Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County
Cabot O&G Countersues Dimock Anti, Lawyers
It’s about time. Cabot Oil & Gas is tired of being sued, and slandered, by people like Dimock resident Ray Kemble and his ambulance-chasing lawyers. So Cabot has sued back–for $5 million. Kemble lives in Dimock Township, in Susquehanna County, PA. Kemble and other families claimed Cabot’s drilling in the area (nearly 10 years ago) caused problems with their water wells–a claim strongly refuted by Cabot. Cabot settled with most of the landowners, including Kemble.
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Last week one of the Marcellus Shale’s largest drillers, Southwestern Energy, issued its second quarter 2017 update. While production fell slightly from 2Q16 to 2Q17, the fall was due to Southwestern’s Fayetteville Shale production. In both the northeast and southwest Marcellus, Southwestern’s production went up year over year by 12 billion cubic feet equivalent (Bcfe). Southwestern continues to drill and concentrate solely on Marcellus wells–at least in 2Q17. In northeast Marcellus, Southwestern drilled and brought 21 wells online with an average lateral length of 5,530 feet and an average cost of $5.1 million per well. Perhaps we’d characterize them as “short but cheap” wells. Southwestern also drilled an experimental Marcellus well in Bradford County with a lateral of 12,000 feet. That well, the Seymour 1H, is among the top 10% of Southwestern’s wells, with an initial production rate of 37.7 million cubic feet feet (MMcf) per day. Also of note in the northeast–Southwestern added an additional 140 MMcf/d of pipeline capacity, to get their gas to better-paying markets. In southwest Marcellus Southwestern drilled and brought online 15 new wells, with an average lateral length of 7,627 feet and an average cost of $7.1 million per well. The company reported drilling one Utica well in 2Q17–in Washington County, PA. That well will not be completed and online until later this year. The company’s first Utica well, the O.E. Burge 501H in Marshall County, WV, “continues to exhibit strong productivity, with cumulative production of over 2 Bcf in its first six flowing months.” Here’s the lowdown on Southwestern Energy for 2Q17…
Carrizo Oil & Gas, a Houston-based driller, actively drills in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas, the Delaware Basin in West Texas, the Niobrara Formation in Colorado, and until mid-year in 2015, they did have an active drilling program in the Ohio Utica and Pennsylvania Marcellus. No more. They haven’t drilled in Appalachia since 3Q15. During the earnings call for 1Q17, Carrizo CEO S.P. “Chip” Johnson announced Carrizo is putting up their Marcellus/Utica assets for sale–both wells and leases. Yesterday Carrizo issued its second quarter update, holding a conference call to discuss the past three months. What do we learn from it relative to the Marcellus/Utica? Essentially, the company continues on the path of trying to sell their Marcellus/Utica assets. One questioner asked about the company “choking back” production in the Marcellus/Utica–what would it be if they didn’t restrict production? Answer: 180-190 million cubic feet per day…
Antero Resources, one of the biggest and best drillers in the Marcellus/Utica concentrating on just those two plays, turned in their second quarter 2017 numbers last week, and held an earnings call to discuss the results. The company has a lot to crow about. Antero’s gas (and liquids) production hit a new record high of 2.2 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d) in 2Q17. They continue to be the best hedging company in the Marcellus/Utica, getting an average of $3.15 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) for the gas they sold BEFORE hedging. After hedging Antero got $3.41/Mcf for gas and equivalents (oil, NGLS). Antero’s hedging program is one of the greatest untold success stories of the Marcellus/Utica. The company lost $5 million in 2Q17, a vast improvement over losing $596 million in 2Q16. Antero completed and placed online 29 horizontal Marcellus wells during 2Q17 with an average lateral length of 9,380 feet. They drilled an average of 5,200 lateral feet per day, a 50% increase compared to 2016. In the Utica, Antero completed and placed online 5 horizontal wells with an average lateral length of 11,222 feet. During 2Q17, Antero set a record for drilling its longest lateral to date at 17,380 feet. The company also announced a big bump up in proved reserves…
