AP Tries to Resurrect Gasland Smears Against Cabot One More Time
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.
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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.
Each quarter NGI (Natural Gas Intelligence) runs the numbers and publishes a list of the 25 top natural gas marketers in the U.S. (or in the case of 3Q21, the top 24). These are not necessarily the top producers of natural gas, although in some cases they are, but the top sellers (vendors, jobbers) of natural gas. NGI’s latest quarterly report for third quarter 2021 shows overall the biggest sellers of natgas lost ground once again, which continues a four-year trend of year over year declines in the amount of gas sold.
Contrary to the false narrative spun by leftist media that “everyone,” especially large institutional investors, are divesting from and refusing to buy new investments in stocks of companies that drill for oil and natural gas, some of the largest institutional investors came off the sidelines and some (for the first time ever!) got into the game by investing in individual shale gas stocks in the Marcellus/Utica during the third quarter of 2021. Which big investors did the investing and how much did they invest/purchase in the way of stock? We have all the deets below…
Coterra Energy, the new name for the two merged companies that were Cabot Oil & Gas and Cimarex Energy (a Permian driller), issued its third quarter update yesterday. Cabot has been and remains one of our favorite Marcellus/Utica drillers. According to Tom Jorden, CEO of Cimarex and now CEO of the combined company, the integration of the two companies is “well underway” and has been “a full court press” since May. In the aggregate, Coterra brought 61 wells online during 3Q and plans to operate seven rigs and four completion crews during 4Q. Five of the rigs are in the Delaware Basin (in the Texas Permian), and two of the rigs are in Susquehanna County in northeast Pennsylvania. What about details for Marcellus operations during 3Q?
Last week America’s Rural Energy Coalition (AREC), a national organization created by rural community stakeholders and industry representatives from across the country to build sustainable rural communities by maximizing the opportunities and minimizing the challenges presented to them as a result of the development of their regional energy resources, held a regional meeting in Bradford County, PA. While AREC advocates for safe development of all forms of energy in rural America, front and center at last week’s meeting was the mighty Marcellus Shale and the critical role of oil and natural gas in the lives of every citizen on planet earth (and to the people of PA).
Small investors have a golden opportunity. Oil and gas companies (drillers in particular) are more profitable than ever, yet many large investors are avoiding and will not invest in them. Why? Because they’re idiots? Well, yes, that’s one reason. But the root cause is they have been cowed by loud-mouthed environmental extremists. Threatened by them. Oil and gas companies are still here, still providing a critical service to the world, and still need investors. That’s a great opportunity for small investors–like you.
Sadly, Cabot Oil & Gas is no more. On Friday the company was merged into Cimarex Energy with Cabot’s CEO Dan Dinges taking on the largely ceremonial role of “Executive Chairman” while Cimarex’s CEO Tom Jorden becomes the actual leader (CEO, President, Director) of the newly merged company, now called Coterra Energy, Inc. Coterra’s common stock will begin trading today on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “CTRA.”
In May MDN told you about one of the oddest combinations in recent memory–the merger of Permian oil driller Cimarex Energy with Marcellus gas driller Cabot Oil & Gas (see
A healthy number of permits were issued to drill new shale wells across the Marcellus/Utica region last week. Pennsylvania issued 19 new permits in both southwest and northeast PA. Ohio issued 8 new permits, all of them to a single driller (Ascent Resources) for two well pads in two different counties. West Virginia issued 9 new permits–all but 2 of them were issued to Antero Resources in Tyler County.