Rice Says EQT in Unique Position, Looks to “Trim the Rosebush”
EQT Corporation, the largest natural gas producer in the country, turned in its first-quarter 2020 update yesterday. EQT produced an average of 4.2 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d). The company reports generating $251 million in free cash flow but recorded a loss of $167 million due to “the loss on investment in Equitrans Midstream, the loss on exchange of long-lived assets, decreased operating revenues, increased impairment and expiration of leases and the loss on debt extinguishment.” Revenues were $1.1 billion for 1Q.
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During yesterday’s quarterly update and conference call with analysts, EQT CEO Toby Rice took the time to outline his company’s efforts to keep field workers safe during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Not unsurprisingly, the “young Turks” who now run the company are using technology to help protect employees and contractors. EQT is ahead of the curve (way ahead of the state Dept. of Environmental Protection) in its contact tracing system to protect workers.
This is getting ridiculous. Does anyone really believe that a single pipeline project already built and now getting a redo could possibly have racked up 680 “violations” during construction work over the past five months? We certainly don’t believe it. Yet that’s what the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) alleges. Energy Transfer (ET), the builder and fixer of Revolution, has their own allegation: The DEP itself is “not in compliance with its own guidelines.” Who inspects the inspectors for compliance?
In March Williams, the midstream giant with major operations in the Marcellus/Utica, swallowed a poison pill (see 
The crash in the drilling rig count continued last week, although the decline slowed for a second week in a row. U.S. oil and gas rigs for land-based operations fell another 34 last week, to a total of 398 active rigs. The Permian continued to lead rig count declines. All major shale oil plays have now seen at least a 50% drop in rigs over the same period last year. It’s been a breathtaking fall.
Rahm Emanuel (Democrat), former Mayor of Chicago and former Chief of Staff in the Bill Clinton White House, once famously quipped, “You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” Emanuel’s fellow Democrats who control 10 states plus the District of Columbia are taking his advice. The AGs from each of those states sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) yesterday asking FERC to delay approving any new pipeline projects until the virus pandemic is over.
MDN is updating our 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: New York fracking ban proves costly during pandemic; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Virginia Natural Gas releases plan to hire dozens of workers in Hampton Roads; South Jersey Gas opens compressed natural gas station in Middle Township; NATIONAL: U.S. weekly LNG exports rise; Some shale drillers are restarting production at $25 oil; Oil rebound may have gone too far, based on just tentative supply and demand improvements; In fracking’s new world order, only the strongest will survive; Natural gas drops after rise in stockpiles; INTERNATIONAL: Trump’s removal of troops from Saudi Arabia is also about oil.