Energy Companies

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    Chesapeake’s $2B Exit from Ohio Utica “Is a Good Thing”

    Last week MDN shared the blockbuster news that Chesapeake Energy is exiting the Ohio Utica, selling all of its Ohio assets for $2 billion (see Stop Press: Chesapeake Sells ALL of its Ohio Utica Assets for $2B). The buyer is Encino Acquisition Partners, a joint venture between Encino Energy and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. At the time we speculated this may be good news for Ohio’s landowners signed with Chesapeake–that perhaps landowners now stand a better chance of seeing new drilling. That was just speculation/hope on our part. Looks like we’re not the only ones thinking that way. A couple of industry experts are saying the same thing. One of them said Chesapeake’s sale and exit “is a good thing” because it means Encino will sink money into new drilling programs in a way that Chesapeake, larded up with debt, could not…
    Read More “Chesapeake’s $2B Exit from Ohio Utica “Is a Good Thing””

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    PA Briggs “Rule of Capture” Case Turns on Concept of Drainage

    In April, MDN brought you the news that Pennsylvania Superior Court had handed down a decision (known as the “Briggs” case) that has the power to greatly restrict, perhaps even stop, Marcellus drilling in PA (see PA Superior Court Overturns “Rule of Capture” for Marcellus Well and PA “Rule of Capture” Case has Power to Limit Marcellus Drilling). The issue, in brief, is that the Superior Court decision disallows using an age-old principle called the “rule of capture” when it comes to shale drilling and fracking. It opens the door to a myriad of frivolous lawsuits claiming that a fracture, a crack created during fracking, is draining gas from a neighbor’s property without justly compensating the neighbor for the gas. Southwestern successfully argued in a lower court that the odd crack here and there that may slip under a neighbor’s property is permissible. The landowner appealed to Superior Court and three judges heard the case. Two of the three overturned the lower court and sided with the landowner. Southwestern, following that decision, petitioned the Superior Court to have all of the sitting justices (called en banc) hear the case. Sadly, in June the Superiors proved they aren’t so superior after all, declining to rehear the case (see PA Superior Court Rejects Southwestern “Briggs” Trespass Appeal). Southwestern then appealed the case to the PA Supreme Court in early July (see Southwestern Appeals “Briggs” Trespass Case to PA Supreme Court). No word yet on whether or not the Supremes will take the case. In the meantime, this case and its ultimate effect on drilling in PA and beyond is still a hot topic of discussion throughout the industry. We spotted two recent articles tackling it–one from a lawyer who does a great job of crystallizing the important elements in the case–that this case turns on the concept of drainage, and the other article which tackles the broader topic of how energy law in PA is charting its own path separate from Texas and other big oil/gas states…
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    Cabot O&G 2Q18: Income Doubles, Drilled 24 Wells, Ends Permian

    One of our favorite Marcellus drillers, Cabot Oil & Gas, issued their second quarter 2018 update on Friday. Some of the highlights include: net income doubling, from $21.5 million to $42.4 million year over year; drilled 24 and completed 23 wells (down just a tad y/y, from 27 drilled and 26 completed in 2Q17); and Marcellus production was 1.89 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), a new all-time high, up 4% from first quarter 2018. Cabot’s CEO Dan Dinges talked about the company ending its dalliance with the Permian Basin, shutting down “exploratory area #1” in 2Q18, but continuing work on “exploratory area #2”–which is in central Ohio. He said more details on Ohio exploration will be forthcoming in the Q3 update. As we looked through the official update, the PowerPoint slide deck and a transcript of the conference call (all below), we found a few more items that caught our interest. (1) Cabot says they have another 35 years worth of drilling to do in the Marcellus, with the current leases they have in place. (2) The “break even” price at which they begin to make money has now gone all the way down to just under one dollar per Mcf. (3) The company’s plans still count on the Constitution Pipeline getting built. (4) Train 1 of the Lackawanna Energy Center (gas-fired electric plant near Scranton) is up and running and burning 70 Mmcf/d of Cabot’s Marcellus gas, train 2 will be online by October 1st, and train 3 by December 1st. Here’s the good news from Cabot…
    Read More “Cabot O&G 2Q18: Income Doubles, Drilled 24 Wells, Ends Permian”

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    Stop Press: Chesapeake Sells ALL of its Ohio Utica Assets for $2B

