CONSOL Energy released their second quarter 2015 operating and financial update today. No mention of the pressure they are currently under by their #1 shareholder to spin off or sell off the gas drilling division (see CONSOL’s #1 Stockholder Says Spin Off CNX Gas…or Sell It). There are some bright spots from CONSOL for 2Q15, including a 64% increase in Marcellus Shale production (39 billion cubic feet equivalent in 2Q15) and a 524% increase in Utica Shale production (1.7 Bcfe in 2Q14, 10.6 Bcfe in 2Q15). If you read through the update you’ll find CONSOL believes Utica dry gas may be where they focus their future efforts, given recent results from some of their drilling. CONSOL is a complicated company–a lot of their operations and revenue deal with coal. It was a coal company long before it began drilling for natural gas. To analyze their financials–separating out the gas from the coal–is not easy. What we can tell you is that revenue from natural gas, NGLs and oil went down year over year, from $229.7 million in 2Q14 to $201.9 million in 2Q15 (12%), which isn’t nearly as bad as some of the other drillers in the Marcellus/Utica…
