Who Bought and Who Sold the Most Shares of M-U Drillers in 1Q23
It’s possible to track which institutional investors (big investors like BlackRock) are buying or selling shares in various companies by reviewing Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Form 13F filings. S&P Global Market Intelligence performed a 13F review of which companies bought, and which sold (and how much) shares of stocks for shale gas drillers during the first quarter of 2023. The topmost active shale gas driller having its stock purchased by institutional investors was Comstock Resources, which drills exclusively in the Haynesville Shale. The reason Comstock came out on top, postulates S&P, is because the Haynesville is located close to the Gulf Coast and LNG export plants. However, it was the rest of the list that interested us.
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It’s been a wild ride for shale energy companies from the beginning of the shale revolution around 20 years ago. Here in the Marcellus/Utica, the very first Marcellus well was sunk by Range Resources in 2004. Until a few years ago, most shale drillers were not profitable, eating through investors’ money like candy. Just before the beginning of the pandemic, shale drillers got the “free cash flow” religion and began to pull back on new drilling in favor of profitability for shareholders. The pandemic, followed by Russia’s war against Ukraine, added new market gyrations. Bottom line: Last year, shale oil and gas drillers saw historic revenues and profitability. This year, the bottom is dropping out once again…
Investors in shale oil and gas companies suffered for years with little or no returns for the money they invested. Five of eight large Marcellus/Utica drillers saw their share prices decrease by an astonishing 85% or more from 2008 to 2019 (see 
CNX Resources held its annual meeting yesterday, which lasted all of 13 minutes. As we previously reported, one of CNX’s shareholders, a hotel owner from California (Jon Handerly), sought to force CNX to issue annual reports about the company’s efforts to comply with the so-called Paris goals of lower carbon dioxide emissions (see 
The proxy firm hired by California hotel owner Jon Handerly is accusing CNX Resources of lying about its attempt to silence CNX CEO Nick DeIuliis. Handerly, using Proxy Impact, is attempting to get CNX shareholders to pass a proposal requiring the company to file annual reports on how the company measures up to the cockamamie “Paris goals” of reducing carbon dioxide emissions (see 
Last week CNX Resources issued its first quarter 2023 update. The company generated $710 million of net income versus losing $923 million in the same quarter last year. However, actual revenue for selling gas and NGLs was down from a year ago ($456 million vs. $745 million). The net income figure also includes gains and losses on derivatives (hedging). In 1Q22, CNX lost $1.7 billion on its derivatives, but in 1Q23, the company made $762 million on derivatives. Production fell in 1Q23, down to 135.9 Bcfe (or 1.51 Bcfe/d), versus 150.9 Bcfe (1.68 Bcfe/d) in 1Q22.
The war of words continues. Two days ago, MDN told you that the liberal owner of two hotels in California, Jon Handerly, who happens to own a few thousand shares of CNX Resources stock, wants shareholders to approve his cockamamie proposal to force the company to produce an annual report detailing the company’s “efforts” to comply with the nonsensical “Paris Agreement” to reduce so-called greenhouse gas emissions (see 
Free cash flow (FCF) refers to a company’s available cash repaid to creditors and as dividends and interest to investors. Companies typically use FCF to buy back shares of stock, pay fatter dividends, or pay off creditors. When the price of natural gas went through the roof last year, natural gas drillers were rolling in the FCF. Now with natgas commodity prices in the basement, FCF money has been wiped off the table. How much? For six large natural gas-focused drillers (five of them focused on the Marcellus/Utica, one on the Haynesville), some $8 billion of FCF is “now off the table” according to an article by Bloomberg.
New shale permits issued for Apr. 10-16 in the Marcellus/Utica picked up two from the prior week. There were 20 new permits issued in total last week, up from 18 in the prior week. Last week’s tally included 13 new permits for Pennsylvania, 4 new permits for Ohio, and 3 new permits in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits was Coterra Energy, with 6 new permits issued in Susquehanna County, PA. EQT was number two with 5 new permits, all of them issued in Greene County, PA.
Yesterday MDN told you about the recently-filed application by the State of Pennsylvania to attract one of 6 to 10 so-called hydrogen hubs to the Keystone State (see 
The ARCH2 (Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub) project, the West Virginia-led effort to attract government funding for one of 6-10 regional hydrogen hubs, took a leap forward today with the announcement by Adams Fork Energy, Haldor Topsoe, and CNX Resources Corp. of a plan to build a “multi-billion-dollar” clean ammonia manufacturing facility in southern West Virginia. CNX will provide natural gas to the plant, tentatively scheduled to begin construction in 2024 in Mingo County, WV. The ammonia plant will be an “anchor project” in the ARCH2 Hydrogen Hub application currently under consideration by the U.S. Dept. of Energy.
CNX has reached a settlement with the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County (MAWC) in a lawsuit brought by MAWC in 2016 claiming that CNX (and partner Noble Energy) claimed post-production deductions from royalties that should have been paid to MAWC. The original lawsuit sought combined damages of $3.6 million. The final number to be paid by CNX, according to reports, is $600,000.