EQT Buys Trans Energy + 60K Marc/Utica Acres in 2 Deals for $683M
Yesterday EQT announced a pair of deals that will net the company another 60,000 Marcellus/Utica acres including 44 Marcellus wells producing a collective 44 million cubic feet equivalent per day (MMcfe/d) of natural gas. Most of the acreage (42,600) is in three West Virginia counties, with another 17,000 acres in three Pennsylvania counties. EQT is paying a total of $683 million for the two deals. In the first deal, EQT is buying Trans Energy, Inc., which will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of EQT. EQT is also buying Trans Energy joint venture partner Republic Energy’s share in their Marcellus jv. The land is located in Marion, Wetzel and Marshall counties (WV). In the second deal, EQT is buying 17,000 acres from an unidentified third party in southwestern PA, in Washington, Westmoreland and Greene counties. EQT describes the purchases as adding acreage to their “core development area.” You may recall that EQT closed a deal in July, just three months ago, to purchase 62,500 acres from Statoil in WV for $407 million (see Statoil Completes Sale of WV Marcellus Assets to EQT). So why is EQT once again spending money? Analysts speculate it’s because of EQT competitor Rice Energy’s recent deal to buy Vantage Energy with its 85,000 acres in Greene County (see Vantage Energy is No More – Rice Energy Completes $2.7B Buyout). Here’s the particulars about EQT’s latest acquisitions…
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A landowner in northeastern Pennsylvania signed a lease with Southwestern Energy, leasing her property for shale gas drilling. Southwestern eventually showed up and drilled a well on her property. But the landowner then said the drilling was too loud, and lights at night too bright, and it disturbed her “peace of mind”–so she sued Southwestern for eight weeks of “peace of mind” disruption and a prescription for Xanax. Fantastically, a judge is letting the lawsuit proceed. Earth to landowners: When drillers show up, it’s an INDUSTRIAL activity. It’s loud. There’s lots of trucks. There’s lights at night. And in a month or two, it all goes away. And when the royalty checks arrive in the mail, you’ll forget all about the inconveniences. So what’s really going on in this case?…
In September 2015 MDN brought you the news that two joint venture partners, MPLX (Marathon Petroleum) and Enterprise Products Partners, were actively evaluating a plan to reverse the flow of the 795-mile Centennial Pipeline to send natural gas liquids (NGLs) from the Utica/Marcellus to the Gulf Coast (see 
The world’s largest oilfield services company (OFS), Schlumberger, turned a profit in 3Q16 (see 
Range Resources, the very first company to sink a Marcellus well, issued their third quarter update yesterday. Among the highlights: Range lost $42 million for the quarter, which is a vast improvement over 3Q15 when the company lost $301 million. So things are getting better, financially. Marcellus production was 1,396 million cubic feet equivalent (Mmcfe) per day, a 9% increase over 3Q15. Range’s “Southern” division, in SWPA, saw a 23% increase in production, but because Range sold some assets in Bradford County, their “Northern” division saw a 39% decrease (year over year) in production. Range continues to focus its efforts in the southwest PA area, saying the company “continues to drill and complete outstanding wells, with peer-leading EURs, while continuing to drive costs lower.” Here is yesterday’s 3Q16 update from Range…
Last week MDN reported that electric company FirstEnergy has begun construction of a new electric substation in Washington County, PA to provide electricity to “support two natural gas processing facilities being developed in the area” (see 
We’re always delighted when we spot a story or reference about a new company operating in the Marcellus/Utica that had heretofore escaped our finely-turned radar. Here’s one of those stories. In 2014, five people with experience in the oil and gas industry came together to form Evolution Energy Services. Based in Cadiz, OH, the company provides a range of services and products for the o&g industry–everything from porta potties to fracking chemicals to rig workers. We’ll call them an oilfield services company (OFS). We hadn’t heard of this upstart company until we spotted a brief reference that Evolution has just secured a $2 million load that will allow them to expand…
“What is all the fuss over Pennsylvania’s Chapter 78a drilling rules going into effect anyway? We mean, come on, those rules were hashed out over the past five years! Can’t the drilling industry just bend over and take it like a man? It can’t be all that bad, can it?” With pleasure, we bring you a response to that line of thinking–a line of thinking YOU may have thought! The writer, Colin McNickle, is a former editorial page chief for the superb Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. McNickle tackles Chapter 78a head-on in this excellent rebuttal. It is nothing short of a declared war on shale gas and oil…
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Marcellus/Utica production may not reach 40 Bcf after all; economics will force pipeline issue; OH rig count drops to 16; Braskem looks to expand Philly refinery; climate radicals exposed in Wikileaks email, plans to shame Rupert Murdoch; natgas price may have found its ceiling; Europeans dependent on Russia natgas, would like not to be; and more!