CONSOL Energy

And then there were three. The Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD) has been fighting some pretty stiff headwinds. The organization was founded by a group of shale industry people and environmentalists reaching across the isle to forge strict standards that both sides can live with. Environmental leftists, like Mamma Teresa Heinz Kerry and her Heniz Endowments, pulled support and have actively worked against the CSSD (see She Speaks! Teresa Heinz Kerry Talks re Endowments Firings, CSSD). Other so-called environmental groups like the William Penn Foundation also bailed. But new supporters stepped into the breach to take their shoes (see CSSD Thrown a Lifeline from Richard King Mellon Foundation). On the industry side, not all that many stepped up to receive the CSSD’s thorough examination. The first to do so was Chevron. The second, not along ago, was Shell. And now CONSOL Energy has become the third Marcellus driller to apply for and receive CSSD certification. All three were part of the original working group that formed the CSSD–it’s good to see they’re setting an example…
Read More “CONSOL Energy Becomes 3rd Driller to Receive CSSD Certification”

Yesterday MDN told you about the mad dash to raise cash by Carrizo Oil & Gas and Rice Energy (see The Mad Dash to Raise Cash Continues: Carrizo & Rice Energy). Carrizo went the equity route, selling shares of stock, and Rice Energy went the debt route, selling IOUs or notes. It seems the mad dash is far from over. Now comes word that CONSOL Energy is also going the debt route–floating $650 million of senior notes. CONSOL will use the money to pay off older debt…
Read More “CONSOL Energy Floats $650M in Senior Notes, Paying Off Old Debt”

On Friday, CONSOL Energy issued a press release with lots of flowery words to say they’re whacking their drilling budget again. Instead of spending $1 billion on Marcellus/Utica drilling in 2015 (previously announced in January), they’ll spend $80 million less than that–$920 million. The language CONSOL uses is interesting: they talk about continuing their focus to “high-grade the development plan to further reduce capital in a lower commodity price environment,” whatever that means. Sounds like gobbledygook to us. They use “high-grade” as a verb. If CONSOL had spent $80M more would that have been considered low-grading the development plan? Medium-grading it? We sometimes find the language of high finance amusing as well as befuddling. Here’s the full announcement from Friday. See if you can make heads or tails of it…
Read More “CONSOL Trims 2015 Drilling Budget Another $80M; High-Grade?”

We consider this bad news for CONSOL Energy: Corporate raider (mainstream media calls it “activist investor”) Mason Hawkins, founder, chairman and CEO of Southeastern Asset Management, has just purchased another boatload of stock in CONSOL Energy. Hawkins, you may recall, is part of the dynamic duo, along with corporate raider Carl Ichan, who pressured Aubrey McClendon to leave Chesapeake Energy in 2013 (see Breaking: Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon Gets Pink Slip). Hawkins and Ichan then hired Doug Lawler as their proxy who came in and fired over 1,200 people at Chesapeake–an action intended to line the pockets of Hawkins and Ichan. Southeastern was/is the #1 stockholder in Chesapeake with 13.4% of Chessy’s stock. Southeastern is now, we believe, the #1 stockholder in CONSOL. After Hawkins’ latest spending spree, Southeastern now owns (according to our calculations) 14% of CONSOL’s stock…
Read More “Corporate Raider Mason Hawkins Holds 14% of CONSOL Energy Stock”

CONSOL Energy released its fourth quarter 2014 and plans for 2015 today. Overall CONSOL’s revenues were way down for 4Q14 over 4Q13–down 90%. But that was due to a number of coal operations they discontinued in 2014. The gas drilling division had another outstanding quarter–pumping 70.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas for the quarter, up 45% year over year. For 2015 CONSOL plans to spend $1 billion on their Marcellus drilling budget (down from $1.5 billion in 2014). Marcellus Shale costs for CONSOL were $2.83 per million cubic feet equivalent (Mcfe) in 4Q14, a $0.18 per Mcfe improvement from 4Q13 which saw costs of $3.01 per Mcfe. The company achieved “all-in cash costs” of only $1.71 per Mcfe in the Marcellus Shale. And no, we’re not sure what the difference is between costs and “all-in cash costs.” Perhaps one of our smart readers can enlighten us in the comments? The trend is obviously good–it’s costing them less and less to produce more and more gas. CONSOL says in their update that the Utica Shale continues to grow in importance for the company…
Read More “CONSOL Energy 2015: E&P Budget Cut 33%, Utica Expands”

CONSOL Energy continues its transformation from coal company to oil and gas company. In fact, it’s nearly complete. On a conference call yesterday discussing the company’s stellar performance in the Marcellus and Utica Shale, CONSOL officials hinted that they will soon split the company, putting the coal operation into its own master limited partnership (MLP). Meanwhile, also on the same call, CONSOL CEO Nick Deluliis said any day now the company’s production volume will blow on by the 1 billion cubic feet per day mark. Welcome to the 1 Bcf/d club!…
Read More “CONSOL Energy 3Q14: Splitting the Company in Two, 1 Bcf/d Club”

Marcellus/Utica Shale driller CONSOL Energy has just added a couple of new board members to their Board of Directors–the people that the CEO reports to and ultimately the people charged with ensuring the company grows and flourishes. CONSOL’s executive chairman, Brett Harvey, says the two are coming on the board at a “critical time” for CONSOL. The reason they’re being added? Two current board members are geezers, er hitting retirement age, and won’t be nominated to remain on the board at the next annual meeting. Here’s the details on who is joining the board at CONSOL…
Read More “CONSOL Energy Adds 2 New Board Members”