The nation’s largest natural gas producer, EQT Corporation, is temporarily curtailing or shutting in roughly one-third of its natural gas production in Pennsylvania and Ohio. So says EQT’s main midstream (pipeline) provider, Equitrans (formerly EQT Midstream).
Read More “EQT Shuts in 33% of NatGas Production in Pennsylvania, Ohio”
Pieridae Energy wants to build an LNG export plant in Nova Scotia, Canada. The project is called the Goldboro LNG project. We’ve tracked the project for years hoping Marcellus/Utica gas might one day feed it (see our Goldboro LNG stories here). Our hopes to have M-U gas feed Goldboro were dashed when Pieridae announced a deal last June to buy assets from Shell in Western Canada with plans to pipe the gas to the Goldboro plant (see Pieridae Buys Shell Assets in W Canada to Feed Nova Scotia LNG). Canadian regulators in Alberta have just scuttled the deal, refusing to grant permission.
Read More “Regulators Reject Pieridae/Shell Plan to Feed Nova Scotia LNG”
We’ve always found Diversified Gas & Oil (DGO) a fascinating company (see our DGO stories here). DGO’s strategy is to seek out wells in “the long tail.” That is, wells already along the decline curve. In the first two years after a shale well is drilled, it produces something like 75% (rough numbers) of all the oil and gas it will ever produce. As time goes on, production greatly tapers off.
Read More “The Origins of Diversified Gas & Oil – From 1 to 60,000 Wells”
Wow! What a difference three months can make. In January Moody’s Investors Service downgraded EQT Corporation’s bonds to “junk” status (see Moody’s Downgrades EQT Debt to Junk Status Following Write-Down). A few weeks later Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings downgraded the credit rating for six of the biggest Marcellus/Utica drillers, including EQT (see S&P Downgrades Credit Rating for Six Big Marcellus/Utica Drillers). Once thought risky and speculative, investors seem to have changed their minds about investing in M-U debt. They’re taking a second look.
Read More “M-U Drillers See New Interest from Bond (Debt) Investors”
Shell continues to ramp back up work being done at its mighty ethane cracker construction site in Beaver County, PA following a shutdown of activity due to the coronavirus pandemic. The company has announced plans to add 300 employees back each week until they are back up to full compliment.
Read More “Shell Adding Back 300 Workers a Week at Cracker Construction Site”
From time to time we check in on Epsilon Energy, which concentrates most of its effort on the Marcellus in Susquehanna County, PA. Does Epsilon actually do any of its own drilling? No. They partner with (give money to) other companies, like Chesapeake Energy, and the other companies do the actual drilling. Epsilon, according to its website, owns ~4,000 net acres in the PA Marcellus. Epsilon issued its first-quarter 2020 update yesterday.
Read More “Epsilon Energy 1Q: Still Partners with Chesapeake in NEPA”
A leftist anti-fossil group calling itself Protect PT, in Penn Township (Westmoreland County), PA, backed with big money from Big Green groups, has for years challenged Penn Township ordinances that allow Apex Energy and Huntley & Huntley (now Olympus Energy) to drill and operate shale wells. Protect PT has finally struck out, permanently, at the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Read More “Penn Twp Frack Ban Case Strikes Out at PA Supreme Court”
ECA Marcellus Trust I announced yesterday that there will be no distribution (dividend) paid for investors for first-quarter 2020 because expenses exceeded net revenues. Who is ECA Marcellus?
Read More “ECA Marcellus Trust I Cancels 1Q20 Distribution to Investors”
Have Marcellus/Utica drillers learned their lesson about growth at any cost? It seems the answer to that is, YES! The price of natural gas has been low for a long time due to overproduction. You’ve often read here on MDN that gas prices will be “lower for longer.” And yet with the coronavirus pandemic and the crash in oil prices, the price of natgas has been (mostly) inching up–getting close to $2/Mcf (although it was down again yesterday, to $1.62/Mcf). Estimates for gas prices next year are trending to the $2.50-$2.75 range. Everyone is watching–will M-U and other gas-focused drillers restart big spending and more drilling?
