EQT Corp

Allegheny County | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Meetings | Pennsylvania | Regulation

CSSD’s Andrew Place Talks About 3-Leg Approaches & Firehoses
February 10, 2014February 10, 2014

Eckert Seamans, the Pittsburgh, PA energy law firm that employs the former PA Sec. of Environmental Protection (and pot smoking proponent running for governor) John Hanger, hosted a morning breakfast meeting last Friday in Southpointe to discuss “responsible shale development.” Er, has it been *irresponsible* thus far? At any rate, three speakers were on the agenda for the breakfast conclave, one of whom was EQT’s Andrew Place–the interim and outgoing director of the Center for Sustainable Shale Development, or CSSD (see Center for Sustainable Shale Comes Roaring Back (to Life)).

According to Place, the CSSD takes a “three-leg approach” to the shale drilling issue. And although the public has heard virtually nothing from the CSSD since it’s founding until a few weeks ago when it came roaring back, Place said it’s been a nonstop “firehose” of activity over at CSSD HQ. From the breakfast meeting (that curiously didn’t include Hanger on the speaker’s dias), here’s more on Andrew Place’s comments:
Read More “CSSD’s Andrew Place Talks About 3-Leg Approaches & Firehoses”
Chevron | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Shell | Statewide PA

Center for Sustainable Shale Comes Roaring Back (to Life)
January 21, 2014

Finally, signs of life from the Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD), a new independent certification organization for Marcellus Shale drillers launched with much fanfare in March of last year. Both drillers and environmentalist organizations, along with non-profits like the mostly anti-drilling Heinz Endowments, cooperated to develop a set of 15 standards drillers should meet to receive the CSSD’s official stamp of approval (see Important: Drillers & Enviros Form New Group, Launch Cert Program for MDN’s mixed feelings about the organization and its standards). Heinz Endowments president Bobby Vagt lost his job for promoting the CSSD (see Bobby Vagt Out as Pres of Heinz Endowments – Fracking Connection?).

Since launching, aside from the Vagt/Heinz flap, all has been quiet with the CSSD. However, the CSSD was busy working behind the scenes. From the beginning, Andrew Place, corporate director of energy and environmental policy for EQT has served as interim director of the CSSD. News reports are now coming fast and furious. First, environmentalist lawyer Susan LeGros from Philadelphia has been named the director of the CSSD. She’ll be making a move to Pittsburgh where CSSD HQ is located. Second, Bureau Veritas (BV) has been selected as the company to audit/evaluate companies that want to spend the $30-$100K required to become certified. After they evaluate, a 3-member panel will decide on whether they get the stamp of approval. Two of those three people are Christy Todd Whitman, former governor of NJ and former EPA chief, and former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill. Third, it appears to MDN that no one else has joined the CSSD beyond the initial handful of signups (Shell, EQT, Chevron, CONSOL Energy), and that no one has sought certification–although that may change now that the cert process is up and running…
Read More “Center for Sustainable Shale Comes Roaring Back (to Life)”
Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

Deal Done to Lease Washington County, PA Airport for Drilling
January 10, 2014January 10, 2014

MDN told you yesterday about an impending vote by Washington County, PA commissioners to lease portions of the county airport for drilling under (but not on) airport property (see Washington County, PA Airport Considers Offer to Lease). The vote was taken, and the deal was approved. In the end, it looks as though the county, which does not own the mineral rights for all 400 acres of airport property, does own the rights to at least 135 acres, which they leased for a signing bonus of $6,400 per acre and 18.25% royalties on any gas produced.

The taxpayers of Washington County should be happy that a check for $864,000 of “newfound money” is heading their way…
Read More “Deal Done to Lease Washington County, PA Airport for Drilling”
Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

Washington County, PA Airport Considers Offer to Lease
January 9, 2014January 9, 2014

Washington County, PA commissioners will vote today on a proposed lease of the county’s airport property–to allow shale drilling under (but not on top of) the property. According to the deal offered, the county would receive $6,400 per acre as a signing bonus and 18.25% royalties on any gas produced. It’s unclear how much of the 360 airport-owned acres will generate revenue for the county because when the county purchased the property some landowners retained mineral rights. However, the deal, if signed, is sure to generate a boatload (or planeload) of money for Washington County.

Here’s more details about the proposed offer, and which drillers (plural) are cooperating to do the drilling…
Read More “Washington County, PA Airport Considers Offer to Lease”
Energy Companies | EQT Corp

EQT to Spend $1.1B on Marcellus Drilling in 2014, $145M on Utica
December 19, 2013December 19, 2013

EQT, one of the largest drillers in the Marcellus Shale, released their 2014 “guidance” (what we’ll do next year) update yesterday. And boy oh boy is it a duesy for the Marcellus. EQT says they’ll spend an eye-popping $1.1 billion and drill 186 Marcellus Shale wells in 2014. In the Utica Shale, EQT plans to spend $145 million and drill 21 wells. EQT will actually spend more money to drill in the Upper Devonian Shale layer than the Utica: $155 million to drill 30 wells in the UD.

