Energy Companies

Belmont County | Energy Companies | Guest Post | Gulfport Energy | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio

Opposing Viewpoint on Gulfport Water Lawsuit Against Barnesville
April 21, 2015April 21, 2015

MDN reader Eric Fenster, who lives in the Piedmont Lake area of Ohio, wrote to take issue with MDN’s “take” on the lawsuit brought by Gulfport Energy against Barnesville for breach of contract in selling them water for use in drilling and fracking (see Barnesville Officials “Didn’t Think” When Signing Gulfport Water Deal). Mr. Fenster believes MDN has it mostly wrong and that the Gulfport lawsuit is frivolous and should be dismissed. He outlines his thinking in the following guest post…
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Bluescape Resources Co | Energy Companies | EXCO Resources

Bluescape Pulls Strings Installs New CEO, COO at EXCO Resources
April 20, 2015April 20, 2015

Note: Thanks to a sharp MDN reader for pointing out that EXCO is NOT a wholly own subsidiary of Bluescape. Our mistake! The two companies are, however, tightly working together. We maintain, however, that Bluescape is pulling the strings after purchasing 5.9 million shares of EXCO stock.

We’re not sure how we missed it, but somehow it had escaped our attention that EXCO Resources, with 145,000 net acres in the Marcellus Shale, ~~is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bluescape Resources Company. We’re not sure when that happened~~. Bluescape, judging from their website, is an investment holding company–the money behind other companies like EXCO. The Bluescape website says they own 330,000 net acres in the Marcellus. Since Bluescape does no drilling of its own in the Marcellus (we checked our own Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook), it leads us to conclude EXCO isn’t Bluescape’s only investment/subsidiary in the northeast. Over the past few weeks, EXCO has experienced a shake-up in upper management, with Bluescape pulling the strings. At the end of 2014, EXCO suspended dividend payments for shareholders–never a positive sign (see EXCO Resources Suspends Dividend Payments to Shareholders). Also in December, the company appeared on Debtwire’s “Distressed Watchlist” (see 4 Marcellus Companies Debut on Debtwire’s Distressed Watchlist). In February, EXCO was listed on “The Oil Company Death List” (see 19 Oil/Gas Companies on “Death List” – 8 are in Marcellus/Utica). So it should come as no surprise that EXCO has both a new CEO and new COO over the past two weeks…
Read More “Bluescape Pulls Strings Installs New CEO, COO at EXCO Resources”
Energy Companies | Gastar Exploration | Lease & Royalty Payments | Marshall County | West Virginia | Wetzel County

6 Months Later: Gastar Deal to Drill Under Ohio River Not Done
April 20, 2015April 20, 2015

Last October MDN brought you the news that Gastar Exploration had won a lease with West Virginia to drill under a 232-acre tract of the Ohio River at the border of Marshall and Wetzel counties (see Gastar Wins Lease to Drill Under Ohio River in WV). Terms of the lease: $3,500 per acre signing bonus with 20% royalties. At that time, “final aspects of the lease” were being negotiated. In March of this year Statoil signed a deal with WV to drill under 474 acres of the Ohio River (see Statoil Cuts Deal to Drill Under 474 Acres of the Ohio River in WV). Terms of the Statoil lease: $8,732 per acre signing bonus with 20% royalties. The Statoil deal is done and dusted. The Gastar deal? It’s six months later and the lawyers are still squabbling back and forth. The final contract has not yet been signed…
Read More “6 Months Later: Gastar Deal to Drill Under Ohio River Not Done”
American Energy Partners | American Energy Utica | Energy Companies | Harrison County | Ohio

McClendon’s American Energy-Utica Signs OH Water Deal with MWCD
April 20, 2015April 20, 2015

