Diversified Sells Major Stake in Select Appalachian Wells for $200M
Diversified Energy Company, with major assets in the Appalachian region (including the Marcellus/Utica), announced yesterday the company had sold a majority stake in an unspecified number of Appalachian conventional oil and gas wells to an investment company called DP Lion Equity Holdco, for $200 million. We could not find who owns DP Lion. The company was registered as an LLC in the State of Delaware on Oct. 19, 2023. That’s about all we know about the buyer. The deal includes Diversified retaining a 20% ownership in the wells (80% goes to DP Lion). Diversified will also continue to operate the wells.
1/4/24 UPDATE: A sharp MDN reader sent us a link to a previous Diversified SEC filing that shows DP Lion Equity Holdco, LLC, is, in fact, a subsidiary of Diversified. So Diversified raised new money by selling some of its assets to itself! Or, more likely, to a slightly different set of investors, but the assets are still controlled (essentially owned) by Diversified.
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One of the speakers at the recent Hart Energy DUG Appalachia event in Pittsburgh was Douglas Kris, senior vice president of Diversified Energy. For years, we have highlighted Diversified’s “contrarian” business model (
Diversified Energy (formerly Diversified Gas & Oil), with major assets in the Marcellus/Utica region (and other regions, too), owns approximately 8 million acres of leases with 67,000 (mostly) conventional oil and gas wells. The company’s business model is to buy lower-producing wells on the cheap and find ways to make them more productive. For years, we have highlighted Diversified’s “contrarian” business model (
Diversified Energy (formerly Diversified Gas & Oil), with major assets in the Marcellus/Utica region (and other regions, too), owns approximately 8 million acres of leases with 67,000 (mostly) conventional oil and gas wells. The company’s business model is to buy lower-producing wells on the cheap and find ways to make them more productive. The company issued its latest update, for the first half of 2023, last Friday. Paul Gough, from the Pittsburgh Business Times, listened to the conference call and combed through the update. He hit on a key piece of news: Diversified has accelerated its program to plug old wells (its own wells in addition to orphaned wells) this year. In fact, the company has already (as of June 30) plugged 174 wells for the first half of the year. That number includes 87 of Diversified’s own wells.
Last summer, MDN brought you the news about a lawsuit against Diversified Energy and EQT over the issue of old and “abandoned” wells in West Virginia (see 
The weather has been fantastic for those of us living in the northeastern U.S. over the past few weeks. Clear blue skies (when they aren’t clouded with wildfire smoke from Canada), really warm temperatures, and absolutely no rain to spoil outdoor activities. Here in the Binghamton, NY area, we went from a surplus of rain and swollen rivers and lakes just a month ago to a rain deficit today. Lawns and fields and beginning to turn brown. Hey, we’re not complaining! But we do need some rain. The lack of rain in the Susquehanna River Basin has triggered water withdrawal restrictions for 42 oil and gas drillers and four other large water users (46 in all) by the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC). In many cases, the SRBC order is to “cease withdrawal.”
Last summer, MDN brought you the news about a lawsuit against Diversified Energy and EQT over the issue of old and “abandoned” wells in West Virginia (see 
Diversified Energy (formerly Diversified Gas & Oil), with major assets in the Marcellus/Utica region (and other regions too), owns approximately 8 million acres of leases with close to 70,000 (mostly) conventional oil and gas wells. The company’s business model is to buy lower-producing wells on the cheap and find ways to make them more productive. One of the new ways Diversified is looking to make money with old wells is by mining cryptocurrency at wells in remote locations not hooked to a pipeline network. Diversified wants to try it with a well in northwestern Pennsylvania. Unsurprisingly, it’s generating some controversy…
New shale permits issued for Jan. 23-29 in the Marcellus/Utica soared! There were 59 new permits issued in total, including 34 (!) new permits for Pennsylvania, 24 (!) new permits for Ohio, and just one measly permit issued in West Virginia. Chesapeake Energy was the runaway winner by grabbing 13 permits, all of them for wells in Bradford County, PA. EOG Resources was the runner-up, receiving eight permits for drilling in Noble County, OH.
Diversified Energy (formerly Diversified Gas & Oil), with major assets in the Marcellus/Utica region (other regions too), owns approximately 8 million acres of leases with close to 70,000 (mostly) conventional oil and gas wells. Diversified has aggressively moved to control methane emissions from its operations over the past year (see