Natural gas company CNX Resources Corp. will expand into Westmoreland County in a $505 million deal.
CNX announced this week it will acquire Pine-based Apex Energy II LLC — a move that will add about 36,000 acres in Westmoreland County to CNX’s scope. It will also earn CNX 8,600 acres of undeveloped Utica Shale and 12,600 acres of undeveloped Marcellus Shale.
The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025, according to a statement from the CNX.
“This transaction represents a rare opportunity to acquire a highly complementary asset adjacent to our existing operations,” said CNX President and CEO Nick Deiuliis. “It underscores our confidence in the stacked pay development opportunities that have been unlocked from pioneering the deep Utica in this region.”
Based in Washington County’s Cecil Township, CNX operates in the Appalachian Basin, which stretches from New York to Alabama.
CNX said in May it planned to build a $1.5 billion facility at the Pittsburgh International Airport to make hydrogen-based fuels. This would only come to fruition, CNX said, if President Joe Biden’s administration allows coal mine methane to qualify for tax credits, according to the Associated Press.
The proposed facility will likely be criticized by climate change activists, who don’t want fossil fuels to qualify for the tax credits. But the plan was backed by Pittsburgh-area labor unions and top state officials, including U.S. Sen. Bob Casey — whose seat will be taken in 2025 by Republican Dave McCormick.
CNX said the facility would remove greenhouse gas from the atmosphere and blend it with natural gas to produce hydrogen-based airline fuel — replacing nearly all of the jet fuel used at the airport.
