Yesterday Southwestern Energy Company, one of the the major players in the Marcellus Shale, posted its third quarter 2015 earnings and operational update. In many ways Southwestern is one of the most exciting companies drilling in the northeast. A year ago Southwestern purchased 413,000 acres and 435 operating and non-operating wells from Chesapeake Energy in the southwestern portion of the Marcellus for $5.4 billion (see Chesapeake Sells Close to 25% of Marcellus/Utica Operation). Early this year they picked up 46,700 acres and 63 operational wells from WPX Energy in the northeastern part of the play for $300 million (see WPX Finalizes Sale of NEPA Marcellus Leases/Wells to Southwestern). Then the company did something virtually no other company has done in 2015–they INCREASED their drilling program in the Marcellus (see Southwestern’s Contrarian Plan: Double Down on Drilling in the Marcellus). Has it paid off? Time will tell. We can tell you that the company is producing more natural gas than ever–130 billion cubic feet equivalent per day in the Marcellus/Utica. Put another way, that’s 1.4 Bcf/d, each and every day. We have plenty of details on their drilling program below. However, on the financial side, whereas the company made $211 million in net income in 3Q14, they lost $1.766 billion in 3Q15. That kind of bleeding will have to stop…
