Ascent Distros $12.5M to Unitholders; Performing Reverse Stock Split

We spotted an announcement from Ascent Resources that piqued our curiosity. Ascent, founded as American Energy Partners by gas legend Aubrey McClendon, is a privately held company focusing 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. Ascent, headquartered in Oklahoma City, OK, is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer (356,700 leased acres) and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. Yesterday, the company announced it is distributing $12.5 million to unitholders (shareholders) of the company next Monday. But the bigger news coming from the announcement is that Ascent will conduct a 1-for-100 reverse stock split, turning the 14.5 billion outstanding units (shares) of ownership into 145 million. Why?
Read More “Ascent Distros $12.5M to Unitholders; Performing Reverse Stock Split”

Feedgas flows from the Marcellus/Utica to the Cove Point LNG export facility located on the shore of Maryland fell to zero yesterday. It was the start of the facility’s annual maintenance outage. The question is, how long will Cove Point be out of commission for liquefying and exporting LNG? There are conflicting reports. Last year, the facility was closed from Oct. 1-27 — nearly a month! In most years, the closure lasts around three weeks (
The old Energy Harbor coal-fired power plant in Pleasants County, WV, which had been offline since June 1 and was scheduled to be demolished, recently roared back to life under new ownership (see 
In early August, MDN told you about trouble brewing along the Gulf Coast between Venture Global LNG and its biggest customers: BP, Shell, Edison International (an Italian utility company), Repsol, and GALP Energia (see
We continue to monitor the price of natural gas, which has remained mired in the mid-$2 range for months on end. Every time it seems like it might make a run for $3, the price slides–as it did yesterday (down $0.12 to close at $2.73). We spotted two somewhat contradictory stories about the price of gas, both published by Reuters. One story is about a prediction from Bank of America, which said in a note that if we have a mild winter (as some are predicting), it’s quite possible the price of natgas will crash below $2 during the first quarter of 2024.
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Arkansas is getting a first-of-its-kind gas plant; NATIONAL: Oil drops as Fed signals further rate hikes; What’s driving the rally toward $100 oil?; Exxon seeking U.S. subsidies for producing hydrogen from natural gas; INTERNATIONAL: Oil companies cautious about drilling as energy transition looms; French drillers may have stumbled upon a mammoth hydrogen deposit.