    In what is perhaps the second biggest thing to hit Ohio since maybe the plow (the first being the Utica Shale, borrowing a phrase from Aubrey McClendon), Chesapeake Energy announced yesterday it is selling ALL of its 933,000 Ohio acres (including 320,000 net Utica acres) and 920 operated and non-operated Ohio Utica wells to Encino Acquisition Partners for $2 billion. This is truly big news! Encino Energy is a young company, founded in 2011, headquartered in Houston, TX. Last year Encino formed a partnership with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board to form Encino Acquisition Partners. It is the Encino subsidiary that is buying Chessy’s Ohio Utica assets. The burning question is, Will Encino drill more wells? Or just sit on its new acquisition? Based on how they describe themselves, we think Encino is going to pursue an active drilling program in the Ohio Utica. According to their own boilerplate, the company’s mission is to, “focus on driving long-term investor returns by acquiring and developing high-quality assets with an established base of production and a large, low-cost development inventory across the lower 48 states of the United States.” They’ve certainly acquired a high-quality asset with an established base of production and it has a large, low-cost development inventory. All the boxes are checked in buying Chesapeake’s Utica assets. So we’ll hold Encino to their word that they will “develop” it–meaning drill new wells. Chesapeake plans to use the $2 billion to pay down some of their ginormous debt…
    Read More “Stop Press: Chesapeake Sells ALL of its Ohio Utica Assets for $2B”

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    Strange: EQT Interim CEO Porges Skips Quarterly Conference Call

    David Porges – MIA

    Something strange is going on at EQT. Not only did interim CEO David Porges skip the company’s recent annual meeting in June (unheard of, see EQT CEO Didn’t Show Up for Annual Mtg – CFO Talks of Wild Ride), Porges also skipped yesterday’s quarterly analyst phone call to update big investors on the company’s performance (equally unheard of). Once again the heavy lifting fell to Robert McNally, EQT CFO, to be “the guy” sent out front and center to talk about the company. EQT, following its purchase of Rice Energy, is now the largest natural gas producer in the U.S. EQT has been without a permanent CEO following the exit of Steve Schlotterbeck in March, who left because the board refused to compensate him at a level commensurate with CEOs at other top producers in the region (see EQT CEO Steve Schlotterbeck Suddenly Quits, Leaves Company). EQT is currently conducting a search to find a new CEO. In the meantime, board chairman and former CEO David Porges stepped back into the role of CEO. But judging from his absence at critical events where the CEO always shows up, it’s pretty obvious he isn’t actually running the company. Looks to us like McNally is the guy running the company. We hope he’s being compensated commensurate with his added responsibilities in running the largest shale gas producer on the planet. At any rate, the news coming from yesterday’s 2Q18 update shows that sales were up, profits were down, and EQT’s Mountain Valley Pipeline has gotten a new (later) in-service date…
    Read More “Strange: EQT Interim CEO Porges Skips Quarterly Conference Call”

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    EQT Still Fighting WV Minimum Royalty Law for Flat Rate Leases

    Follow the bouncing ball. Earlier this year the West Virginia legislature passed Senate Bill (SB) 360, which Gov. Jim Justice subsequently signed into law (see WV Gov Justice Signs Bill to Guarantee 12.5% Minimum Royalty). The new law overturns a ruling by the WV Supreme Court in Leggett v. EQT Production, a case in which the Supremes (in a very unusual move) reversed their own previous decision and allowed EQT to deduct post-production expenses in old flat rate leases. In essence, SB 360 guarantees rights owners/landowners a 12.5% minimum royalty, regardless of post-production deductions–but only in flat rate leases. A flat rate lease is a lease in which a company pays a regular (in EQT’s case, annual) payment, regardless of how much oil/gas is produced. Traditionally drillers don’t deduct post-production expenses because the payments landowners get are piddly anyway. But EQT began to claim deductions, prompting a lawsuit that went all the way to the Supreme Court. The legislature aimed to “fix” what they considered an error in the court’s ruling. EQT claims the new law is unconstitutional and in April filed a lawsuit asking a judge to stop the law from taking effect (see EQT Sues WV for Passing Minimum Royalty Law re Flat Rate Leases). WV responded in June, asking the judge to dismiss EQT’s lawsuit (see WV Files Motion to Dismiss EQT Lawsuit Targeting Royalty Law). And now the ball has bounced again. EQT just filed paperwork asking the judge to deny the state’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming the new law improperly invokes “police power”…
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    PA DEP Orders CNX, XTO & Diversified to Plug 1,058 Abandoned Wells

