Gulfport Eyes 5% Growth in Production & New Drilling in 2026
Gulfport Energy is the third-largest driller in the Ohio Utica Shale (by the number of wells drilled). Gulfport released its fourth quarter and full-year 2025 update yesterday. The company reports delivering a strong performance during the period, with total net production reaching 1.10 Bcfe per day and net liquids production rising 12% over the fourth quarter of 2024 to 18.2 MBbl per day. Financial highlights included $132.4 million in net income and $234.8 million in adjusted EBITDA, supported by $185.4 million in net cash from operating activities and $120.2 million in adjusted free cash flow. Gulfport spent $25 million on drilling and completions (D&C) and $11.4 million on maintenance, land, and leasehold spending. The company spent an additional $55.7 million on discretionary appraisal and development. Furthermore, the company expanded its footprint through the acquisition of $47.2 million in opportunistic acreage. Read More “Gulfport Eyes 5% Growth in Production & New Drilling in 2026”
A nice bump up in permit numbers last week, mainly due to Pennsylvania. The Marcellus/Utica region received a combined 27 permits last week, Jan. 12 – 18. Pennsylvania issued 21 new permits, Ohio issued 5, and West Virginia issued just 1. Among the drillers receiving new permits last week: Antero Resources, Coterra Energy, EQT, Expand Energy, Gulfport Energy, and Seneca Resources. 
In Q3 2025, U.S. E&Ps (drillers) successfully leveraged rigorous cost-cutting and capital discipline to maintain stable earnings despite commodity price volatility. With lifting costs down 16% since mid-2022, producers offset revenue pressures through efficiency and consolidation. RBN Energy reports that performance diverged by sector in 3Q: oil-weighted producers saw earnings rise 19% on stabilized crude prices and reduced impairments, while gas-weighted peers suffered a 27% earnings slump due to lower realizations. Total production increased 4.7%, mainly driven by oil majors. Looking ahead to Q4, the outlook shifts; oil producers face headwinds as prices dip toward $60/bbl, while natural gas producers anticipate a strong finish fueled by winter demand and rising Henry Hub prices. 
Gulfport Energy is the third-largest driller in the Ohio Utica Shale (by the number of wells drilled). Gulfport released its third quarter update yesterday. The company is going full steam ahead in its natgas drilling in the Ohio Marcellus. Gulfport is aggressively expanding its future drilling potential. The company nearly tripled its Marcellus inventory, adding roughly 125 gross locations. Concurrently, Gulfport successfully finished two Utica U-development test wells, a move that proves drilling feasibility and unlocks an additional 20 gross Utica dry gas locations. 
We happened across a lawsuit we didn’t know about, involving an issue we’ve seen before. A landowner in Belmont County, Ohio, filed a lawsuit in June 2024 alleging that Gulfport Energy, in a joint development agreement with EQT (the lease owner), drilled three wells under the landowner’s property that tapped into the Point Pleasant formation, which sits immediately below the Utica. The landowner said the lease only allows drilling in the Utica and Marcellus and NOT in the Point Pleasant. 
Earlier this month, we brought you the bombshell news that Antero Resources, the country’s fifth-largest natural gas producer and largest producer in West Virginia, is preparing to market its Ohio Utica assets, hoping to fetch $900 million to $1 billion (see 
EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational professional services network (i.e., consulting firm) based in London. EY is also one of the “big four” largest accounting firms in the world. EY published a new study last week titled “US Oil and Gas Reserves, Production and ESG Benchmarking Study” (full copy below). The study found that due to mergers and acquisitions in 2024, the largest publicly traded oil and gas companies in the U.S. went from 50 down to 40, and that those 40 companies produced a staggering 41% of all O&G production in this country. It’s probably no surprise that many in the list produce natural gas (and oil) in the Marcellus/Utica. 
Gulfport Energy is the third-largest driller in the Ohio Utica Shale (by the number of wells drilled). The company emerged from bankruptcy four years ago with a new board and new management in May 2021 (see