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30 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 30 – Jan 5

For the week of Dec 30 – Jan 5, permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica rebounded from holiday lows. There were 30 new permits issued last week, up from just 12 issued the week before. The Keystone State (PA) issued nine new permits, with six going to Range Resources in Allegheny County and three to EQT, split between Lycoming and Washington counties. Read More “30 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 30 – Jan 5”

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27 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 16 – 22

For the week of Dec 16 – 22, permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica remained healthy. There were 27 new permits issued last week, up from 22 issued the week before. In something of an unusual twist, the Keystone State (PA) issued just four new permits, all of them to different drillers. PennEnergy Resources’ permit was in Beaver County; Seneca Resources’ permit was in Tioga County; and Range Resources and EQT (Rice) each had one permit in Washington County. Read More “27 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 16 – 22”

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22 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 9 – 15

For the week of Dec 9 – 15, permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica remained healthy. There were 22 new permits issued last week, down just a bit from the 28 issued the week before. The Keystone State (PA) issued 17 new permits, with the bulk of them, 11, going to a single driller, PennEnergy Resources, for a single pad in Beaver County. Seneca Resources scored three new permits in Tioga County. One permit each was issued to Pennsylvania General Energy (Lycoming County), Coterra Energy (Susquehanna County), and CNX Resources (Westmoreland County). Read More “22 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 9 – 15”

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Ascent Resources Buying Back $25 Million of Its Own Units (Stock)

Corporations have two primary ways of enriching the owners (shareholders): issuing periodic dividends (cash payments) to shareholders or buying back shares, which reduces the number of outstanding shares, thereby increasing the value of each share (which can be sold for a higher profit). How do privately held companies like Ascent Resources make their owners/investors richer? Pretty much the same way. Ascent issued a press release yesterday to announce it is conducting an “unmodified reverse Dutch auction” to buy back shares (units, in the case of Ascent). The company will spend up to $25 million to buy back units. Our question is, why is Ascent doing this now? Read More “Ascent Resources Buying Back $25 Million of Its Own Units (Stock)”

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28 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 2 – 8

For the week of Dec 2 – 8, permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica bounced back nicely. There were 28 new permits issued last week, more than doubling the 12 issued the week before (and matching the 28 issued three weeks ago). The Keystone State (PA) issued 18 new permits, with eight going to EQT spread across three counties: Jefferson, Lycoming, and Washington. Chesapeake Energy (now Expand Energy) received four permits, all of them in northeastern PA’s Wyoming County. CNX Resource scooped up two permits, both in Westmoreland County. The final four permits were singles issued to Blackhill Energy (Bradford County), XPR Resources (Centre County), Inflection Energy (Lycoming County), and Olympus Energy (Allegheny County). Read More “28 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 2 – 8”

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28 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Nov 18 – 24

For the week of Nov 18 – 24, permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica continued to be strong, with 28 new permits issued, down just two from the 30 issued the prior week. The Keystone State (PA) issued 11 new permits, with five going to CNX Resources, all in Allegheny County. Two permits were issued to Southwestern Energy (now Expand Energy) in Lycoming County. The remaining four were single permits issued to EQT Corporation (Greene County), Infinity Natural Resources (Indiana County), Range Resources (Washington County), and Apex Energy (Westmoreland County). Read More “28 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Nov 18 – 24”

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34 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Nov 4 – 10

For the week of Nov 4 – 10, permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica came roaring back with a total of 34 permits issued (up from 13 issued the prior week). There were some VERY interesting things to note about some of the permits issued. The Keystone State (PA) issued 16 new permits, with five going to Range Resources in Washington County. And that’s the first of three interesting things to note. All five Range permits were issued for Cecil Township, which recently passed a ban on new fracking via a 2,500-foot setback regulation (see Cecil Twp Supervisors Pull the Trigger on Frack Ban Via Setbacks). Read More “34 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Nov 4 – 10”

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Ascent Resources 3Q – Continues Shifting Focus to More Oil & NGLs

Ascent Resources, 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 and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The company issued its third quarter 2024 update last week. The company produced 2,075 MMcfe/d (2.08 Bcfe/d), down 4% from 2,165 MMcfe/d (2.16 Bcfe/d) produced in 3Q23. Ascent pivoted to produce more liquids, including oil and NGLs, with an emphasis on producing more NGLs during 3Q24. According to the update, the company plans to continue its liquids focus in the fourth quarter. Read More “Ascent Resources 3Q – Continues Shifting Focus to More Oil & NGLs”

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14 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Oct 14 – 20

For the week of Oct 14 – 20, there were 14 permits issued to drill Marcellus/Utica wells, up from 10 permits issued the prior week. The Keystone State (PA) had just four new permits (down from six the previous week), with three going to Southwestern Energy (now Expand Energy) in Susquehanna County and one for Seneca Resources in Lycoming County. The Buckeye State (OH) had seven new permits, with six going to Encino Energy (EAP) for two pads in Carroll County. The other OH permit was for Ascent Resources in Harrison County. The Mountain State (WV) issued three new permits, with all three going to Southwestern Energy (now Expand Energy) in Marshall County. Read More “14 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Oct 14 – 20”

