Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G)

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Goldman: Cabot O&G, Range Resources Among Top Takeover Targets
July 20, 2015July 20, 2015

With all of this talk about CONSOL Energy and Noble Energy and mergers/acquisitions and workforce reductions, we came across an interesting story and analysis by SNL Financial summarizing a Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research report issued last Friday. The Goldman report evaluates 38 exploration and production (E&P) companies on their suitability and desirability as mergers and acquisitions candidates based on asset quality, potential upside returns to the buyer as oil and gas prices improve, and low break-even operations. That is, of all the E&Ps out there, which ones are most likely to be targeted for a takeover, and by whom? The surprising answer is that Cabot Oil & Gas and Range Resources, both huge Marcellus drillers, are among the takeover targets. And the super majors interested in doing the taking over? Exxon Mobil and Statoil…
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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Susquehanna County

PA Court Decision: Leases Don’t Go on Pause When Landowners Sue
July 2, 2015July 2, 2015

Put on your hip boots, we have some deep waters to wade through with respect to an important court decision in Pennsylvania that affects landowners and drillers. Last October MDN told you about an important lawsuit that went to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, a case called Harrison v Cabot Oil & Gas (see Important Landowner/Driller Case Heads to PA Supreme Court). In brief, Susquehanna County, PA landowners Wayne and Mary Harrison signed a lease with Cabot Oil & Gas for $100 per acre and 12.5% royalties in 2010. Learning that others in their area got better deals and feeling they were not only hoodwinked but pressured into signing, they sued Cabot halfway through the lease (before any drilling was done) to dissolve the lease. Ultimately that lawsuit was decided in favor of Cabot. But by the time the lawsuit was done and dusted, the original 5-year term had expired without Cabot drilling. The Harrisons claimed since Cabot hadn’t drilled, the lease is now over with. Cabot said the lease went on “pause” when the Harrison’s sued–you can’t very well drill with an active lawsuit. This “lease on pause” case was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court in PA, and in February the Supreme Court ruled that just because there is ongoing litigation, Cabot didn’t have the presumption that the lease was paused (see Cabot O&G Loses PA Supreme Court Case to Extend Lease). That is, Cabot lost the case. But it was referred back to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals for more work before a final final ruling. We now have that final final ruling…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

PA Fracktivist Permanently Banned from Cabot Property
May 7, 2015May 7, 2015

A little-known (outside of northeast Pennsylvania) anti-driller, Vera Scroggins, has been permanently banned from trespassing on Cabot Oil & Gas well sites according to a recent court order. Vera had previously agreed to the restrictions that don’t allow her to get near Cabot’s many sites in Susquehanna County, PA. Then she got the trespassing itch again and re-offended, according to court records, in January 2015 (see PA Anti-Driller Fined $1K for Trespassing on Cabot O&G Site, Jail?). Until now it had been a temporary injunction. Now it’s a permanent injunction, something Vera says she’s going to continue fighting…
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Commodity Price | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Cabot Continues to Lower Cost/Mcf, Plans for Constitution in 2016
April 27, 2015April 27, 2015

Last Friday the Cabot Oil & Gas management team held an analyst call to discuss first quarter 2015 results–and look forward to the rest of 2015. There is a lot of good stuff to read in the transcript from the call. We can’t include it all (much as we would like to). Two things really stood out to us as we scanned through the prepared remarks by Cabot personnel and in the question and answers that followed. (1) Cabot’s direct cost to drill and extra natural gas (and oil) continues to drop thanks to their diligence. That cost is now $1.22 per thousand cubic feet equivalent. That number does not (we assume) include the cost to transport and process the natural gas. What it means is that even at somewhere around $1.75-$2.00 per Mcf (our estimate), Cabot is at break even and starts to make money. (2) The Constitution Pipeline is still on track and Cabot predicts it will be operational in mid-2016. Cabot CEO Dan Dinges had some interesting things to say about the Constitution and whether or not they intend to send current production through it–or bring online new production to help fill the Constitution…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

PA Anti-Driller Fined $1K for Trespassing on Cabot O&G Site, Jail?
April 24, 2015April 24, 2015

A little-known (outside of northeast Pennsylvania) anti-driller, Vera Scroggins, was fined $1,000 yesterday in Susquehanna County court. Vera’s biggest claim to fame is her potty mouth treatment of FrackNation filmmaker Phelim McAleer (watch it here). She is a repeat trespasser on Cabot Oil & Gas drilling sites and has been warned, repeatedly, to stay off their land–for her own safety and the safety of others. Scroggins runs so-called tours where she shows New York City celebrities and other urbanites (who don’t know the difference between a cow’s udder and a roof gutter) the gas fields of Susquehanna County, claiming drilling operations somehow harm local residents. The judge has had enough. He said at the hearing that Vera has 45 days to pay the fine for her latest violation and if she doesn’t, she’s going to jail. Vera maintains her latest violation wasn’t a violation–that the court is relying on the testimony of someone who lied under oath about seeing her trespass…
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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Cabot O&G 1Q15: Production Up, Revenue Up, Profits Down
April 24, 2015April 24, 2015

