| | | | | | |

Layoffs Hitting the Gas Fields, Including Marcellus/Utica

According to Reuters, oilfield service companies and drillers have put the brakes on hiring and “further job cuts could loom” as natural gas producers respond to sliding prices by slashing spending on new wells to reduce excess production. We told you yesterday that Chesapeake Energy announced a coming rig and frac crew cut in the Marcellus (see Chesapeake Dropping 1 Rig in Marcellus as it Waits to Merge with SWN). But it’s not some far-off “maybe it will happen” thing. Layoffs in the M-U are already happening. For example, fracking company NexTier merged with Patterson-UTI last September. Because of duplication of services, Patterson recently announced it will close a facility in Mansfield, Pennsylvania, affecting some 104 employees.
Continue reading

| | | | | | | |

Equitrans Looking at Potential Buyer; MVP Now Delayed Until 2Q

Two really big (huge) pieces of news are coming from yesterday’s Equitrans Midstream fourth quarter and full-year 2023 update. The first bit of news is that Equitrans is actively considering a buyout offer. The company doesn’t use that exact language, but that’s what’s happening. This should come as no surprise, given the rumor mill on a potential Equitrans sale heated up last December (see Equitrans Midstream, Builder of MVP, Considers Selling Itself). The second bit of news is that (surprise!) the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project, which was supposed to be done and online by the end of March, will slip into the second quarter. Oh! And the price tag has increased once again, thanks to various lawsuits by Big Green and complicit judges.
Continue reading

| | | | | | | | | | | | | |

DT Midstream 4Q – M-U Pipeline Operations Expand, Looking for M&A

DT Midstream (DTM), headquartered in Detroit, owns major assets in the Marcellus/Utica region and other regions like the Haynesville. DTM issued its fourth quarter 2023 update last Friday. The Marcellus/Utica region (which they call Northeast in the report) received several prominent mentions during a conference call with analysts. Also of note were comments by DT CEO David Slater, who said he’s positioning the company to take advantage of “bolt-on” opportunities in the regions where they operate. Meaning he’s on the lookout for mergers and acquisitions.
Continue reading

| | | |

WV’s Botched NatGas Property Tax Gets Messier with House Vote

Last summer, MDN told you that a new system to assess valuations of shale wells in West Virginia had turned into a royal mess (see WV NatGas Property Tax Rule Still a Mess, 303 Cases Appealed). In January, that mess got a whole lot messier — what we call a hot mess — when a “clerical error” by a third-party vendor in calculating the new formula for natural gas property tax valuations caused newly producing natural gas wells to be undervalued, leading to the loss of millions of dollars for the counties that see the most shale drilling (see NatGas WV Property Tax Mistake a Hot Mess – Counties Out Millions). Now, the legislature, in its wisdom, has voted to keep the flawed formula (that resulted in a clerical error) in place permanently.
Continue reading

| | | | | | | | |

Baker Hughes U.S. Rig Count Loses 2 @ 621, M-U Stays Even @ 44

Last week, the Baker Hughes rig count lost two rigs after adding four rigs the week before. The count went from 623 active rigs two weeks ago to 621 last week. The national count has consistently stayed between 620-625 active rigs since last October. The Marcellus/Utica stayed even last week at 44 rigs after gaining two rigs the week before. The M-U is at the most active rigs we’ve had since last August!
Continue reading

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

19 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Feb 5 – 11

There were 19 new permits issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica during the week of Feb. 5 – 11, versus 20 permits issued the prior week. Pennsylvania issued 13 new permits last week. Ohio issued 4 new permits. West Virginia issued 2 new permits last week. Range Resources scored the most new permits with 5 split between Allegheny and Beaver counties in PA. Chesapeake Energy received 4 permits in Bradford County, PA. Seneca Resources received 4 permits in Elk County, PA. Encino Energy received 4 permits in Guernsey County, OH. And Diversified Energy received 2 permits in Harrison County, WV.
Continue reading

| | |

Antero 4Q – Production Up 6%, Profits Down 87%, 21 New Wells

Antero Resources, which is 100% focused on the Marcellus/Utica with over 500,000 net acres under lease (and the largest M-U driller in West Virginia), issued its fourth quarter and full-year 2023 update yesterday. The company reports net production averaged 3.4 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d) during 4Q23, an increase of 6% year-over-year. Production for the full year 2023 averaged 3.4 Bcfe/d as well. Of the company’s 2023 production, liquids (NGLs) averaged 193 thousand barrels per day (MBbl/d), an increase of 14% from 2022. Natural gas production averaged 2.2 Bcf/d, up 2% from 2022. The company made $95 million in 4Q23 versus a profit of $730 million in 4Q22 — down a big 87% year over year. For 2023, Antero made $243 million versus $1.9 billion in 2022, down 87% year over year.
Continue reading

| | | |

Triple Royalties Provision Stripped from WV Bill on Late Payments

Earlier this week, MDN reported on a bill making its way through West Virginia’s legislative sausage-making process (see WV Bill Triples Conventional Well Royalty Payments if Made Late). WV House Bill (HB) 4292 attempts to close a loophole affecting landowners and mineral rights owners with a conventional oil or gas well, some of whom suffer from late or completely missing royalty payments. The bill just got a lobotomy and is pretty much unrecognizable from the original.
Continue reading