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20 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Sep 30 – Oct 6

There were 20 permits issued to drill new shale wells in Marcellus/Utica for the week of Sept. 30 – Oct. 6, down eight from the 28 issued the prior week. The Keystone State (PA) had eight new permits, with five going to Southwestern Energy (now Expand Energy following a merger with Chesapeake) in both Susquehanna and Wyoming counties. The other three permits went to Laurel Mountain Energy for a pad in Butler County. Read More “20 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Sep 30 – Oct 6”

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Ascent Resources Issues $600M in New IOUs to Replace Old IOUs

We’re not high finance people (nor are we lawyers), but we do the best we can to explain financial (and legal) news that impacts companies and individuals in the Marcellus/Utica. Yesterday, Ascent Resources, a privately held company focusing 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale, announced it is floating new unsecured notes that mature in 2032 to purchase and payoff already-existing unsecured notes that were due to be paid (“maturing”) in 2026. We call them IOUs. Ascent is hoping to raise $600 million by selling the new notes. Read More “Ascent Resources Issues $600M in New IOUs to Replace Old IOUs”

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15 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Sep 9 – 15

There were 15 permits issued to drill new shale wells in Marcellus/Utica for the week of Sept. 9 – 15, up one from the previous week. The Keystone State (PA) had six new permits, and all six went to EQT for a single well pad in Greene County. The Buckeye State (OH) had nine new permits. The top recipient in OH was Southwestern Energy, which received six permits for Monroe County. Ascent Resources had two permits in Harrison County, and INR (Infinity Natural Resources) had a single new permit issued for Guernsey County. The Mountain State (WV) had a big, fat, zero new permits even though it’s been adding rigs like crazy! Read More “15 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Sep 9 – 15”

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Ohio Utica 2Q24 Production – Oil Up 23%, Gas Down 4% vs Year Ago

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) released production numbers for the second quarter of 2024 yesterday. The story the numbers tell continues to be about Utica oil, which continues to rise each quarter. Ohio’s total oil production during 2Q24 was 8.01 million barrels, up 23% from 2Q23’s 6.5 million barrels and up 11% from 1Q24’s 7.2 million barrels. The story of oil in the Buckeye State can’t be told apart from Encino Energy (EAP), which produced nearly half of all the state’s oil during 2Q24. As for natural gas production, it’s no surprise it went down slightly in 2Q24, given the current low price for gas. The state produced 526.6 Bcf in 2Q24, down 3.7% from 2Q23’s 547.0 Bcf, and down 1.4% from this year’s first quarter number of 534.0 Bcf. MDN pulled the numbers from the ODNR quarterly report and produced top 25 lists for both gas and oil wells.
Read More “Ohio Utica 2Q24 Production – Oil Up 23%, Gas Down 4% vs Year Ago”

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Low NatGas Price Has “Crippled” Financial Results for M-U Cos.

There’s just no way to sugarcoat the fact that the low low price for natural gas is having an impact on shale drillers in the Marcellus/Utica. According to an analyst with RBN Energy, a price plunge to near the $2/MMBtu level in early 2023 “crippled” financial results for the companies RBN monitors that are gas-focused (namely M-U companies). However, most producers on the RBN list have remained in the black through spending less and cutting back on production. Down but far from out. How did the major M-U companies that are publicly traded perform in 2Q24? We have the numbers below. Read More “Low NatGas Price Has “Crippled” Financial Results for M-U Cos.”

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34 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Aug 19 – 25

For the week of August 19 – 25, a total of 34 permits were issued to drill new shale wells in Marcellus/Utica. The Keystone State (PA) had 16 new permits. PA’s top recipient was Chesapeake Energy, with six permits in Bradford County. Coterra Energy was a close second, with five new permits issued in neighboring Susquehanna County. The Buckeye State (OH) received 13 new permits, with Encino Energy (EAP) receiving eight and Ascent Resources five. OH’s permits were spread across Guernsey, Harrison, and Noble counties. Finally, the Mountain State (WV) received five new permits, all of them for Northeast Natural Energy in Monongalia County. Read More “34 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Aug 19 – 25”

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16 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Aug 12 – 18

This week’s permit report is a bit different. Technically, for the week of August 12 – 18, a total of seven new permits were issued across the Marcellus/Utica. However, last week’s permit report omitted West Virginia numbers because the state’s online data service was out of order (see 26 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Aug 5 – 11). It’s back online this week, so we’ve included August 5 – 11 with August 12 – 18 for West Virginia, bumping the number much higher. So, for this report, we’re reporting a total of 16 new permits across all three states, but nine of those permits are from WV from two weeks ago. The big surprise for August 12 – 18 is that Pennsylvania issued no new permits. That’s the first time we remember that happening, not a single permit in PA.
Read More “16 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Aug 12 – 18”