Apex Energy | Ascent Resources | Belmont County | Butler County | Carroll County | Clinton County | Encino Energy | Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy | Laurel Mountain Energy | Marshall County | Monroe County | Ohio | PennEnergy Resources | Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania General Energy | Range Resources Corp | S.T.L. Resources | Southwestern Energy | Tioga County (PA) | Tug Hill Operating | Washington County | Weekly Permits | West Virginia | Westmoreland County
29 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jun 20-26
Last week, for June 20-26, the number of new permits issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica decreased just a bit to 29 (from 34 the week prior). Pennsylvania issued 15 new permits, all but one in southwestern PA. Five of PA’s permits went to PennEnergy Resources in Butler County, four to Range Resources in Washington County, and three to Apex Energy in Westmoreland County. Ohio issued 10 new permits with five going to Encino Energy (EAP) in Carroll County and three going to Ascent Resources in Belmont County. Finally, West Virginia issued four new permits, all of them to Tug Hill Operating. In each case the permits were for multiple wells on single well pads.
Read More “29 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jun 20-26”
Daniel Sherwood takes a look at various metrics for Marcellus/Utica drillers in the latest edition of the TCF Upstream Monthly. Sherwood uses production trends, well efficiencies, and portfolio decline rates to compare and contrast M-U drillers. In the June issue (full copy below), Sherwood finds that CNX Resources and Chesapeake Energy are “leading,” Gulfport Energy and National Fuel Gas (i.e. Seneca Resources) are “underperforming,” and Coterra Energy (formerly Cabot Oil & Gas) is “improving.”
We spotted a story on The Motley Fool investor’s website yesterday noting that several Marcellus/Utica publicly-traded drillers saw “double-digit” increases in their share price just yesterday, for a single day. The article highlights both Range Resources and Southwestern Energy. We started nosing around to see how the stock price for all of the big publicly-traded M-U drillers has performed this year, from the beginning of the year. It was an eye-opener. ALL of them are up from the beginning of the year. Most are up at least 75% in value since Jan. 1. A few have doubled in value, now up more than 100% since Jan. 1. We have the list below for how each one performed. Welcome to the bull market in oil and gas!
One of the hottest of the hot sectors in which to invest (right now) is shale energy. That’s according to multiple sources, including a veteran finance writer, investor, engineer, and researcher. In an article appearing on the OilPrice.com website, Alex Kimani talks up mid-cap energy stocks as outperforming the supermajors. Among two of Kimani’s top three picks are two Marcellus/Utica drillers, who are having a stellar year in stock performance. We went looking for the stock performance of other M-U drillers too. We have a list to share showing just how much each driller’s share price has increased this year.
According to RBN Energy, 2021 was the most profitable year in at least the last two decades for oil and gas producers (i.e. drillers). Oil and gas producers reported income two-thirds higher than the previous peak in 2014, when commodity prices were significantly higher. There’s every indication that 2022 will be even better for the bottom line of O&G companies. What about Marcellus/Utica drillers? Yep, they’re on the list of phenomenal results too.
We recently received a couple of recent issues of a monthly news/analysis newsletter from 
Public company Gulfport Energy, the third-largest driller in the Ohio Utica Shale (by the number of wells drilled), emerged from bankruptcy less than a year ago, in May 2021, with a new board and new top management (see 
As we were researching background for our lead story today of a potential Gulfport Energy/Ascent Resources merger, we discovered we never reported on Gulport’s fourth quarter and full-year 2021 results. In 4Q21 Gulfport’s production was 1.07 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d), virtually the same as 4Q20. Gulfport’s production numbers include both the Ohio Utica and the other play where Gulfport drills, the Oklahoma SCOOP. For the full year, Gulfport produced an even 1.0 Bcfe/d on average in 2021, versus 1.04 Bcfe/d in 2020–down just a tad.
According to S&P Global, shale gas producers behaved themselves during the fourth quarter of 2021 and didn’t, even as the price of gas went sky high, do anything more than maintain current production. Gas drillers kept spending in check, didn’t do any more drilling than was necessary to maintain production, and plowed free cash flow back into dividends and stock buybacks. The result? Investors loved it and share prices soared.
Everyone loves a “top x” list, right? We sure do. Hart Energy, publisher of must-have industry magazines including E&P (Exploration & Production), and Oil and Gas Investor, recently published a special publication called