| | | | | | | |

Landmen Knocking Doors in PA, OH, WV to Sign for CCS, Pore Rights

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has an excellent article reporting on an effort by Tenaska, one of the largest privately operated companies in the U.S., to build a carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) hub spanning tens of thousands of acres in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. Landmen are “knocking on doors again” in all three states, looking to sign up landowners to store carbon dioxide deep underground. We have the details below, including how much money Tenaska is paying as a signing bonus and how much is on offer (per acre) each year.
Continue reading

| | | |

WV Bill Triples Conventional Well Royalty Payments if Made Late

West Virginia House Bill (HB) 4292 attempts to close a loophole affecting landowners and mineral rights owners with a conventional oil or gas well. Royalties from conventional O&G wells are typically small, as little as $40-$50 per month. Some energy companies (hopefully very few) that own the wells are intentionally late with royalty payments or outright refuse to make the payments. Because the amounts are so small, lawyers typically won’t take on a case for nonpayment of royalties. This bill aims to fix that.
Continue reading

| | | | | | |

Baker Hughes U.S. Rig Count Adds 4 @ 623, M-U Gains 2 @ 44

Last week, the Baker Hughes rig count added four rigs after losing two rigs the week before. The count went from 619 active rigs two weeks ago to 623 last week. We continue to see the national count stay roughly around 620-630 active rigs. The Marcellus/Utica gained two active rigs and now sits at 44 — the most active rigs we’ve had since last August! Two rigs were added to Pennsylvania, while Ohio and West Virginia each maintained the same count as the previous week.
Continue reading

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

20 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 29 – Feb 4

There were 20 new permits issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica during the week of Jan. 29 – Feb. 4, versus 27 permits issued during the prior week. Pennsylvania issued 12 new permits last week. Ohio issued 6 new permits. West Virginia issued 2 new permits last week. We had a tie for the company receiving the most permits. Seneca Resources received 4 permits to drill in Tioga County, PA, and Ascent Resources received 4 permits to drill in Harrison County, OH.
Continue reading

| | | |

TC Energy Building New Regional HQ in Downtown Charleston, WV

TC Energy, formerly TransCanada, is a huge pipeline company headquartered in Canada. TC owns and operates the Columbia Gas Transmission and Columbia Gulf Transmission pipeline systems in the Marcellus/Utica region. Yesterday, TC announced that it plans to move its regional headquarters from Kanawha City (a neighborhood in Charleston, WV) to downtown Charleston and build a new $60 million building in the process. TC said the existing 110,000-square-foot former CASCI building will be demolished and replaced with a new building, with construction expected to be complete in 2025 and employees moving in by 2026.
Continue reading

| | | |

WV Counties Want a Solution to Botched NatGas Property Tax, ASAP

Last week, MDN told you about a “clerical error” by a third-party vendor in calculating the new formula for natural gas property tax valuations in West Virginia that caused newly producing natural gas wells to be undervalued, leading to the loss of millions of dollars for the counties that see the most shale drilling (see NatGas WV Property Tax Mistake a Hot Mess – Counties Out Millions). Tyler County received nearly $16 million less than it was due. Counties already operate on thin budgets. This was a real blow. Those counties that got short-changed want to know what the state is going to do to compensate them for the lost revenue.
Continue reading

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

27 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 22 – 28

There were 27 new permits issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica during the week of Jan. 22 – 28, versus 20 permits issued during the prior week. Pennsylvania issued 19 new permits last week. Ohio issued 5 new permits. West Virginia issued 3 new permits last week. Olympus Energy scored the most new permits with 7, all of them in Westmoreland County, PA. Apex Energy came in second with 6 new permits, also in Westmoreland. In fact, Westmoreland County, in southwestern PA, received 15 new permits last week, by far the most of any county.
Continue reading

| | | | |

Lawsuit Against WV’s 2022 Forced Pooling Law Still Alive, for Now

Hopefully, we’re near the end of an effort to overturn a bill passed in early 2022 by the West Virginia legislature, Senate Bill (SB) 694, which finally brought forced pooling for shale wells to the Mountain State after eight years of trying (see WV House Passes Forced Pooling Bill, Done Deal When Gov Signs). A lawsuit brought by two West Virginia landowners seeking to overturn the state’s forced pooling (i.e., unitization) law was put on pause by a federal judge in December 2022 (see WV Landowner Lawsuit to Block Forced Pooling Law Dealt Another Blow). The federal judge said the lawsuit belongs in state court and that he did not have jurisdiction over the case. West Virginia officials disagreed and appealed the ruling to the next rung up the federal court ladder (see WV Appeals Lawsuit re Forced Pooling Law to Higher Fed Court). It took a while, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled two days ago that the federal district court judge didn’t do his job right (he DOES have jurisdiction) and bounced the matter back to him for resolution.
Continue reading