    Yesterday the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued administrative orders requiring three oil and gas companies–Alliance Petroleum Corporation (a subsidiary of Diversified Gas & Oil), XTO Energy, and CNX Resources–to plug 1,058 abandoned oil and gas wells across Pennsylvania. Alliance has 638 wells, CNX has 327, and XTO has 93. In a quick scan of the list of wells to be plugged, we didn’t spot a single shale well. All 1,058 wells are conventional/vertical wells. So why is this news for MDN? Because all three drillers (but in particular CNX and XTO) drill shale wells, and plugging old conventional wells takes time and money–time and money that could be spent on drilling shale wells. It takes anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 to plug an abandoned conventional oil/gas well. Most of the wells are located in the southwestern part of the state. CNX responded that in reviewing the list, some 190 of the wells in their list (out of 327) were part of a recent asset sale. Here’s the details on where, and how long these companies have, to plug old/abandoned oil and gas wells…
    Read More “PA DEP Orders CNX, XTO & Diversified to Plug 1,058 Abandoned Wells”

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    Ascent’s $1.5B OH Utica Deal Yields $1.4M in Fees for 2 Counties

    In late June Ascent Resources, a company founded by Aubrey McClendon after he left Chesapeake Energy, announced it is buying 113,400 Utica Shale acres along with 93 operating wells located in eastern Ohio for $1.5 billion (see Ascent Resources Spends $1.5 Billion to Buy OH Utica Acreage, Wells). It’s a big deal, making Ascent one of the largest privately owned exploration and production companies in the U.S. It’s also a big deal for the counties where the land is changing hands. A large part of the acreage is located in Jefferson County, with sizable chunks in Belmont, Noble and Harrison counties. Why is it a big deal for the counties? It takes time (and consequently fees) to transfer all those thousands of leases from one owner to another. Counties stand to make a big windfall. For example, in Jefferson County, some $305 million worth of transfers will take place between CNX and Ascent, netting the Jefferson clerk’s office $1.2 million in fee revenue! It is the single largest ownership transfer in Jefferson County history. In neighboring Belmont County (to the south of Jefferson), $58 million worth of transfers are taking place, netting the county $173,000 in transfer fees. No word yet on how much money Noble and Harrison stand to make…
    Read More “Ascent’s $1.5B OH Utica Deal Yields $1.4M in Fees for 2 Counties”

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    WV Driller Northeast Natural Energy Grows – Fracking Petri Dish

    Northeast Natural Energy (NNE) is a small-to-midsized driller headquartered in Morgantown, WV. It’s a young company, drilling its first shale well in 2013. In April 2017 MDN reported that NNE had obtained $300 million of investment from two investment firms (see WV Driller Northeast Natural Energy Gets $300M Investment). They’ve put the money to good use. NNE owns 56,000 acres of leases “in the heart of the Marcellus Fairway,” with 44,000 acres in WV and 12,000 acres in southwestern PA. The company has drilled and brought online 57 shale wells. By this time next year the company expects that number to be nearly 100. One of the most interesting things about NNE is its involvement with government and university researchers. NNE drilled several test shale wells near Morgantown. The wells are part of an ongoing laboratory experiment that measures and pokes and prods everything, in an effort to learn more about shale drilling and its impacts. NNE’s test wells are a sort of living fracking petri dish. Reams of data pour in and get analyzed. Our friends at Kallanish Energy have done a deep dive into NNE. Here is a portion of their insightful report on this young and growing driller…
    Read More “WV Driller Northeast Natural Energy Grows – Fracking Petri Dish”

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    Penn Virginia Puts Itself Up for Sale – Again

