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44 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Feb 7-13
Last week the number of new shale permits issued for the three M-U states more than doubled from the previous week. Four weeks ago there were 61 new shale drilling permits issued in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. Three weeks ago that number fell to 33. Two weeks ago the permit number fell again, to just 20. Last week? The number bounced back up to 44 new permits. PA issued 24 new permits, OH issued 18 permits, and WV issued 2 new permits.
Read More “44 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Feb 7-13”
As it has done for the past couple of years, CNX Resources, when issuing quarterly updates, doesn’t bother to issue a handy summary of the numbers. Instead, CNX’s top brass will talk about some of the particulars on a conference call. Folks interested in the details of the lastest quarter have to wait and wade through SEC filings. A few weeks ago the company issued a quarterly 8-K statement, which we included with our review of 4Q21 (see 
Yesterday the New York State Common Retirement Fund announced it will “restrict investments” in a hit list of 21 naughty shale oil and gas producing companies. One of the companies on the naughty list is Chesapeake Energy Corp. New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, trustee of the Fund (far-left Democrat) who is the sole manager of the fund, said the companies on his naughty list “have failed to demonstrate they are prepared for the transition to a low-carbon economy.” However, another 21 shale companies are on DiNapoli’s nice list and he will continue to invest in those companies, including CNX Resources and EQT Corporation.
With the ever-changing landscape of mergers and acquisitions in the shale industry, including here in the Marcellus/Utica, it’s helpful to check in every now and again with a “top 10” list. This time our top 10 list is for the largest shale drillers/operators in Pennsylvania. The Pittsburgh Business Times recently updated its “Book of Lists” for active PA shale drillers, all 47 of them. We have a quick list of the top 10 below.
Yesterday CNX Resources issued its fourth quarter and full-year update for 2021. As it has done over the past few years, CNX did not issue a full update (no narrative), opting to let its official SEC filing do the talking for it. What does the quarterly update show? The company pumped 1.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas and equivalents during 4Q. CNX averaged 1.6 Bcf/d for the full year. The company swung from losing $873 million in 3Q to making a profit of $630 million in 4Q–a $1.5 billion swing! How many wells did CNX drill in 4Q?
Houston-based Schlumberger (pronounced Shlum-Bur-Zhay) is the world’s largest oilfield services company. They’re the company a majority of exploration and production companies (drillers) call when they want a new well drilled. The #2 company on speed dial for drilling new wells is Halliburton, and they’re not even close in size to #1 Schlumberger. On Friday Schlumberger issued its fourth quarter and full-year 2021 earnings report, holding a conference call to discuss results. Of particular interest to us was information detailing Schlumberger’s work for M-U driller CNX Resources.
In May 2021 S&P Global Market Intelligence ran an article on which Marcellus/Utica drillers are likely targets to be acquired, and which drillers are doing the targeting (see 
Everyone loves a “top x” list, right? We sure do. Hart Energy, publisher of must-have industry magazines including E&P (Exploration & Production), and Oil and Gas Investor, recently published a special publication called 
This edition of the Marcellus/Utica permits report covers the past two weeks as MDN was taking a break during the last week of 2021. For the period of December 20 through January 2, there were 29 permits issued to drill new shale wells in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. PA had 16 new permits (most of them located on two well pads), OH had 12 new permits (spread across five well pads), and WV had just one new permit. Must be WV DEP took the last two weeks of the year off.
The DUG East (Developing Unconventional Gas) was held this week in Pittsburgh, PA. A number of big names–CEOs of major Marcellus/Utica companies–gave talks to those who attended. Two of the biggest names on the platform were Toby Rice, CEO of EQT Corporation (the largest natural gas producer in the United States), and Nick DeIuliis, CEO of CNX Resources, the separated arm of what used to be CONSOL Energy, a coal company. Both men are evangelists for natural gas, but both have a distinctly different style and way of going about their advocacy. It’s like apples and oranges.