Read More “M-U Drillers Promise Spending Restraint Even with Rosier Outlook”
Diversified Gas & Oil (DGO) continues its program of buying up mostly older conventional oil and gas wells in Appalachia. In April DGO cut a deal to buy 6,500 conventional wells spread across West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, along with a 4,700-mile gathering pipeline system located in WV, for $110 million (see Diversified Deal to Pick Up Another 6,500 O&G Wells in WV, KY, TN). DGO has done it again, this time buying 900 wells from EQT located mostly in West Virginia. The deal also includes 67 shale wells in Pennsylvania.
Read More “Diversified Buys 900 EQT Wells (67 Shale Wells) for $125M”
Chesapeake Energy issued its first-quarter 2020 update yesterday–but not in the typical fashion. They filed the required Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission and announced they will not hold a conference call or webcast to discuss anything with anyone. No wonder. The financials for the company are dreadful. Chesapeake lost (on paper) $8.3 billion in 1Q20 due to the writedown of assets (called an impairment). It was not an out-of-pocket-cash loss, thank God. Still, it was bad enough. The 10-Q said “management has concluded that there is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern” and there is a “likelihood of a restructuring or reorganization.”
Read More “Chesapeake 1Q Net Loss Mind-Blowing $8.3 Billion – Bankruptcy Near”
Ascent Resources, originally founded as American Energy Partners by gas legend Aubrey McClendon, is a privately-held company that focuses 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. Ascent is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer and the 7th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The company issued its first-quarter 2020 update last Friday. The company flew by producing 2 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d) in 1Q, a new high.
Read More “Ascent Resources 1Q: Refocused on Utica Dry Gas, Hits 2 Bcf/d”
Chesapeake Energy’s executives, including CEO Doug Lawler, have arguably made some bad decisions about the company–for years. The executives decided to convert Chessy from a gas-focused driller to an oil-focused driller, selling off its prized Utica Shale assets in Ohio to do so in 2018 (see Stop Press: Chesapeake Sells ALL of its Ohio Utica Assets for $2B). It was the wrong decision. Now that the oil market is crashing and burning, the company (with $9 billion in debt) is preparing to file for bankruptcy (see Chesapeake Energy Prepares Potential Ch. 11 Bankruptcy Filing). So what does the board do? The board has just rewarded its top executives, including Lawler, with $25 million in “incentives” to stick around for another 12 months! That takes the cake.
Read More “Chesapeake Energy Execs Paid $25 Million in Bonuses”
Last Friday Gulfport Energy, the third-largest (by number wells drilled) producer in the Ohio Utica Shale (210,000 acres) which concentrates its drilling in the Ohio Utica and the Oklahoma SCOOP plays, issued its first-quarter 2020 update. On paper, the company lost $517 million due to a one-time impairment charge (writing down of asset value) of $553 million. The company said on Friday it would “shut in a minimal amount production” over the next few months given the virus pandemic.
Read More “Gulfport Energy Reports Q1 Loss, Shutting in Some Production”
Harvest Oil & Gas completed a reverse stock split on Friday combining 10 shares of stock for one new share. Harvest’s drilling and assets are focused in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, where they own/operate 9,787 conventional wells. The company cut a deal in March to sell off all of its Michigan assets. Who is Harvest?
Read More “Former EV Energy Partners Announces 1-for-10 Reverse Stock Split”
Montage Resources, the new name for the merger of Eclipse Resources with Blue Ridge Mountain Resources a year ago, issued its first-quarter 2020 update on Friday. Montage drills exclusively in the Marcellus/Utica region. The company continues to trim its 2020 drilling budget, now down another 10% from just several weeks ago, to $130-$150 million.
Read More “Montage Res. Drilled 4 Utica Wells in 1Q, Budget Cut Another 10%”