The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) continues its pro-drilling ways. MWCD was organized in 1933 to reduce the effects of flooding and conserve water for beneficial public uses, oversees 16 dams and reservoirs across 22 counties in Ohio, covering 20% of the state. A huge part of Ohio is under the oversight and control of the MWCD. We’ve previously covered their deals with Antero Resources to lease District property for drilling. We’ve also covered District deals to sell water to Antero and other shale drillers. Last week they signed a new deal, much smaller than others they’ve signed, to sell water to Aubrey McClendon’s American Energy-Utica subsidiary. American Energy will pay $6 per 1,000 gallons (a little over half a penny per gallon). The deal is only for three months–from May through July…
Read More “McClendon’s American Energy-Utica Signs OH Water Deal with MWCD”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County | Wastewater

Range Loses 2nd Appeal, Must Provide PA Well Site Chemical List
April 20, 2015February 8, 2019

Three families who live near a former drill site and frack wastewater impoundment at the Yeager Marcellus Shale site in Washington County, PA sued Range Resources in May 2012 claiming the air they breathe and the water they drink had been contaminated by Range’s operation at the site (see EPA Investigating Range Drill Site in Western PA). Litigation ensued, and years passed. In 2013, a Washington County court ordered Range (not its contractors, but Range itself) to disclose a list of all chemicals used at the site–right down to the type of motor oil used in vehicles coming and going at the site (see PA Judge Forces Range, Contractors to Provide Chemical List). It will be an almost impossible task to construct such a list at this point, especially in light of the fact they’re in the process of closing the site. So Range appealed. Last June they lost that appeal (see Court Says Range Resources Must Disclose Chemicals in SW PA). Range appealed again, and last week they lost that second appeal…
Read More “Range Loses 2nd Appeal, Must Provide PA Well Site Chemical List”
Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pipelines | West Virginia | Wetzel County

Why Some WV Landowners Resist MVP Pipeline: Threats & Low $$
April 20, 2015April 20, 2015

Two weeks ago MDN told you that EQT, NextEra US Gas Assets and their Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project have sued 103 West Virginia landowners to force them to allow access to their property so they can survey it for potential paths for the MVP (see Mountain Valley Pipeline Sues 103 WV Landowners for Survey Access). MVP is a 330-mile pipeline that will stretch from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA. But landowners in, of all places, WV seem to be turning against the pipeline. There are so many projects underway in WV and other Marcellus/Utica areas, it almost seems as if there is pipeline fatigue setting in. Make no mistake, pipelines like the MVP are desperately needed to move large volumes of Marcellus/Utica gas to markets outside of the immediate region. Without the pipelines, the drilling will stop–which is what anti-drillers want to happen. But sometimes otherwise supportive landowners are not so supportive of a given pipeline project. Let’s get an inside perspective to better understand some of the reasons why…
Read More “Why Some WV Landowners Resist MVP Pipeline: Threats & Low $$”
Energy Companies | Energy Services | Keystone Clearwater Solutions | Rex Energy

Rex Energy: 1Q15 Production Up 60%; Still Selling Keystone Clearwater
April 20, 2015April 20, 2015

Rex Energy issued a brief announcement today to say a) first quarter 2015 production was up 60% over first quarter of last year, and b) the company is still on track to sell its 60% ownership interest in Keystone Clearwater Solutions, the company’s water service subsidiary (announced in February, see Rex Energy Looks to Sell 28,300 Marcellus Acres in Bid to Raise $). Here’s the details…
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Education | Energy Companies | Exxon Mobil | Industrywide Issues | New York | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide NY | Statewide OH | Statewide PA

ExxonMobil Donates $47M to Higher Ed, Including Marcellus Region
April 20, 2015April 20, 2015