Cabot Oil & Gas released it’s first quarter 2015 results today. Most of the numbers are impressive indeed. Marcellus natural gas production was up 43% over last year. Liquids production was up 132%. And even though they’re not getting as much money for their product, revenue was up year over year–$267.4 million in 1Q15 vs $255.4 million in 1Q14 (up 4.7%). However, even the mighty Cabot couldn’t keep all of the numbers going up. Net income–the money you keep after expenses–was down from $107 million in 1Q14 to $40.3 million in 1Q15–a 62% drop year over year. Low prices for both dry and wet gas are the culprit. Here’s today’s 1Q15 financial and operational update from one of our favorite Marcellus drillers, which includes “guidance” (their best guess) as to what will happen for the balance of 2015…
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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Kentucky | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Cabot Drills Test Well in WV Rogersville Shale, More on the Way?
April 14, 2015April 14, 2015

A fascinating story in Sunday’s Charleston Gazette shines a light on the Rogersville Shale formation in southwestern West Virginia and eastern Kentucky. We’ve mentioned the Rogersville a few times on MDN–a shale layer that is older and much deeper than the Marcellus. The Marcellus is about a mile down. The Rogersville is between 9,000-14,000 feet down, or 2-3 times the depth of the Marcellus. Until now we’ve heard about potential Rogersville activity in Kentucky (see Fracking on the Way in the Bluegrass State? Quite Possibly and Kentucky Fracking One Step Closer: Commission Considers 1st Permit). Two exploratory wells have already been drilled in the Rogersville in Kentucky. But the new news, the thing that interests us, is that Cabot Oil & Gas has now drilled a test well in the Rogersville in West Virginia…

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Chesapeake Energy | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Southwestern Energy | Statewide PA

Envelope Please: Top 5 PA Marcellus Shale Gas Producers for 2014
April 7, 2015April 7, 2015

Who were the top 5 natural gas producers in Pennsylvania for all of 2014? The names of the companies won’t surprise you if you’ve read MDN for any length of time. But the order of the list may surprise you, and the number of active wells for some of them likely will surprise you…
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Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy

Topeka Capital List of 7 O&G Takeover Targets Includes 3 in NE
March 19, 2015March 20, 2015

Investment firm Topeka Capital Markets recently issued a report (for their clients) of the “most likely” companies in the oil and gas space that will be takeover targets, presumably this year. Unfortunately we don’t have a copy of the report, but we do have a list of the names they say are likely targets. The list has seven companies on it–three of which are focused on the Marcellus/Utica. Two of them are some of the biggest in the Marcellus/Utica. One of them has our eyes popping out, frankly with disbelief…
Read More “Topeka Capital List of 7 O&G Takeover Targets Includes 3 in NE”
Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Cabot Cuts 2015 Budget 44%, Will Drill 70 New Marcellus Wells
February 24, 2015February 24, 2015

Last week Cabot Oil & Gas issued its fourth quarter 2014 and full year 2014 update, along with guidance on what they plan to do for 2015. In October Cabot said they would spend upward of $1.6 billion on drilling in 2015 and planned to grow their production a very healthy 20-30% (see Cabot O&G 3Q14: A Wandering Eye + Welcome to the 2 Bcf/d Club!). Last week Cabot slashed the budget to $900 million and their new planned growth projection is 10-18%. Cabot also said they’re downsizing their rig fleet–in the Marcellus they’re going from 5 rigs to 3, and in the Eagle Ford (Texas) they’re cutting back from 3 rigs to 1. Revenue for 2014 was down 63% over 2013 due mostly to the low price of natgas along with certain other “impairment” charges. Amidst the bad news of budget cuts and lower revenue, there was really good news: Cabot hit a new production high of 531.8 billion cubic feet in 2014, up 29% from 2013; proved reserves increased 36%–to 7.4 trillion cubic feet equivalent; and they still plan to drill upward of 70 new wells in 2015 in the PA Marcellus (in Susquehanna County)…
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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Cabot O&G Loses PA Supreme Court Case to Extend Lease
February 19, 2015February 19, 2015

