Coterra Spends $20,000 on Christmas Gifts for Kids in NE Pa.
Coterra Energy, along with several other companies active in the northeast Marcellus Shale, recently went on a shopping spree to buy gifts for kids in northeastern Pennsylvania. Coterra organized a shopping trip that saw workers from Coterra and other organizations spend a cumulative $20,000 on Christmas gifts. The gifts are being distributed by Interfaith, an ecumenical religious organization (think Salvation Army) that offers “help and hope” to residents in northeastern PA. It’s been our observation that this largesse on the part of Coterra and other affiliated companies operating in northeastern PA is not some one-time PR stunt. Coterra does this year after year after year. And not just at holiday time. Hats off to George Stark, Bill desRosiers, and the great crew at Coterra for the work they do in the local community.
Read More “Coterra Spends $20,000 on Christmas Gifts for Kids in NE Pa.”
Last week (Dec. 5-11), the number of permits issued to drill new shale wells in the Marcellus/Utica dropped by one to 20 from the prior week’s 21. Pennsylvania came back to life with 14 new permits. Ohio and West Virginia both issued just three new shale permits.
Yesterday MDN brought you the great news that Coterra Energy (formerly Cabot Oil & Gas) would be allowed to restart drilling in a nine-square-mile area in Dimock, PA (Susquehanna County) following a “no contest” plea deal with PA’s bullying Attorney General, Josh Shapiro, on a misdemeanor charge (see 
For all of you Paul Harvey fans (God rest his soul), this is, “The Rest of the Story.” Two weeks ago, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, about to become Governor on Jan. 1 (a bona fide tragedy), made a big splash by announcing he had finally bullied Coterra Energy, the former Cabot Oil & Gas, into taking a plea deal in the infamous Dimock, PA case of methane migration into a few water wells (see 
It appears that Williams (pipeline company) and Coterra Energy (driller), along with end-customer Dominion Energy (local gas utility) have developed their own “responsible gas” certification scheme apart from the three such schemes widely used by many Marcellus/Utica drillers currently. In an announcement yesterday, Williams said the deal struck with Coterra and Dominion establishes “the industry’s first next generation natural gas certification process across all segments of the value chain from production through gathering and transmission with deliveries through 2023.”
Gas-focused drillers in the U.S. tracked by RBN Energy (most of them with major operations in the Marcellus/Utica region) had a stellar third quarter financially. The group of 11 publicly-traded drillers that RBN tracks tripled their earnings on average, and cash flows were up 150% over the same quarter last year. EQT Corp., now helmed by Toby Rice, was the most profitable company on the list, earning $2.6 billion in Q3 while generating $3.1 billion in cash flow. What about the others?
The partisan bully Josh Shapiro, far-left Attorney General in Pennsylvania (who is becoming Governor on Jan. 1, to PA’s shame), has claimed victory in converting what was at best an accident into a crime against Coterra Energy (née Cabot Oil & Gas). Yesterday in a courtroom in Susquehanna County, PA, Coterra plead “no contest” to a single misdemeanor charge Shapiro ginned up against the company over stray methane in a few water wells in Dimock, PA going back 14 years. It is a horrible miscarriage of justice. We wouldn’t blame Coterra if they NEVER drill another well in the state.
Expectations play a big role in investing. The financial markets do a lot of anticipating and forecasting and guessing about where a company or entire sector is heading. Such is the game being played right now with expectations for Marcellus/Utica shale gas companies and their forthcoming third quarter financial updates. Given the high price of natural gas during 3Q22, analysts expect shale gas companies to be swimming in free cash flow. The natural follow-on question is, what will they do with all of that extra cash?
Each quarter NGI (