EQT will spend the vast majority of it’s planned $1.9 billion in capital expenditures in the northeast in 2014. Here’s the update with full details:
Read More “EQT to Spend $1.1B on Marcellus Drilling in 2014, $145M on Utica”
Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | EV Energy Partners | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

EVEP’s Mark Houser Says More Utica Acreage Sales Ahead in 2014
December 17, 2013December 17, 2013

EV Energy Partners (EVEP) recently attended the 12th Annual Wells Fargo Energy Symposium in New York City. EVEP’s CEO Mark Houser addressed the gathering and delivered a fair bit of information about EVEP’s Utica Shale drilling program. With 3/4 of a million leased acres in the Utica, when EVEP talks, people listen. You may recall that EVEP had previously put more than half a million of their Utica acres up for sale (see EVEP 3Q13: No New Land Deals to Announce). They’ve since done a small deal or two–but they retain most of their acreage. At the conference, Houser said he expects to announce more deals to sell their Utica acreage in 2014 (of course we heard the same story last year, see EV Energy Partners Utica Acreage Sale Delayed Until 2013).

Highlights of Houser’s talk at the Wells Fargo Symposium, including an update on their joint ventures with other drillers and EVEP’s view on the state of the midstream in Ohio:
Read More “EVEP’s Mark Houser Says More Utica Acreage Sales Ahead in 2014”
Energy Companies | Energy Services | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Valerus | Washington County

EQT Hires Valerus for 2 New Compressor Stations in SW PA
November 14, 2013November 14, 2013

Valerus, a Houston, TX-based company with a growing facility in Smithfield, PA manufactures/creates compression solutions–assembling the pipelines, valves, engines, etc.–that move natural gas through a pipeline. Think of them as the people that come in and install the guts of a compressor station.

EQT Corp., a major Marcellus Shale driller, has just hired Valerus to do just that–install new compression solutions at two compressor stations in southwest PA. It means more jobs and more investment on the way in PA…
Read More “EQT Hires Valerus for 2 New Compressor Stations in SW PA”
Energy Companies | EQT Corp

EQT Corp 3Q13: Marcellus Production Up 74%
October 24, 2013October 24, 2013

Marcellus and Utica Shale driller EQT Corporation issued their third quarter financial and operations update today, and wow, what an update! The company reports 3Q13 revenue was up 177% over 3Q12. Also of note: Marcellus production has hit 787 million cubic feet per day (Mmcf/d), which is up 74% from last year. Production from all of EQT’s drilling is now producing an average 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.

Production is up. Revenue is up. Midstream is up. Everything appears to be looking up for EQT…
Read More “EQT Corp 3Q13: Marcellus Production Up 74%”
Bradford County | Chief Oil & Gas | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Greene County (PA) | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

PA’s Top 10 Marcellus Shale Wells – Full Details
October 14, 2013October 14, 2013

Who doesn’t like a Top 10? We have one for you: What are the Top 10 producing Marcellus Shale wells in Pennsylvania? Would it surprise you to learn that 8 of the top 10 wells are found in a single PA county, drilled by the same driller?

Here’s the Top 10 PA Marcellus Well List, complete with the name of well, county, driller, estimated earnings per day and estimated royalties paid per day:
Read More “PA’s Top 10 Marcellus Shale Wells – Full Details”
Doddridge County | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | West Virginia

WV Landowner Tries to Stop Shale Drilling with New Water Wells
September 30, 2013September 30, 2013

Here’s a novel approach by a landowner to try and stop drilling on land already leased. A landowner in Doddridge County, WV didn’t like how he was being treated by driller EQT, so he drilled several water wells close to where EQT planned to drill Marcellus Shale gas wells on his property. In WV, you can’t drill within 250 feet of a water well–so the water wells effectively shut down drilling on his property.

Except… EQT is now suing the landowner for bad faith and intentionally trying to obstruct a signed contract. Based on the facts in the case, we expect EQT will prevail. Drilling the water wells was “cheating” to prevent drilling and ultimately to get out of the lease. Creative, perhaps–but misguided…
Read More “WV Landowner Tries to Stop Shale Drilling with New Water Wells”
Chesapeake Energy | Commodity Price | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Range Resources Corp

Production from 4 Marcellus Drillers Keeps U.S. NatGas Prices Low
September 19, 2013September 19, 2013

An article on the investor website The Motley Fool does a good job of putting into context the enormous importance of the Marcellus Shale. According to the article, even though production from other major U.S. shale plays like the Haynesville has fallen in recent years, Marcellus production is up so dramatically it single-handedly keeps the price of natural gas low in this country.