In October MDN told you about an important lawsuit that went to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, a case called Harrison v Cabot Oil & Gas (see Important Landowner/Driller Case Heads to PA Supreme Court). In brief, Susquehanna County, PA landowners Wayne and Mary Harrison signed a lease with Cabot Oil & Gas for $100 per acre and 12.5% royalties. Learning that others in the area got better deals and feeling they were not only hoodwinked but pressured into signing, they sued Cabot halfway through the lease to dissolve it. Ultimately that lawsuit was decided in favor of Cabot. But by the time the lawsuit was done and dusted, the original 5-year term had expired without Cabot drilling. The Harrisons claimed since Cabot hadn’t drilled, the lease is now over with. Cabot said the lease went on “pause” when the Harrison’s sued–you can’t very well drill with an active lawsuit. This “lease on pause” case was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court in PA, and on Tuesday they rendered their decision…
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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Susquehanna County

Cabot O&G Clipped $50K by SRBC for Lack of Water Permit
February 16, 2015February 16, 2015

Timing is everything. If you start drilling a hole too early, it will cost you. In this case, $50,000. That’s the amount Cabot Oil & Gas has offered to pay the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) for their eager-beaver error in drilling a hole on a new well pad in Susquehanna County, PA before they had the necessary approval from the SRBC. No, the SRBC doesn’t suddenly issue permits to drill–that’s the job of the DEP (Dept. of Environmental Protection). However, the SRBC does issue permits for the water that’s needed to drill, and it was that permit Cabot didn’t have in hand when they started to drill late last year. The SRBC says it’s not a big deal and that Cabot is normally “very compliant.” That is, it was a mistake and not intentional. There was no environmental harm as a result. However, for Cabot, it was a costly mistake…
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Accidents | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Susquehanna County

PA DEP Fines Cabot $120K for January Water Tank Explosion in NEPA
December 3, 2014December 3, 2014

Here’s one that slipped by us when it happened. On Jan. 11, 2014 there was an explosion at a Cabot Oil & Gas well site in Susquehanna Count, PA. The explosion happened in a brine water storage tank at the site in Jessup Township, caused by a water truck driver (who was injured in the blast). The incident is coming to light now because yesterday the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) levied a $120,000 fine on Cabot. Thanks to the investigative work done by the Scranton Times-Tribune, we know exactly what happened…
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Broome County | Chenango County | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Delaware County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Schoharie County | Susquehanna County | Williams

FERC Issues Final Approval for Constitution Pipeline in PA/NY
December 3, 2014December 3, 2014

We’ve been writing about the Constitution Pipeline for, like, forever! The Constitution is planned to run 124 miles from Susquehanna County, PA up into New York State, all the way to Schoharie County where it will connect to both the Iroquois Gas Transmission pipeline and the Tennessee Gas Pipeline. It will flow some 650,000 dekatherms of natural gas per day (enough natural gas to serve approximately 3 million homes), most of it produced by Cabot Oil & Gas, one of the owners of the pipeline. In October, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a final environmental approval (see Constitution Pipeline Gets FERC Final Environmental Approval). Yesterday, FERC issued its final approval for the project–meaning the shovels will now hit the ground and construction will now begin. Horray!…
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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Cabot O&G Presentation: Scaling Back 1 Rig in Marcellus in 2015
November 25, 2014November 25, 2014

Cabot Oil & Gas recently participated in the Merrill Lynch 2014 Energy Conference in Miami, Florida. Hey, somebody has to suffer by attending these things, right?! No, weren’t there (wish we were). But we do have a copy of their PowerPoint slide presentation from the event, complete with updates on their Marcellus program. Of note and interest: Due to low gas prices and lack of pipeline infrastructure, Cabot is scaling back just a bit in 2015–moving from 6 drilling rigs to 5 rigs next year in the Marcellus. But that certainly doesn’t mean the monster production from Cabot will let up. The company’s production continues to climb year after year–exponentially…
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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Susquehanna County | UGI Energy Services | Wyoming County (PA)

UGI Turns on New Pipeline for Cabot in NEPA
November 21, 2014November 21, 2014

In May MDN told you that UGI Energy Services, a subsidiary of UGI (a utility company in northeast PA) would build two new pipelines in northeast PA for $80 million that will allow them to transport cheap, abundant, locally mined natural gas from Cabot Oil & Gas in Susquehanna County to residents in the greater Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area (see UGI Energy Building 2 New Pipelines in NEPA for Cabot O&G). Today UGI announced one of those pipelines is now completed and flowing cheap Marcellus Shale gas to NEPA residents, which will result in lower rates. The other will be completed in the spring of next year. Now what was that about the “lucky few landowners” who are the only ones to benefit from Marcellus Shale gas?…
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