Doug Lawler Out as CEO of Chesapeake Energy
Some big news affecting the fourth-largest natural gas shale producer in Pennsylvania. Yesterday Chesapeake Energy announced its CEO, Doug Lawler, is out as of April 30th. No reason was offered for his departure. Given just a few years ago Lawler was making over $22 million per year in salary and bonuses, our guess is he was fired. Who walks away from that kind of money? However, we don’t know for sure. Nobody is talking right now.
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Range Resources, the very first driller to sink a Marcellus well (back in 2004), released its first-quarter 2021 update and held a conference yesterday to review the numbers. The company reports the highest average premium (above benchmark) it has ever received for a barrel of natural gas liquids (NGLs) in Q1. Pricing was an average $26.35 a barrel for NGLs, up $8.33 a barrel compared to 4Q20 and up from $14.87 a barrel in 1Q20. However, the company reports a drop in income, down 84% from 1Q20. Fortunately, Range still made money in 1Q21–$27 million of income based on $193 million in cash flow.
On April 6 the Weymouth, Mass. compressor station experienced its third “unplanned release” of methane and was shut down (see 
Here’s a connection we hadn’t made until we read about yesterday’s oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in PennEast Pipeline vs. New Jersey. The connection is this: The PennEast case also has huge ramifications for another currently-stalled M-U pipeline. Columbia Gas wants to build a tiny 3.37-mile, 8-inch pipeline under the Potomac River from Maryland to West Virginia. It is being blocked from doing so by the lefties in Maryland (see 
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