ExxonMobil runs an incredibly generous program called the Educational Matching Gift Program under which they have just donated $47 million to ~900 colleges and universities across the United States. Here’s how it works: for every $1 ExxonMobil employees, retirees, directors and surviving spouses contribute to the Matching Gift Program, ExxonMobil matches it with $3. In Pennsylvania, the total pot donated to higher education was $3.8 million. In Ohio, it was $909,000. Virginia colleges are getting $1.3 million. New York State colleges and universities are getting a whopping $3.4 million–after New York State has screwed ExxonMobil royally (the company has lost millions of dollars in lease expirations when it couldn’t drill shale wells in the state because of Andrew Cuomo’s fracking ban). And yet, ExxonMobil gave money to the Empire State anyway, to some of the very schools who provide shelter and sponsor anti-drilling zealots. It shows the caliber of the people who run the company. One more: New Jersey, big users of oil and gas, but haters of pipelines and shale drilling, got $1.1 million…
Read More “ExxonMobil Donates $47M to Higher Ed, Including Marcellus Region”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crime | Energy Companies | HG Energy | Industrywide Issues | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Domestic Eco-Terrorism: Worker Shot at Rural WV Oil Well Site
April 17, 2015November 3, 2015

We have what appears to be an act of eco-terrorism, (possibly attempted murder) in southwestern West Virginia, by what appears to be an anti-driller who has had a snap with reality. Mark Miller, a 39 year-old married father of two who works for oil and gas company HG Energy, was visiting a conventional oil well site in Lincoln County on Monday. Miller said in an interview he was at the well, which has a history of leaks, to take pictures of an existing leak. The well is located on state-owned land, in a rural wildlife management area. Miller, in an unmarked pickup truck, started to drive away when a “tall, lanky man dressed in camouflage, with black stuff rubbed all over his face” approached the truck. Miller stopped to see if he could help, assuming the man’s vehicle was broken down somewhere nearby. The man approached the passenger side window, didn’t talk but held up a recorder which played something about not drilling, and he stuck a gun through the window, pointing it at Miller’s head. Miller tried to knock the gun away and the man pulled the trigger, shooting Miller in the hand, shattering bones in his left hand…
Read More “Domestic Eco-Terrorism: Worker Shot at Rural WV Oil Well Site”
Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Hilcorp Energy | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio

Hilcorp Gets Permission to Drill Under Columbiana County Cemetery
April 17, 2015April 17, 2015

Earlier this week we had some fun telling you about Hilcorp’s request to drill under a quarter of an acre of a cemetery in Columbiana County, OH (see Zombie Alert! Hilcorp Wants to Drill Under OH Cemetery). Fairfield Township trustees needed some extra time to consider the matter. After finding out that if they didn’t sign it would prevent a lateral from being drilled, affecting neighboring landowners (cutting them out of royalties–no lateral, no money), all but one trustee voted to sign the deal. The one holdout thought the town should get more in a signing bonus/royalties. He thinks $500 for a quarter acre and 15% royalties isn’t enough…
Read More “Hilcorp Gets Permission to Drill Under Columbiana County Cemetery”
Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy

Gulfport Upsizes Stock Offering to 9.5M Shares, Seeks $454M
April 17, 2015April 17, 2015

An update to a story we brought you yesterday about Gulfport Energy. We told you that Gulfport is both floating 7.5 million shares of new stock and floating IOUs (senior notes) to raise money (see Gulfport Looks to Raise $600M+ with Notes & New Stock Offering). At the time Gulfport had not announced the price per share they were looking for and we theorized that if they got the current price of $49.15 they would haul in around $368 million from new stock sales. Gulfport updated the offering. It’s now 9.5 million shares and Gulfport has announced they’re looking for $47.75 per share. Consulting our handy calculator, that would generate $454 million…
Read More “Gulfport Upsizes Stock Offering to 9.5M Shares, Seeks $454M”
Belmont County | Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy | Jefferson County (OH) | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Utica Shale

Gulfport Energy Pays $12,500 per Acre for 24K OH Utica Acres
April 16, 2015September 14, 2015

Gulfport Energy announced yesterday they’ve picked up 24,000 dry gas acres in the “core” of the Utica play–in Belmont and Jefferson counties in Ohio. The lease seller is Paloma Partners III, a small energy & exploration company headquartered in Houston and backed by Encap Investments and Macquarie Americas. According to the Paloma website, they own(ed) 24,000 in the Utica and had planned on drilling “in late 2015.” We’re assuming they added a few thousand acres to that total since the web page was last updated and that they will now not drill at all–since they’ve just sold all of their Utica acreage to Gulfport. The purchase price was $300 million. Doing the math, Gulfport paid Paloma $12,500 per acre–which is perhaps the highest such deal price per acre we’ve seen to date. Here’s the full update from Gulfport on the Paloma acreage purchase, along with production numbers from 1Q15 which show a 161% increase from 1Q14…
Read More “Gulfport Energy Pays $12,500 per Acre for 24K OH Utica Acres”
Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy

