February 17, 2021 | Marcellus Drilling News marcellusdrilling.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from marcellusdrilling.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Oil and gas drilling giant Equinor (formerly called Statoil) is owned by the Norwegian government. Equinor/Statoil has drilled in the Marcellus/Utica for years. It looks like that may be coming to an end at least the active drilling part. Equinor officials say they are evaluating their U.S. shale holdings, including their active drilling on 27,000 acres in the Utica Shale, with an eye toward selling. However, the same official said the company may want to increase its non-operated M-U holdings, currently ~205,000 acres. As recently as June 2019 the company reported drilling 9-14 Utica wells per year (see Equinor (Statoil) Drilling Long Utica Laterals, Production Up 5X). But in March 2020, just prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, the company decided to temporarily suspend its Utica (and Bakken) drilling program (see Equinor (Statoil) Stops All U.S. Shale Drilling, Incl. Marcellus). In August 2020 Equinor said it would not drill any more new wells in 2020 in the U.S. (see Equinor (Sta