Chesapeake’s Doug Lawler Talks About ‘Frightening’ NatGas Prices
Doug “the ax” Lawler, CEO of Chesapeake Energy, was the keynote speaker on Tuesday at the Louisiana Gulf Coast Oil Exposition (LAGCOE). Lawler became CEO after corporate raiders Mason Hawkins and Carl Icahn, the two biggest investors in Chesapeake, forced Aubrey McClendon out–out of the company he co-founded. That’s what happens when you take other people’s money. You lose control. Lawler embarked on massive layoffs and selling everything but the kitchen sink. How’s it worked out? Lawler claims the company now has $1.5 billion in cash, giving them some breathing room. Lawler had some very interesting comments at LAGCOE on the price of natural gas–where he sees it going over the next five years, and at what price his company (and other companies) can’t make money. Lawler also talked about the price of oil, oil production and Saudi Arabia’s rather bizarre behavior with respect to oil production…
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Way back in May 2014 MDN told you that UGI Energy Services, a subsidiary of UGI (a utility company in northeast PA) would build two new pipelines in northeast PA for $80 million that will allow them to transport cheap, abundant, locally extracted natural gas from Cabot Oil & Gas in Susquehanna County to residents in the greater Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area (see 
Range Resources, the driller that started it all in the Marcellus when they drilled the very first Marcellus Shale well in 2004, released their third quarter 2015 update yesterday. There is a LOT in this very readable and informative update. For example: Marcellus production volumes averaged 1.3 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d) in 3Q15, an increase of 27% over 3Q14. During the quarter Range brought online their second Utica well drilled in Washington County, PA–the Claysville Sportsman’s Unit 9H. By all accounts Range expects it will be even more productive than the first Utica well they drilled (also in Washington County). A third Utica well is being drilled now and will be completed in early 2016. Range drilled a total of 25 wells in 3Q15, and brought 31 wells online. They are on target to spend $870 million on drilling in 2015–most of it in the Marcellus/Utica. Range reports the Mariner East 1 pipeline will be, according to Sunoco Logistics, fully operational by the end of the year–with ethane beginning to flow “within the next month.” Costs are down and Range gets more than many others for the gas and NGLs they sell. But amidst all of the good news, you can’t miss the fact that they lost $301 million in 3Q15…
Along with releasing their third quarter update yesterday, Range Resources also released an updated investor PowerPoint presentation. There’s a lot of interesting slides in the deck, and we didn’t want it to get lost with the other Range news in their update, so we’re bringing you this second, separate post. Below we have the presentation embedded, along with a listing of our favorite slides and brief description of what they show/why the slides are notable…
It’s obvious that Hess has pretty much given up on its Utica Shale drilling program. Just last week we told you that Hess is shopping the rest of its remaining Utica acreage (see 
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Equitrans files with FERC to build Marcellus pipeline; PennLive’s repackaged hit series on shale; Philly keeps pushing energy hub concept; Spectra exec says ignore the antis, pay attention to FERC instead; Duke turns its attention back to natgas; midstream dominates M&A; Big Data comes to water management; Saudis trying to torpedo climate talks; and more!