CNX CEO Nick Deluliis Talks About “Hard Truths” in M&A at DUG East
Yesterday CNX CEO Nick Deluliis was one of the keynote speakers at the annual DUG (Developing Unconventional Gas) East event, held virtually this year. Normally DUG is held at the Convention Center in Pittsburgh. Deluliis’ talk was wide-ranging, but much of it concentrated on mergers and acquisitions, particularly M&A in the Marcellus/Utica. Deluliis is not much interested in horizontal M&A for CNX, but he is intrigued by vertical M&A.
Read More “CNX CEO Nick Deluliis Talks About “Hard Truths” in M&A at DUG East”
Yesterday Hart Energy held its annual (always excellent) DUG (Developing Unconventional Gas) East event. Normally the event is held at the Convention Center in Pittsburgh. This year it was an all-virtual event. Among the speakers were CNX CEO Nick Deluliis, PennEnergy Resources CEO Rich Weber, and Ascent Resources CEO Jeff Fisher. While it’s not all blue skies and sunshine ahead, all three CEOs painted a picture of 2021 that’s better than 2020.
EQT CEO Toby Rice has been positively chatty lately. He gave a great interview to the Pittsburgh Business Times revealing his thinking with respect to the recently announced Chevron deal (see today’s lead story). He also spoke to Bloomberg reporters. Rice shared his views on further consolidation in the M-U sector. He indicated EQT is still in the hunt for a deal with CNX and possibly other M-U drillers.
Last week Pennsylvania issued 16 new shale well drilling permits, and West Virginia issued 7 new shale well permits. Ohio issued no new shale permits last week.
CNX Resources issued its third-quarter 2020 update yesterday. The company didn’t bother to issue the usual narrative describing what happened during 3Q. Instead, they simply pushed out the financials, a slide deck, and spoke to analysts on a conference call. What did we learn picking through the numbers and the conference call transcript? One thing we learned is that CNX has no interest in being merged with EQT, that’s for sure.
Nick DeIuliis, President and CEO of CNX Resources Corporation, has been an outspoken advocate for the shale gas industry and manufacturing since at least 2017. And we mean outspoken. The trend continues. Nick has just announced a forthcoming book and a new website to continue his pro-fossil fuel advocacy.
Bloomberg is reporting insider sources say EQT, already the biggest natural gas producer in the country (and pureplay driller in the Marcellus/Utica), has sent a takeover proposal to CNX Resources, another major Marcellus/Utica driller. Friendly? Hostile? Who knows. In September inside sources told Reuters that EQT had made a bid on Chevron’s extensive M-U acreage (see 
We spotted a couple of stories, one in Barron’s the other in the Wall Street Journal, about the pickup in the futures price of natural gas over the past week, and how those recent gains have led to impressive gains in the share price for Marcellus/Utica drillers. Yesterday the NYMEX Henry Hub futures price closed up 4.11% to $2.74/Mcf. The rising tide lifts all boats.
A few months ago CNX Resources bought out and merged in the remaining amount of CNX Midstream the company didn’t already own (see 
S&P Global Market Intelligence has done some forensic analysis of permits issued to drill new shale wells in Pennsylvania during August 2020. They compared last month’s permit numbers with the numbers from a year ago and found that PA issued 77 new permits last month, down 24% from August 2019.
CNX was fracking their Shaw 1G Utica well in Washington Township (Westmoreland County) in early 2019 when they detected “a strong drop in pressure” and stopped fracking (see 
CNX Resources issued its 2Q20 update yesterday. The company reports a $146 million net loss. Production in 2Q20 was 114.5 Bcfe (billion cubic feet equivalent), down from 134.5 Bcfe in 2Q19 due to curtailments. Average daily production in 2Q was 1.26 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day), down from 1.35 Bcf/d a year earlier. The company shut-in some of its production due to COVID and low prices. They will restore all shut-in production by November.
Yesterday MDN brought you the news that CNX Resources is buying out the balance of what they don’t own in their pipeline subsidiary CNX Midstream (see 
We love a story about an individual or company that defies conventional wisdom and succeeds by charting its own course separate from the herd. Diversified Gas & Oil (DGO) is one such company. DGO buys up older conventional (and shale) wells in Appalachia, making money off the “long tail” of low production (see