Last week National Fuel Gas Company, headquartered in Western New York State with drilling subsidiary Seneca Resources and pipeline subsidiary Empire Pipeline, issued its third quarter (everyone else’s second quarter) 2017 update. NFG produced 567 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natural gas last quarter, a 6% increase over the same quarter a year ago. NFG realized an average price of $2.94 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf), up $0.08 per Mcf from the prior year. Compare that with Antero’s hedged average of $3.41/Mcf (see today’s story about Antero 2Q17). NFG CEO Ronald Tanski had some interesting remarks with respect to the company’s stalled Northern Access Pipeline project. As you may recall, the Andrew Cuomo New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is blocking Northern Access, like they blocked the Constitution Pipeline and a tiny spur project for the Millennium. Because NFG’s Northern Access project is stalled, they are shifting their budget and drilling further west, to do Utica drilling in locations where there is already pipeline infrastructure. So this is yet another case of the NY screwing up Marcellus drilling PA that would otherwise be happening. Landowners in PA can thank NY Gov. Cuomo for screwing them over. Tanski also mentioned the court case for Northern Access, and that FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) may step in and overrule the NY DEC, as is now being considered in the Constitution Pipeline case (see today’s lead story). Here’s the update from NFG…
Chesapeake Energy reported second quarter 2017 results last week. As is typical, the company hosted a conference call with analysts to discuss those results. However, Chesapeake CEO Doug “the ax” Lawler had some rather exciting news about the Marcellus to report–late breaking news. In recent weeks Chesapeake has brought online an experimental well drilled in Wyoming County, PA (northeastern part of the state) with an initial production of 61 million cubic feet equivalent per day (MMcfe/d). This is a MONSTER Marcellus well! The most productive onshore shale well we know of is EQT’s Utica well in Greene County, PA, with a 72.9 MMcfe/d IP rate, drilled in July 2015 (see 
Of the three Marcellus/Utica producing states–Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia–only WV reports well production on an annual basis. Not frequent enough! In July WV published production numbers for 2016. The exciting news is that on average, initial production (IP) of Marcellus/Utica shale wells surged 20% over 2015. IP is the amount of gas (or oil or NGLs) flowing from a well. However, when you dig into the numbers, you learn that IP rates did not go up universally across the state. Some counties had big increases, other counties went the other way. The same with drillers. Some drillers (like Antero) saw a big bump up in average IP rates. Other’s (like Southwestern Energy) saw a dip in IP rates from 2015 to 2016…
In July MDN brought you the news that Rice Energy had bought out the assets of LOLA Energy (see 
Last week Eclipse Resources, a Marcellus/Utica pure play driller headquartered in State College, PA that drills mostly in Ohio, released their second quarter 2017 update. Eclipse has been on a roll, drilling a series of longest-ever onshore lateral wells–in the world. It began last year when Eclipse drilled what they call their first “super lateral” Utica well in Guernsey County, OH–the Purple Hayes, at 18,500 feet long (see 
Last week Rice Energy turned in their second quarter 2017 update. The company reports during 2Q17 they turned to sales 18 net Marcellus wells with an average lateral length of 9,200 feet and 7 net operated Utica wells with an average lateral length of 10,500 feet. 2Q17 development costs per lateral foot were under budget and averaged $805 in the Marcellus and $1,105 in the Utica for wells drilled and completed. As we report today in our story “Rice Energy Paid $180M for LOLA Energy; CEO Didn’t Want to Sell” the company also announced they paid $180 million for core acreage in PA and WV from “an undisclosed seller”–which we know is LOLA Energy. The Rice boys gave an update on a conference call about 2Q17 and the impending sale to/merger with EQT. However, because of the upcoming merger, they took no questions from analysts. So it was a quick call–done in less than 15 minutes. The Rice 2Q17 update shows the company hit new record production and throughput, significantly reduced operating costs, increased their core acreage position by almost 20,000 net acres and divested a non-core asset in the Barnett Shale. Here’s Rice’s 2Q17 update, beginning with portions of the conference call…
It’s not often these days we get to announce a new driller in the Marcellus/Utica. Today is one of those days. Actually, this company has been around since early 2015, but we’re only now becoming aware of them. Pin Oak Energy Partners, headquartered in Akron, OH, is an exploration and production company engaged in both conventional and unconventional oil and natural gas wells and the operation of associated assets (like pipelines). Pin Oak currently operates 363 wells producing nearly 5.7 MMcfe/d (32% liquids) across more than 32,000 acres in the Marcellus/Utica region. The company is also involved in midstream, field services and operations through its affiliate companies. Pin Oak is on an aggressive acquisition binge of shale AND midstream assets, as well as leasing new acreage. Who is Pin Oak? According to CEO Chris Halvorson, Pin Oak is comprised of folks who were formerly with AB Resources. You may recall that AB Resources built a position in the southwestern “core” of the Marcellus and sold out to Chevron several years ago. Pin Oak is “what’s next” for for the former AB folks. Their target: the Appalachian basin. In July, Pin Oak bought 9,300 acres of leases and 8 Utica wells from EQT in Guernsey, Muskingum, and Columbiana counties (Ohio). Earlier this week Pin Oak announced they’ve purchased another 7,700 acres of leases and 10 Utica wells from an undisclosed seller in Trumbull, Tuscarawas and Mahoning counties (in Ohio) and Mercer, Crawford and Venango counties (in Pennsylvania). Below are two recent announcements. Pin Oak can be summed up in one word: aggressive. Keep a close eye on this company in the coming months and years…