The article (read it below) also gives a quick roundup of four key drillers driving the success of the Marcellus…
Read More “Production from 4 Marcellus Drillers Keeps U.S. NatGas Prices Low”
Energy Companies | Energy Services | EQT Corp | Green Field Energy Services | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

EQT First Driller to Frack a Marcellus Well Using 100% Field Gas
September 16, 2013September 16, 2013

Marcellus Shale driller EQT was the first driller to use liquefied natural gas (LNG) to power a drilling rig starting in 2012 (see EQT Converts 2nd Drilling Rig in WV Marcellus to Run on LNG). EQT continues to be a trailblazer. They announced today that by using technology from Green Field Energy Services, they have just completed fracking a Marcellus well using 100% “field gas” or methane produced right at the well site.

They not only drill for the gas, but the gas they drill for, they turn around and use to drill a neighboring well which cuts down on emissions, truck traffic and cost. How cool is that?…
Read More “EQT First Driller to Frack a Marcellus Well Using 100% Field Gas”
Allegheny County | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Bad News: EQT Sues 70 Landowners Using New PA Forced Pooling Law
August 1, 2013

The recently signed Pennsylvania Royalty Bill SB259 provides extra transparency for landowners in how royalties are calculated, but it also introduces forced pooling for some landowners with old, pre-Marcellus leases (see PA Gov Corbett Signs Back-Door Forced Pooling Bill into Law). As MDN and landowner groups like the National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO) feared, this legislation is now being used against landowners. Earlier this week, EQT Corp. used the new law to sue 70 landowners to force them to allow EQT to get on their land to conduct survey work for future drilling on or under the land. Bye bye negotiations. Bye bye fairness. Hello steamroller.

This lawsuit is bad news for PA landowners and bad news for pro-drilling Gov. Tom Corbett who mouthed platitudes that this type of thing would not happen when he signed it into law…
Read More “Bad News: EQT Sues 70 Landowners Using New PA Forced Pooling Law”
CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Range Resources Corp | Upper Devonian Shale

Different Strokes for Different Upper Devonian-Drilling Folks
July 31, 2013July 31, 2013

Different drillers have (surprise!) different opinions when it comes to whether or not drilling in the Upper Devonian Shale (UD) layer is a good idea to do now or later. They all seem to indicate the UD will get drilled, it’s only a question of when.

The three different strategies of EQT, CONSOL and Range Resources with respect to the UD:
Read More “Different Strokes for Different Upper Devonian-Drilling Folks”
Beaver County | Chesapeake Energy | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Hancock County | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Rex Energy | Upper Devonian Shale | West Virginia

5th Upper Devonian Driller + Maps of Best UD Spots to Drill
July 29, 2013July 29, 2013

It seems as if “out of the blue” the Upper Devonian Shale (UD) has popped up on the radar screen–quite suddenly and in quite a big way. The Upper Devonian is located a few hundred feet above the Marcellus Shale layer in the northeastern U.S. Over the past few weeks, MDN has highlighted stories of drillers expanding their UD drilling programs–including CONSOL, Rex Energy, Range Resources and EQT Corporation (see EQT 4th Driller to Target Upper Devonian Shale Layer). Courtesy of a sharp MDN reader, we can add a fifth UD driller to the list: Chesapeake Energy. Todd Sigler reports that Chesapeake has drilled an Upper Devonian well in Hancock County, WV and has several Upper Devonian permits in extreme western Beaver County, PA.

Todd also pointed us to two excellent drilling presentations about the UD, one from Range Resources and one from Rex Energy, which we’ve embedded below. The Range presentation includes a good backgrounder on the UD and a great series of maps showing where the best places to drill in the UD can be found–currently–based on our knowledge and experience so far. The Range presentation also discusses how Range (and others) are adopting a “stacked play” strategy of drilling the Upper Devonian, Marcellus and Utica layers–all in the same well bore. How cool is that?!
Read More “5th Upper Devonian Driller + Maps of Best UD Spots to Drill”
Energy Companies | EQT Corp

EQT 2Q13: Welcome to the Marcellus “1 Bcf/d Club”
July 26, 2013July 26, 2013

EQT has distinguished itself by becoming the second Marcellus Shale driller to join the “1 billion cubic feet per day club” in Marcellus Shale gas production. Cabot Oil & Gas was the first member (see Who’s a Member of the Marcellus “1 Bcf/d” Club?). EQT had a tremendous second quarter, as reported in their 2Q13 update issued yesterday. Marcellus production was up an astonishing 111% from 2Q12.

A few more facts and figures from yesterday’s update: in 2Q13, EQT started to drill (or “spud”) 41 Marcellus wells; they completed three Utica wells with one of them going online for sales of gas; and EQT spud eight Upper Devonian wells (completing four of them), with plans to drill up to 22 UD wells this year…
Read More “EQT 2Q13: Welcome to the Marcellus “1 Bcf/d Club””