EQT 3Q17: Profit $23.3M, 2.3 Bcfe/d Production, Rice Merger on Track
Yesterday one of the biggest Marcellus/Utica drillers, EQT, issued their third quarter 2017 update. EQT will soon be THE biggest Marcellus/Utica driller, indeed the biggest shale gas producer in the United States (surpassing Chesapeake Energy), once a deal to buy Rice Energy consummates later this year. But what about just EQT in 3Q17? The company reports making a profit of $23.3 million during the quarter, versus losing $8 million in the same quarter last year. EQT produced 205.1 billion cubic feet equivalent (Bcfe) of natural gas during the quarter–which works out to be 2.3 Bcfe per day. Here are some interesting stats from the update: Since EQT began drilling shale wells, they have drilled (called “spud” in the industry) 1,288 shale wells. Of those wells drilled, 1,060 are online, making the company money. Below we have the full update, a copy of the transcript from the analyst phone call, the latest slide deck loaded with charts and graphs, and a bit of amusing analysis about the update/phone call…
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Yesterday EQT provided an update for both its drilling and midstream operations. On the midstream side, EQT had an interesting comment about it’s biggest project on the books–the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). MVP is a $3.5 billion, 303-mile natural gas pipeline that will run from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a final approval for the project two weeks ago (see 
EQT’s Equitrans (pipeline) Expansion Project is on track to begin construction by the end of this year–likely sometime in November. We first covered this project in 2015 (see 
The disgusting corporate raiders at Jana Partners are fighting to the bitter end in their attempt to stop the merger/takeover of Rice Energy by EQT. In June EQT and Rice Energy announced that EQT will buy out and merge in Rice Energy, to create (in EQT) the largest natural gas-producing company in the United States (see 
On Wednesday, EQT announced the company has floated $3 billion (yikes!) of IOUs–called “notes” in the financial industry–with various due dates and interest rates payable, in order to make a cash payment due as part of their purchase of Rice Energy. The total deal is worth $8.2 billion, with EQT paying $6.7 billion and assuming Rice’s existing debt of $1.5 billion (see 
Yesterday we brought you the “Top 10” drillers in southwestern Pennsylvania, as ranked by the number of permits issued (see 
A West Virginia Circuit Court case decided last week (by jury) found in favor of surface owners against a well pad constructed by EQT. The decision has far-reaching implications for not only surface owners and drillers, but mineral rights owners too. From the first time we read about so-called “joint development” legislation being promoted by the drilling industry in WV (back in February), we’ve not been fans (see 
When a driller sinks a hole in the ground looking for one hydrocarbon–like natural gas–other hydrocarbons also come out of the ground. Sometimes its oil. Sometimes condensate. Sometimes natural gas liquids (NGLs), including ethane, propane, butane, pentane, etc. In northeast and central Pennsylvania where the Marcellus Shale is prolific, most of what comes out of the ground is just methane–or natural gas. However, in the southwestern portion of PA, and in the northern panhandle of WV and on into eastern OH, it’s a different story. They are considered “wet gas” areas because (depending on the county) the wells are prolific NGL producers. Most NGLs, like propane, fetch much higher prices than plain old methane. Typically ethane is the NGL that mostly comes out of the ground, but for many drillers ethane can’t (yet) be sold, so it’s considered a “waste” product, mixed into the methane stream to get rid of it. But that’s changing. There are now pipelines to carry ethane to facilities in both Philadelphia and to a cracker plant in Canada. There’s even a pipeline for ethane (and other NGLs) that goes all the way to the Gulf Coast (ATEX, Appalachia to Texas). Some of the largest Marcellus/Utica drillers now have markets for their NGLs, so they are ramping up production and selling more NGLs. In fact, six of the eight largest M-U drillers increased their NGL production in the second quarter of 2017 compared to 2Q16. Which six increased, and which two decreased NGL production last quarter?…
An effort by Fayette County, WV to ban injection wells in the county has gone down to a final defeat. In January 2016, three liberal Democrat county commissioners from Fayette County, with the backing and help of the radical WV Mountain Party, voted to ban injection wells in the county (see 
Of the three Marcellus/Utica producing states–Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia–only WV reports well production on an annual basis. Not frequent enough! In July WV published production numbers for 2016. The exciting news is that on average, initial production (IP) of Marcellus/Utica shale wells surged 20% over 2015. IP is the amount of gas (or oil or NGLs) flowing from a well. However, when you dig into the numbers, you learn that IP rates did not go up universally across the state. Some counties had big increases, other counties went the other way. The same with drillers. Some drillers (like Antero) saw a big bump up in average IP rates. Other’s (like Southwestern Energy) saw a dip in IP rates from 2015 to 2016…
In July MDN brought you the news that Rice Energy had bought out the assets of LOLA Energy (see