    Although headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania (near Philadelphia), Penn Virginia Corporation is an oil and gas driller with (at last check) only a small presence in the Marcellus Shale: 21,700 net acres with no drilled wells. They concentrate on oil drilling the Texas Eagle Ford Shale play. Penn Virginia is one of the Philly area’s oldest companies, started in 1882 by Philadelphia coal barons. It later transitioned into an oil company. MDN told you in March 2015 that Penn Virginia’s top stockholder, the vile corporate raider George Soros, forced the company to put itself up for sale so George can line his pockets with more cash (see George Soros Finally Bullies Penn Virginia into Selling Itself). That didn’t work out so well for old George. Penn Virginia filed for bankruptcy in May 2016 (see George Soros’ Penn Virginia Corp. Files for Bankruptcy). Penn Virginia exited bankruptcy in September 2016. In June 2017, the rumor mill turned white hot with word that the company had put itself up for sale (see “Sources” Say Penn Virginia Putting Itself Up for Sale). Nothing ever came of it. Until now. In a press release issued yesterday by Penn Virginia, the company said the board is evaluating “strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value.” What do those alternatives include? “…a corporate sale, merger or other business combination, one or more strategic acquisitions, or other transactions.” In other words, the company is officially listing itself for sale…
    Read More “Penn Virginia Puts Itself Up for Sale – Again”

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    OH Antis Attack Loudonville for Selling Water to Cabot for Drilling

    Little red dot indicates where Loudonville, OH is located

    At the Loudonville Village Council meeting on Monday, a dozen anti-drilling kooks “assailed” Mayor Steve Stricklen and council members over selling water to Cabot Oil & Gas to use in drilling (not fracking) several test wells in the area. Cabot is exploring north central Ohio as a potential spot for “what’s next” after their wildly successful Marcellus drilling program in Susquehanna County, PA. In typical fashion, lies and fearmongering were used in an attempt to shame Loudonville officials over water sales to Cabot. Loudonville sits on the border of Ashland and Homles counties. The village sells water to anyone who wants to buy, for 0.65 cents per gallon (a little over half a cent per gallon). So far Cabot has purchased 650,000 gallons from the village ($4,358). One of the antis said she’s fearful Cabot will dump the used fracking wastewater “contaminated by chemicals” in nearby Charles Mill Lake. It’s an outrageous and scurrilous allegation. We’ve personally seen Cabot’s first-rate wastewater recycling center in Susquehanna County. They recycle 100% of the wastewater coming out of the ground. But antis don’t bother to check on the facts–not when any old lying allegation will do…
    Read More “OH Antis Attack Loudonville for Selling Water to Cabot for Drilling”

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    CNX Resources Fined $250K for PA Pipe Construction Violation

    UPDATE 7/19/18: Aside from stiff fine for letting some muddy water get into a nearby creek, there is a second aspect to this story uncovered by ace reporter Jamison Cocklin at NGI’s Shale Daily: the local gathering pipeline CNX was building (and has now abandoned) in Indiana County was supposed to connect to a test Utica well they are/were drilling there. Abandoning that pipeline puts the future of CNX’s Utica drilling in the area in doubt. See NGI’s story: CNX Cancels Plans for Pipeline to Gather Natural Gas from Deep Utica Test Pad.

    CNX Resources was installing a pipeline in Indiana County, PA and apparently didn’t, according to the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), properly construct erosion barriers for the project. It rained, hard, and sediment-laden water went over the erosion barriers and got into an unnamed stream, which empties into Mudlick Run, a “high quality water” creek. In other words, a tiny creek got muddy, and some of that muddy water *may have* entered a slightly bigger creek. And for that violation, CNX is going to pay a whopping $250,000 fine. The DEP says following an inspection in March, the DEP ordered CNX to fix the problem by April 3, but as of May 16 the problem had still not been fixed. CNX disputes that they violated their permits and has told the DEP they’ve quit building that particular pipeline. In order to make it all go away, CNX is paying the DEP a $250K negotiated shakedown, PLUS pay to fix the “problem”…
    Read More “CNX Resources Fined $250K for PA Pipe Construction Violation”

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    “Strong” Well Results in Northern Utica During 1Q18

    As MDN reports in today’s lead story, Ohio has just achieved a new milestone by producing more natural gas than the state has ever produced during the first three months of this year (see Top 25 Producing Gas & Oil Wells in Ohio Utica for 1Q18). The best performing individual wells are located in the southern part of the Utica play–in Belmont, Jefferson, Monroe, and Guernsey counties. However, don’t overlook the wells and overall performance of counties in the northern part of the play–places like Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties. Particularly Columbiana County. The Youngstown Business Journal does a deep dive into the numbers for the northern tier counties and finds that wells drilled by Hilcorp in Columbiana produced “strong results” in 1Q18. Here’s a closer look at the northern Utica counties and the drillers who work there…
    Read More ““Strong” Well Results in Northern Utica During 1Q18″

