banning or restricting exports of diesel fuel to the rest of the world. It’s an effort to bring down surging prices that have become a major concern for many voters. An export ban, as some Republican lawmakers and candidates see it, would lower costs by keeping more diesel at home. That would reduce fuel costs for farmers, truckers and other businesses.
Idea to Combat High Diesel Prices to Help Farmers Faces Pushback from Oil, Gas Industry. KTSM. Todd Staples, the president of the Texas Oil & Gas Association (TXOGA), said in a statement this week, “Banning exports of diesel would cripple domestic jobs, lead to fuel shortages here at home and put power in the hands of China and Russia by forcing our allies to turn to those countries to meet their needs.” Staples believes American energy is needed more now than ever and believes the global disruptions to the supply chain will eventually be resolved.
EQT Selling LNG to Europeans. Back in March, a delegation of European heavyweights came to Pittsburgh with their shopping bags, looking to buy more U.S. LNG. Leading the charge was Jovita Neliupšiene, a Lithuanian who now serves as the EU’s ambassador to the U.S. Looks like they found what they were shopping for — in Pittsburgh. Lithuanian state-owned energy company Ignitis has picked a subsidiary of Pittsburgh-based EQT Corporation, one of the largest U.S. natural gas producers, to supply it with 10 cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) — one per year from 2027 through 2036. EQT beat out other bidders in a competitive tender. It’s the first long-term gas supply contract between Ignitis and a U.S. company. Small deal? Yes. Symbolic deal? Very much so.
NatGas Remains Affordable This Winter. Here’s How. The Washington Post. As the Iran conflict continues to roil energy markets, sending crude oil and gasoline prices higher, there’s one bright spot for American customers: natural gas. For that, they can thank American innovation and free markets. The American Gas Association’s winter heating outlook estimates that average natural gas prices will be lower this winter than last winter. That echoes the latest projections from the Energy Information Administration. The reason for the lower prices is not less demand; in fact, demand is expected to continue its years-long rise. It’s not price controls; those were fully repealed in 1993. Enormous supply is what’s keeping costs down. On top of an annual production record expected this year, there is also more natural gas surplus in storage for the coming winter than in any year since 2016. The surplus is expected to last into March.
Data Center Coming to Butler County, PA. Thanks, MDN. Another big data center is heading to western Pennsylvania, and this one includes its own power plant, plus access to a shale gas well pad. A Florida LLC and a Coraopolis microgrid company have filed preliminary plans for the Misty Hollow Energy & Data Campus: a 1-million-square-foot data center and a 300-megawatt power generation facility on a former dairy farm along Prospect Road (PA Route 528) in Forward Township, Butler County. A letter in the project file says PennEnergy Resources will give the project access to its natural gas well pad. The developers haven’t said what fuel the power plant will burn. But when your neighbor is a Marcellus well pad, we’d guess it isn’t solar panels.
Alpha Compute to Build Second Data Center with 75 Wells. Thanks MDN. Alpha Compute Corp. (Nasdaq: ALP), the tiny AI outfit that wants to build a 200 MW gas-fired data center in Tioga County (see MDN Was Right: Alpha Compute Data Center Is in Tioga County), is now buying an old-fashioned oil field somewhere else in Pennsylvania. Yesterday (Sept. 22), the company said it signed “definitive real estate and asset purchase agreements” to buy 300+ acres, 75+ existing oil and gas wells, pump jacks, a maintenance shop, heavy equipment, and gathering lines, all for $5.5 million. It plans to put a second data center on the site. What the company did NOT say: where the property is, or who’s selling it. And some of the numbers in the release are, let’s say, ambitious.
Data Center Developers Follow the NatGas Producers. Data center developers urged to learn from natural gas industry amid regulatory backlash. Pittsburgh Business Times. Data center developers could take a page from the natural gas industry when it comes to navigating public controversy and regulations amid a backlash that has formed in western Pennsylvania and around the country, according to a panel Wednesday convened by the Marcellus Shale Coalition and Babst Calland at Shale Insight in Erie. There have been dozens of data center projects that have been proposed in Pennsylvania over the past several years, from high-profile ones like the Homer City Energy Campus in Indiana County to others in various stages of planning and development in Washington, Allegheny, Beaver and, most recently, Butler County.
PA September 14, to September 24, 2026
County Township E&P Companies
1. Allegheny West Deer EQT
2. Sullivan Colley Expand
3. Sullivan Colley Expand
4. Tioga Deerfield Seneca
5. Tioga Deerfield Seneca
OH September 13, to September 19, 2026
County Township E&P Companies
1. Tuscarawas Perry EOG
2. Tuscarawas Perry EOG
3. Tuscarawas Perry EOG
4. Tuscarawas Perry EOG
5. Guernsey Madison Ascent
6. Guernsey Madison Ascent
WV September 17 ,to September 19, 2026
1. Marshall Expand
2. Marshall Expand
3. Marshall Expand
4. Marshall Expand
5. Marshall Expand