Gulfport Looks to Raise $600M+ with Notes & New Stock Offering
April 16, 2015April 16, 2015

In addition to Gulfport’s big news yesterday that they are paying $12,500 per acre for leases in eastern Ohio (see today’s companion story), Gulfport also announced yesterday they are whole hog into the cash-raising business. The company says they’re raising more cash to help pay the $300 million it’s taking them to buy the Ohio acreage–plus have some left over to pay down current debt. Yesterday, in two separate press releases (see below), Gulfport said they are a) floating 7.5 million new shares of stock, and b) floating $300 million of new senior notes (IOUs). The price of Antero’s stock this morning is trading around $49.15 per share. If they get that price for the 7.5 million shares, it would raise something north of $368 million for the company…
Read More “Gulfport Looks to Raise $600M+ with Notes & New Stock Offering”
Antero Resources | Energy Companies

Antero Resources 1Q15: Production up Big 89% Over 2014
April 16, 2015April 16, 2015

Antero Resources, one of the largest Marcellus/Utica drillers, continues to impress. Antero released first quarter 2015 numbers yesterday and they show an 89% increase in production over the same period last year, and a 17% increase in production over fourth quarter of 2014. Antero completed 41 Marcellus wells in 1Q15 and hooked 30 of them up to production. For those wells online for 30 or more days, they averaged 13 million cubic feet per day equivalent of natural gas. Antero currently operates 7 rigs and 2 completion crews in the Marcellus. The company reports not doing much in the way of drilling/completions in the Utica during 1Q15 mostly because they are transitioning to 7-pad units. They plan to drill another 45 Utica wells by the end of this year…
Read More “Antero Resources 1Q15: Production up Big 89% Over 2014”
Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies

Magnum Hunter Natgas Production Up 66% in 1Q15
April 16, 2015April 16, 2015

Magnum Hunter Resources, now a pure play company focusing on the Marcellus/Utica region, released first quarter production results yesterday and they look impressive. Natural gas (and equivalents) was up 66% for first quarter 2015 over the same period in 2014. The question is, however, how much longer will Magnum Hunter be able to continue pulling a rabbit out of the hat? In 2014 the company drilled 53 wells. This year they plan to drill 5 because of the low price of natgas (and lack of funds). It will be interesting to watch as the year progresses. In the meantime, let’s celebrate this nice increase in 1Q15!…
Read More “Magnum Hunter Natgas Production Up 66% in 1Q15”
Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Meigs County | Ohio | Regulation | Wastewater

GreenHunter Releases 2014 Update, Plans to Barge Brine in 2015
April 16, 2015April 16, 2015

GreenHunter Resources, the fresh water and wastewater subsidiary of Magnum Hunter Resources, reported their fiscal year 2014 and 2014 operating results yesterday–in both a press release (below) and an analyst phone call (excerpts below). MDN eagerly scoured the announcement and a transcript of the analyst call for mention of the ongoing controversy of barging brine down the Ohio River. GreenHunter is building and has nearly completed four new injection wells in Meigs County, OH. They plan to begin barging brine to those wells sometime this year, according to GreenHunter COO Kirk Trosclair. GreenHunter has a major/ongoing disagreement with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) over whether or not guidelines issued in 1987 allow them to transport brine from shale wells (see GreenHunter Keeps Pressure on USCG to Barge Brine on Ohio River). While there’s no mention of the USCG or lack of a USCG permit, there was plenty of talk about barge operations beginning by the end of this year…
Read More “GreenHunter Releases 2014 Update, Plans to Barge Brine in 2015”