Just when you thought we’d heard the last of “Dimock” and “fracking poisons water” nonsense, the storyline as pushed by mainstream fake news has come roaring back to life–thanks to the Trump Administration. Dimock, Pennsylvania was made famous in Josh Fox’s faux documentary Gasland, which aired on HBO a bizillion times. It was Fox’s 15 minutes of fame. He lied about fracking, painting it as an evil practice that polluted water wells around Dimock. His lies were later exposed by a real documentary called 
Range Resources, the very first driller to sink a Marcellus (back in 2004), released its second quarter 2017 results and held a conference call yesterday to discuss it. Range had a great 2Q17, with record production of close to 2 billion cubic feet per day (up 37% from 2Q16). Range’s Marcellus/Utica gas production was up 9% year over year. Range continues to drill impressive wells. One pad with seven wells drilled in the wet gas Marcellus area saw initial production (IP) rates averaging 29.1 million cubic feet equivalent per day (MMcfe/d), while a set of four wells on another pad in the Marcellus dry gas area say IP rates of 30.0 MMcfe/d. By the end of 2017, Range plans to have drilled and turned in line (TIL) 113 new wells in the Marcellus/Utica, and 56 new wells in the Louisiana Haynesville Shale. Yes, Range continues to ramp up its Haynesville program after buying Memorial Resource for $3.3 billion last year, spending money in Louisiana rather in Pennsylvania–which is a warning to the severance taxers in PA that companies can and will leave the state. On yesterday’s conference call Range CEO Jeff Ventura was asked a question about his views on Marcellus/Utica companies merging, like EQT/Rice. He responded: “If you think about it at a very high level, fewer companies I think in the Basin drilling is probably a positive thing. It’s probably a more pace development, a more prudent and more rational development. So I think that’s a good thing for the macro.” Range CFO Roger Manny hinted that Range may be looking to unload their considerable acreage position in northeastern PA when he responded this way to a question about more asset sales: “So we still have assets in the Mid-Continent that would be deemed non-core. One can make the case that the stuff we have in Northeast Pennsylvania, although it’s high quality, is away from that core blocky stacked pay position we have in the Southwest. So there’s other assets we have that we could sell.” Sounds like Range intends to concentrate on SWPA and LA moving forward…
Shell officials held the fourth (so far) public meeting in Beaver, PA to talk with local residents about the mammoth, $6 billion ethane cracker plant the company is building in their midst. For the most part, the event was uneventful. More than 150 people came out to hear what the petrochemical giant had to say. A table at the event held polyethylene pellets–the stuff that will be manufactured by the plant. Also on the table were a variety of products made from those pellets, including bottles, food packaging and more. One local resident opposed to the plant told a reporter she had to restrain her potty mouth because Shell officials would not answer her questions from the floor–in front of the crowd. Shell (and others in the o&g industry) have wised up. They post representatives at tables who are happy to answer private questions privately, but they don’t throw open the floor to antis who want to bleat and blat in front of an audience. We think it’s a wise precaution. The woman could get her questions answered, and express her unhappiness–but she wanted to do it in front of a crowd and in front of cameras and microphones. No thanks. Organize your own meeting if you want to do that…
Good news if you’re a welder, or interested in a welding career, and you live in southwestern Pennsylvania. Shell needs you. Shell is in the process of building a massive, $6 billion ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA (northwest of Pittsburgh). Cracker plants have lots of pipes that need to be welded as the plant goes up. While these jobs are not long-term, as in “the rest of you career,” they’re long enough, likely lasting several years. Steamfitters Local 449 is right now recruiting new apprentices, offering a free 17-week apprentice training program. Local 449 is holding an open house this Saturday…