INR Sees a Bright Future in the Utica Shale Despite EOG/Encino Deal
Infinity Natural Resources (INR), headquartered in Morgantown, WV, focuses 100% on the Marcellus/Utica. The company went public earlier this year with a $265 million ($20/share) initial public offering, giving INR a $1.18 billion market capitalization (see INR IPO Does Better than Expected, Stock Trading Pops 10% Higher). An INR competitor in the Utica is EOG Resources, one of the largest oil and gas drillers in the U.S. (with international operations in several other countries) and a Fortune 500 company, which closed on the $5.6 billion purchase of Encino Energy in August, adding 675,000 net acres in the Utica and over 1,000 operating shale wells (see EOG Closes on $5.6B Purchase of Encino Assets in Ohio Utica). EOG now owns over 1 million acres with active drilling operations, including five rigs and three completion crews, working in the Ohio Utica. The EOG/Encino tie-up doesn’t concern INR. Read More “INR Sees a Bright Future in the Utica Shale Despite EOG/Encino Deal”
For the week of September 29 to October 5, the number of permits issued to drill new wells in the Marcellus/Utica increased from the previous week. There were 32 new permits issued across the three M-U states last week, up five from 27 issued two weeks ago. Last week, Pennsylvania issued 27 drilling permits across six counties—the highest weekly total the state has recorded in months, possibly even over a year. Ohio issued five permits in two counties. West Virginia was skunked last week, issuing no new permits for the second consecutive week. What’s up with WV? 
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 
Some interesting comments about the “deep” Utica Shale in Pennsylvania were made during last week’s Hart Energy DUG Appalachia event, held in Pittsburgh. Including this one, from Mike Hillebrand, CEO of Huntley & Huntley: “The deep Utica, watch out folks. The deep Utica will probably be the next up-and-coming deep shale play here in Pennsylvania.” Hillebrand also broke some big news by announcing Huntley & Huntley, which recently completed the sale of its Olympus Energy subsidiary to EQT for $1.8 billion, is working on its next startup, which will focus on “deep Utica and Tier II Marcellus.” 
MDN previously brought you the news that Infinity Natural Resources (INR) CEO Zack Arnold was interested in “lower level” deals to buy Utica Shale assets situated near INR’s existing leasehold positions (see 
Infinity Natural Resources (INR), headquartered in Morgantown, WV, focuses 100% on the Marcellus/Utica. The company went public earlier this year with a $265 million ($20/share) initial public offering, giving INR a $1.18 billion market capitalization (see 
For the week of Feb 10 – 16, the number of permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica to drill new shale wells soared. Two weeks ago, 24 new permits were issued. Last week, the number increased to 36 new permits issued. The Keystone State (PA) issued the vast majority with 23 new permits last week. Seven permits went to PennEnergy Resources, all on a single pad in Armstrong County. Snyder Brothers received five permits for a single pad, also in Armstrong County (meaning half the PA permits went to Armstrong). Range Resources was third in line with four new permits for a single pad in Washington County.