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SWPA Landowners Settle Class Action Lawsuit with Chief for $5.5M

It took us a while to track down this story, but we finally have details about the settlement of a class action lawsuit brought by roughly 60 landowners in Fayette County, PA, against Chief Exploration and Development, the former drilling arm of Chief Oil & Gas (now called Cyprus Exploration and Development). The lawsuit alleged that in 2008, Chief and its landman had cut a deal to lease the landowners’ property and then never paid the stipulated signing bonus. The lawsuit sought $7 million. The landowners ended up settling for $5.5 million earlier this month.
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Fayette County, PA Landowners Get $5.5M Settlement from Chief

A group of roughly 60 landowners located in Fayette County, PA, have received a $5.5 million settlement from what was Chief Exploration and Development (now called Cyprus Exploration and Development) to compensate the landowners for leases signed in 2008. The landowners filed a class action lawsuit in 2011, claiming bonus and rent payments were not made.
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20 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Mar 14-20

We’re back to covering just a single week of new permits issued. The good news is that the PA DEP’s reporting site was still up and online over the past week, so we have numbers! In Pennsylvania, 11 new permits were issued last week, with Coterra Energy (formerly Cabot Oil & Gas) getting the lion’s share (nine permits), all of them in Susquehanna County on two well pads. Ohio issued seven new permits last week, with Gulfport Energy scoring four of the seven, all on the same pad. West Virginia issued just two new permits, one to Antero Resources and the other to Tug Hill Operating.
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37 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Feb 28-Mar 13

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) finally got their reporting system back online after it had gone down for a second time in three weeks. We have collected the permits issued over a two-week period in this report, to catch things up (and because PA didn’t issue any permits for one of the two weeks). This current report shows permits issued from Monday, Feb. 28 through Sunday, Mar. 13. PA issued 15 new permits over the two-week period. The top permitees in PA were EQT and CNX, both with five permits each. In Ohio, 11 new permits were issued, with Encino Energy receiving four and Gulfport three permits. West Virginia also issued 11 new permits for the two-week period. Antero received six of WV’s permits, and both Southwestern Energy and Arsenal Resources scored two each.
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Top 10 Shale Drillers in Pa. as of Jan 2022 – by # Wells Drilled

With the ever-changing landscape of mergers and acquisitions in the shale industry, including here in the Marcellus/Utica, it’s helpful to check in every now and again with a “top 10” list. This time our top 10 list is for the largest shale drillers/operators in Pennsylvania. The Pittsburgh Business Times recently updated its “Book of Lists” for active PA shale drillers, all 47 of them. We have a quick list of the top 10 below.
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Rees-Jones Says He ‘Saved the Best for Last’ with Chief O&G Sale

Last week MDN brought you the news that Chesapeake Energy is buying Marcellus driller Chief Oil & Gas (plus associated non-operated assets from Tug Hill Operating) for $2 billion in cash and approximately 9.44 million common shares (see Chesapeake Buys Chief Oil & Gas & Non-op Tug Hill Assets for $2.6B). Chief is privately owned by Dallas, Texas billionaire Trevor Rees-Jones. With the deal signed, he’s talking about how he “saved the best for last” with the sale of Chief…
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Chesapeake Buys Chief Oil & Gas & Non-op Tug Hill Assets for $2.6B

As predicted last week by Reuters, Chesapeake Energy announced yesterday it is buying Marcellus driller Chief Oil & Gas plus associated non-operated assets from Tug Hill Operating for $2 billion in cash and approximately 9.44 million common shares. The total purchase price (given the current CHK stock price of $67/share) is roughly $2.6 billion. The combination makes Chesapeake a powerhouse driller in the northeast Pennsylvania Marcellus with 653,000 acres of leases.
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More M&A Coming to M-U in 2022? List of the Hunters & the Hunted

In May 2021 S&P Global Market Intelligence ran an article on which Marcellus/Utica drillers are likely targets to be acquired, and which drillers are doing the targeting (see Which M-U Drillers are Likely Next Targets for Acquisition?). They were right, at least partially. Market Intelligence has just updated its list of M-U for “the hunters” and “the hunted.” Let’s have a look…
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Stop Press! Chesapeake Energy in “Advanced Talks” to Buy Chief O&G

According to super-secret sources talking to Reuters, Chesapeake Energy is in advanced talks to purchase Chief Oil & Gas for $2.4 billion. MDN brought you the news last October that Chief, a private company owned by Texas wildcatter Trevor Rees-Jones, was shopping itself for $3 billion (see Big News: Marcellus Driller Chief Oil & Gas Shopping Itself for $3B). It appears Chief may have found a buyer…
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18 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 10-16

Last week 18 permits were issued to drill new shale wells in the Marcellus/Utica, down from 24 the week before. Pennsylvania had the most new permits with 12, mostly in the northeastern part of the state in Lycoming and Susquehanna counties. Ohio had four permits evenly divided between Columbiana and Harrison counties. West Virginia had just two lonely permits, one in Lewis and one in Wetzel counties.
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24 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 3-9

Last week 24 permits were issued to drill new shale wells in the Marcellus/Utica. Pennsylvania had the lion’s share with 19 new permits–most of those (10) were issued for two Chesapeake Energy well pads in Bradford County in the northeastern part of the state. Ohio had just two new permits, both on the same Southwestern Energy well pad in Monroe County. West Virginia had three new permits, one in Pleasants County and two in Marshall County.
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32 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 13-19

Two weeks ago the Marcellus/Utica region saw 30 new permits to drill shale wells. Last week we improved that a bit, to 32. Pennsylvania issued 13 new permits to three drillers for five well pads in four counties. Ohio issued eight new permits to two drillers for three pads in two counties. And West Virginia issued 11 new permits to two drillers for two pads in a single county.
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29 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Nov 29-Dec 5

There was a healthy number of new permits issued in all three actively drilling Marcellus/Utica states last week. In Pennsylvania, 14 new shale well permits were issued across the state. In Ohio, five new shale permits were issued, four of them to a single driller (Ascent Resources) in a single county (Jefferson). West Virginia came roaring back after getting skunked with no permits two weeks ago. WV issued 10 new shale permits last week with five going to a single well pad in Monongalia County.
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20 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Nov 8-14

Four weeks ago the total number of permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica was 22. Three weeks ago it fell to 9. Two weeks ago the numbers picked up somewhat, with 16 new permits. Last week? There was a combined 20 new shale permits. However, the usual order of things with Pennsylvania dominating the new permit numbers was turned upside down. Last week PA only had 2 new permits (can’t remember the number being that low for months, if ever). OH issued a whopping 11 new permits, and WV issued 7 new permits.
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Weekly Shale Drilling Permits for PA, OH, WV: Oct 11-17

Last week Pennsylvania issued 14 permits to drill new shale wells scattered around the state. The permits were issued to Chesapeake Energy, EQT, EXCO Resources, Chief Oil & Gas, and Southwestern Energy. Ohio issued five new permits in two counties, but all of them were issued to Ascent Resources. West Virginia issued just one new permit in a county we don’t often see in the list: Marion. The single WV permit was issued to EQT.
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