Epsilon Energy Production Down, Revenues Up in 1Q21
Epsilon Energy concentrates most of its effort on the Marcellus in Susquehanna County, PA. Epsilon doesn’t typically do its own drilling. The company joint venture partners with (gives money to) other companies, like Chesapeake Energy, and the other company typically does the drilling. Epsilon issued its first-quarter update last Thursday. The company’s Marcellus net gas production averaged 27.4 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) in 1Q21, compared to 30.3 MMcf/d of net gas production in 1Q20 (a 10% decrease). However, revenues were up a big 31% in 1Q21 vs. 1Q20.
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Oil and gas drilling giant Equinor (formerly called Statoil) is owned by the Norwegian government. Equinor/Statoil has drilled in the Marcellus/Utica for years. The company also invests in other M-U drilling programs. Equinor is reporting production from both its operated (drilled) and nonoperated (invested-in) wells increased in 1Q21, helping to offset an overall drop in oil and gas production.
An interesting turn of events for our weekly permit report. In querying the Pennsylvania database, it reports no new permits issued for the past week. We can’t recall that ever happening. Pennsylvania almost always has the most permits issued of the three M-U states. West Virginia, which typically has the second-highest number of permits issued each week, also issued no new shale drilling permits last week. Only Ohio, which lately has issued very few permits for Utica drilling, had a bumper week, issuing 8 new permits!
Cabot Oil & Gas is and has been (for years) one of the premier drillers in the Marcellus Shale. Cabot concentrates their drilling in one location in northeastern Pennsylvania: Susquehanna County. Cabot has lower costs to drill than almost any other driller. They also turn a profit year after year, unlike many other drillers. During 1Q21 Cabot made $126 million in net income, versus $54 million in 1Q20. Yet the company’s stock price continues to languish, something that has CEO Dan Dinges “hacked off.”
Southwestern Energy, a pure-play Marcellus/Utica driller with 786,000 net acres and operations in all three M-U states (concentrates on drilling in WV and northeastern PA) issued its first-quarter 2021 update last Friday. The company made $80 million in net income during 1Q21, versus losing $1.5 billion in 1Q20. Southwestern produced 3 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d) during 1Q21, of which 2.4 Bcf/d was gas and the rest (103,000 barrels per day) was liquids.
MDN was the only news source to openly criticize Chesapeake Energy CEO Doug Lawler’s purchase of Eagle Ford oil assets in 2018 for $4 billion (see 
Diversified Gas & Oil (DGO) owns close to 8 million acres of leases with some 60,000 (mostly) conventional oil and gas wells (with over 400 Marcellus/Utica shale wells)–all of it in the Appalachian Basin. DGO is expanding. Earlier today the company announced it has cut a deal to buy ~780 net operated wells and leases in the Cotton Valley/Haynesville region of Lousiana for $135 million.
Antero Resources, which drills almost exclusively in the West Virginia Marcellus/Utica, issued its first-quarter 2021 update yesterday. Antero is the third-largest natural gas producer in the U.S. and the second-largest NGL producer. Big company. Important company. Antero is also one of the best hedgers (preselling production at a set price) in the business. During 1Q21 Antero averaged $4.03 per Mcfe (thousand cubic feet equivalent)–which was $1.34/Mcfe *above* the average NYMEX futures price in 1Q21.
As they have done in the past few quarters, CNX Resources once again issued a quarterly update without an accompanying summary/overview. We have the raw numbers (below), and we have excerpts from the conference call with analysts. It was comments made during the conference call that seems to have irked the liberals who operate mainstream media. Bloomberg wrote an entire article about CNX’s quarterly update that didn’t contain any information about the company’s financial and operational performance. Instead, Bloomberg focused on truth-to-power comments by a CNX top manager who said most ESG goals are “the epitome of flawed corporate governance.” We couldn’t agree more!
Last November Gulfport Energy, the third-largest driller in the Ohio Utica Shale (by the number of wells drilled), filed for a “pre-arranged” Chapter 11 bankruptcy (see 
One of the criticisms often leveled against the shale industry is that shale drillers have destroyed shareholder value (the price of company stock) over the past decade or so (see 
It seems that EQT is a trendsetter. In January EQT announced it would partner with a Denver, CO company calling itself “Project Canary” to run a test on two of its shale gas pads, to prove the natural gas produces is “certified responsibly sourced.” A few weeks ago Chesapeake Energy said it would also use Project Canary (see 
Range Resources, the very first driller to sink a Marcellus well (back in 2004), released its first-quarter 2021 update and held a conference yesterday to review the numbers. The company reports the highest average premium (above benchmark) it has ever received for a barrel of natural gas liquids (NGLs) in Q1. Pricing was an average $26.35 a barrel for NGLs, up $8.33 a barrel compared to 4Q20 and up from $14.87 a barrel in 1Q20. However, the company reports a drop in income, down 84% from 1Q20. Fortunately, Range still made money in 1Q21–$27 million of income based on $193 million in cash flow.