Abuse of Justice System by PA AG Shapiro in Prosecuting Coterra
In June 2020, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (Democrat) announced an indictment of Cabot Oil & Gas for allegations of methane migration going back more than a decade, long before he was elected as AG (see PA AG Charges Cabot with Enviro Crimes for Long-Settled Dimock). Shapiro’s indictment is a bogus charge, an attempt to turn a long-settled accident into a crime–all for political gain. Shapiro is running for governor this November and bashing the Marcellus industry gives him credibility with the wacko left in his own political party. A few weeks after Shapiro’s shameless and bogus indictment, Cabot (now Coterra Energy) signaled it would fight him tooth and nail in court (see Cabot Signals They Will Fight PA AG Sham Dimock Indictment).
Read More “Abuse of Justice System by PA AG Shapiro in Prosecuting Coterra”
According to S&P Global, shale gas producers behaved themselves during the fourth quarter of 2021 and didn’t, even as the price of gas went sky high, do anything more than maintain current production. Gas drillers kept spending in check, didn’t do any more drilling than was necessary to maintain production, and plowed free cash flow back into dividends and stock buybacks. The result? Investors loved it and share prices soared.
Coterra Energy, the result of Permian oil driller Cimarex Energy buying out and merging with Marcellus driller Cabot Oil & Gas, issued its first fully combined quarterly update yesterday. The two companies merged at the beginning of fourth quarter 2021 (see 
The wild roller coaster continues of up, down, up, down, up, down. Last week the number of permits issued to drill new shale wells is down again–to 18 total. Pennsylvania had 16 new permits last week, nine for Repsol and three for Coterra Energy. All of Repsol and Coterra’s permits issued for Susquehanna County. West Virginia had two new permits, one each for Southwestern Energy and Antero Resources, in Marshall and Doddridge counties. Ohio? A big, fat, goose egg. No new shale permits issued last week in the Buckeye State.
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.
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 
Back in December, MDN editor Jim Willis had the delight and pleasure of attending an open house at the new location of the 
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 
Yesterday the American Petroleum Institute (API) issued its annual “State of American Energy” report (full copy below). We will say right up front we’ve had our differences of opinion with the API and its direction, particularly over the past year, but there is no disputing the API remains the premier organization representing the oil and gas industry in the U.S. (and beyond). The API is at the top of the O&G food chain. So it’s a big deal that during the annual virtual event to unveil the latest API report the organization featured a young completions engineer who works for Coterra Energy (formerly Cabot Oil & Gas) in Susquehanna County, PA.
The Associated Press (better named Dissociated Press) is once again attempting to smear Cabot Oil & Gas, now called Coterra Energy, by playing up a simple legal move by Coterra aimed at resolving an ongoing criminal charge brought by the loathsome Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro. Coterra waived a preliminary hearing in the case brought by Shapiro on Friday, and AP is jumping up and down to exclaim this is somehow an indicator of the company’s guilt–that Cabot really did pollute all those water wells in Dimock. Coterra’s move IS NOT an admission of any kind. We will explain.
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.