Ascent Resources Actively Considering IPO or Sale
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 fourth quarter and full-year 2024 update last week. The big news came from comments during a conference call with analysts. CFO Brooks Shughart said company management and the board are internally discussing and monitoring the markets with an eye on a potential IPO (initial public offering), or possibly the M&A markets for a potential sale. Read More “Ascent Resources Actively Considering IPO or Sale”
For the week of Feb 24 – Mar 2, the number of permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica to drill new shale wells increased by a couple. Four weeks ago, 24 new permits were issued. Three weeks ago, the number increased to 36 new permits. Two weeks ago, the number deflated, going down to 14. Last week, we added two permits for a total of 16 new permits issued. The Keystone State (PA) issued just one new permit, which went to Snyder Brothers for a well in Armstrong County. 
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. 
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. 
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.