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    Rex Energy Settled Butler County Water Lawsuits for $159K

    Beginning in 2012, MDN reported on the story of a community in western Pennsylvania (in Butler County) whose residents said that nearby drilling by Rex Energy led to contamination of their water wells (see PA Residents Weary of Fight with Rex over Water Contamination and Rex Energy Water Contamination Case Shifts Focus to Water Pipeline). Several of the families sued Rex. The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection, after an extensive investigation, said that Rex’s drilling did not cause the situation. Apparently water quality in the area was never the greatest to begin with. Rex had built a water line in the area to supply water for fracking and had expected to turn over control/ownership of that line in 2013. That water line could be used to supply fresh water to the affected homes. The debate has been: Who will pay to hook up the homes and to maintain the pipes and infrastructure required? Since Rex, according to the DEP, is not to blame for the poor water quality in the area, the company understandably doesn’t want to pay big bucks to connect and maintain the line to residences in the area. As far as we can tell, the water line never got hooked up. However, there has been a resolution of the situation, of sorts. What had been sealed court documents (unsealed because of Rex’s bankruptcy proceedings) show that in April of this year Rex settled with the suing families, paying them between $16,250 and $27,125 each–a cumulative $159,000. Rex maintains the settlement is not an indication of guilt…
    Read More “Rex Energy Settled Butler County Water Lawsuits for $159K”

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    Shell Cracker to the Rescue – Saving the Erie, PA Plastics Industry

    The benefits of the mighty Shell ethane cracker now under construction in Beaver County, PA just keep multiplying. In April MDN brought you news that Penn State Behrend (in Erie County) had been tapped by the PA Dept. of Community and Economic Development (DCED) to be the “lead partner” with a $250,000 grant for developing business and market opportunities for the state related to the cracker (see Penn State to Help Create New Biz Opportunities from Shell Cracker). Erie County, where Behrend is located, is certainly not next door to the cracker. It’s two hours away! There are several other Penn State campuses closer to the cracker. So why was Behrend selected? In a word, plastics. “The strength of Erie’s plastics industry and the success of Penn State Behrend’s School of Engineering, which offers one of only six accredited U.S. plastics undergraduate programs, makes Erie of particular interest to DCED.” A new article says that the cracker will not only preserve the 4,300 plastics-related jobs in and around Erie, there’s reason to believe the plastics industry in Erie will “grow larger and stronger” because of the two-hours-away cracker. Again we ask the question, Why? Answer: Because buying plastics pellets from the Shell cracker two hours away is a whole lot cheaper (due to shipping costs) than buying plastics pellets from the Gulf Coast, as happens now. One would be justified in saying, Shell cracker to the rescue!…
    Read More “Shell Cracker to the Rescue – Saving the Erie, PA Plastics Industry”

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    Activist Investor Pressures Range to Change Board, Mgmt Structure

    What constitutes an “activist investor” and what constitutes a “corporate raider?” Depends on whom you ask. We address the semantics issue below in more detail. The reason we raise it is because of some big, breaking news: Activist investor SailingStone Capital Partners is forcing Range Resources to do some things Range may not prefer to do. Nearly two years ago, in August 2016, MDN told you that investment firm SailingStone Capital had purchased 11% of Range Resources stock (see SailingStone Capital Buys 11% of Range Stock, Gets Board Seat). They got a board seat out of their investment, and the right to nudge Range in a certain direction, to some degree. Although we were suspicious, at the time it appeared SailingStone was more of a partner assisting Range rather than what we call a corporate raider. SailingStone now owns 17% of Range’s outstanding shares, and they are throwing their weight around. In an announcement made yesterday, we learn that SailingStone has pressured Range into granting them two more seats on the board–for a total of three (out of ten). Is it fair that SailingStone controls 30% of the board but only owns 17% of the company? SailingStone has also forced Range CEO Jeff Ventura to relinquish his title (and power) as Chairman of the Board, appointing a new “independent” Chairman. SailingStone is also forcing Range to hire a new outsider as executive VP, to “supplement and strengthen the management team.” Is SailingStone “helping” Range make changes that Range truly needs to make to benefit shareholders? Or is there something more nefarious going on?…
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