CNX Foundation Accepting Grant Applications Thru Oct 31st
In April, CNX Resources Corp. announced instead of just blowing smoke about ESG (environmental, social, governance) with pretty slide shows and hoopla, they would donate $30 million to local, underserved communities and populations in the tri-state region (see CNX Investing $30M in Underprivileged Communities in Tri-state Area). In July, CNX announced the formation of a new nonprofit to oversee the distribution of that money–to make sure it really helps those who need it, called the CNX Foundation (see CNX Creates Nonprofit to Oversee $30M Community Fund). The CNX Foundation yesterday announced it is officially open for business, accepting applications for grants.
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On the topic of plugging old, abandoned (orphan) oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania, here’s an example of the oil and gas industry stepping up to do the right thing. Seneca Resources is paying to have a century-old conventional well plugged in McKean County, PA. It’s a well Seneca did not drill and has no responsibility to plug. Yet they are.
A sad exclusive to share with you today. Yesterday northeast Pennsylvania driller Rockdale Marcellus filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The company, which owns and operates 66 producing wells on 42,897 net acres in three northeast PA counties (regional headquarters in Pittsburgh) plans to auction off all of its assets according to paperwork filed with the court.
Although the price of natural gas has rocketed this year and cash flows for Marcellus/Utica drillers have ballooned, showering drillers with plenty of free cash flow, M-U drillers are spending less (19% less) on capital expenditures than they did in 2020. Production in the M-U is up slightly by 4% so far in 2021 vs. 2020. The experts at RBN Energy have dived into this latest twist in the shale story to help explain what’s going on and why.
Not only is gas so-called “responsible gas” if it’s extracted from the ground in a certain way, it’s even more “responsible” if it flows through a pipeline a certain way. That’s the theory anyway. In June of this year, Southwestern Energy announced it was working with Project Canary to certify all of its Marcellus/Utica gas production as responsible (see 
A nice bump up (finally) in the number of permits to drill new shale wells in the M-U, although it’s a lot of wells for a relatively few well pads. Pennsylvania issued 19 new permits across five pads in both the northeast and southwest portion of the play, including 8 permits for a single Cabot Oil & Gas pad in Susquehanna County. Ohio issued just 3 new permits, all to Encino Energy for a single pad in Carroll County. And West Virginia issued a surprisingly high 18 permits to two drillers on three pads in two counties: Marshall and Monongalia.
American Energy Partners, Inc. (AEPT), based in Allentown, PA, is a small but diversified company. They have their fingers in a number of different oil and gas pies, including subsidiaries in drilling, remediation, water, valuation services, and education. Last Friday the company announced yet another acquisition as it continues to grow. AEPT is buying a second “privately held energy services company” (unnamed) that operates in the Marcellus/Utica region. The unnamed company focuses on providing facility maintenance, transportation, logistics, and environmental services to the energy and industrial sectors.
A recently published book that attempts to show fracking in Lycoming County, PA area in the worst possible light, along with a section excerpted from the book running in the New York Times, once again reopens an old case that accuses Range Resources of ruining the water supply for several homes near a fracked well drilled by Range. In 2011 Range drilled and fracked the Harman Lewis Unit 1H well along Green Valley Road in Hughesville, PA. Following an investigation, the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) slapped Range with a record $8.9 million fine in June 2015, accusing the company of faulty casing in its well, leading to methane migration that had contaminated several area water wells (see 
Earlier this week MDN told you that a major national proxy advisor, Glass Lewis, is recommending shareholders from both Cimarex Energy (Permian oil driller) and Cabot Oil & Gas (Marcellus gas driller) approve a proposed merger on September 29 when they vote (see 
Because of the soaring price of natural gas (see our companion post today), and because gas drillers have shown remarkable restraint and a real effort to scale back capital spending in an effort to generate free cash flow, investors have taken note and like what they’ve seen. The share price in most pure-play shale gas producers (mainly those in the M-U) posted double-digit gains in value over the past month.
In May MDN told you about one of the oddest combinations in recent memory–the merger of Permian driller Cimarex Energy with Marcellus driller Cabot Oil & Gas (see 
EnergyNet is an online marketplace for buying and selling oil and gas working interests (operated and non-operated), overrides, royalties, mineral interests, leaseholds, and other contracts. From time to time we spot auctions on EnergyNet from Marcellus/Utica drillers. EnerVest Energy is currently auctioning a package of 146,053 acres of leases for non-operated and overriding royalty interests (ORRI) in the Utica Shale scattered across Ohio and Pennsylvania. The EnerVest auction ends Oct 7. We have the details below.
Another great company succumbs to the siren call of ESG (environmental, social, governance). A week ago we told you that Seneca Resources, the drilling arm of utility giant National Fuel Gas Company (NFG), had signed up with Project Canary to certify its natural gas as responsibly sourced (see 
Southwestern Energy, which is one of the biggest Marcellus/Utica drillers, previously applied for a conditional use permit from the City of Weirton, WV that would allow them to build a well pad and drill several wells on it all within the city limits of Weirton. The request came before the Weirton Zoning Board of Appeals in August but the board delayed a decision until this month, September. Following almost three hours of comments and testimony yesterday, the Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously voted down Southwestern’s request–a decidedly unfriendly gesture by the normally gas-friendly municipalities in WV.