Energy Companies

Antero Resources | Energy Companies

Antero Says Super Size Me – Floats 13.1M Shares of New Stock
March 6, 2015March 6, 2015

Antero Resources, one of the largest drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, wants cash and they want it bad. Two days ago we told you that Antero is in the market floating IOUs (or “notes”) looking to raise a huge $1.25 billion (see Antero Shops for $1.25B Cash from IOUs, Wants to Pay Down Old Debt). Just two days later the company put out a pair of press releases announcing a new stock offering too. At first they issued a press release saying they will float 11.5 million shares of new stock. A few hours later they issued another press release saying they are “upsizing” the offering to 13.1 million shares. Apparently McDonald’s meals aren’t the only thing that can get super sized (ba dop bop). Antero hopes to raise $485 million with this latest round. If everything happens as desired, they’ll haul in $1.25 billion from debt financing, and $485 million from equity financing, for a total of $1,735,000,000…
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Carroll County | Chesapeake Energy | Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Hilcorp Energy | Jefferson County (OH) | Mercer County | Ohio | Pennsylvania

More Permits Issued for Drilling in (Yes) Northern Utica in OH/PA
March 5, 2015March 5, 2015

More evidence that drilling in the northern Ohio and Pennsylvania Utica is most definitely NOT dead. Both Chesapeake Energy and Hillcorp recently received permits to drill in the northern Utica on both sides of the border…
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American Energy Partners | Energy Companies | Ohio | Statewide OH

McClendon Looking to Sell 29K Utica Shale Acres in Ohio
March 4, 2015March 4, 2015

Hats off to Columbus Business First and intrepid reporter Tom Knox for unearthing what we consider to be some pretty big news: Aubrey McClendon and his American Energy Partners are shopping 29,000 acres of Utica Shale leases in Ohio. At last count, McClendon has raised over $10 billion, much of it used to purchase land deals in the Utica and Marcellus (see Aubrey McClendon Raises Huge $8.7B for Shale Drilling…So Far and Aubrey Goes Shopping Again, Wants Another $2 Billion for Drilling). He’s amassed around 250,000 acres in the Ohio Utica Shale. Now he’s beginning to sell some of it. Where? We have the answer…
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Anadarko | Energy Companies

Anadarko Latest Marcellus Driller to Cut 2015 Budget – Down 33%
March 4, 2015March 4, 2015

Anadarko Petroleum has been an active driller in the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale over the past couple of years. They’re also a big company with operations in other shale plays and in offshore drilling as well. Yesterday the company announced they are trimming back their 2015 capital budget for drilling by about 1/3–to $5.4 to $5.8 billion. Anadarko is just one of a parade of companies doing the same thing (see Dramatic Budget Cutbacks in Marcellus Budgets for 2015). We have no specific comments or numbers about how Anadarko’s cuts will impact the Marcellus, but Anadarko did say they are reducing onshore rig activity by 40% and deferring 125 onshore well completions. Marcellus is part of onshore, so you do the math. Here’s what we do know about Anadarko’s pull back in 2015…
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Energy Companies | Warren Resources

Warren Resources Proved Reserves Up 209% Due to Marcellus
March 4, 2015March 4, 2015

Warren Resources is an exploration and production company (E&P) that’s drilled just a handful of wells in the Marcellus, but according to their latest announcement, their proved reserves for natural gas in 2014 jumped 209% “primarily” because of their Marcellus Shale acreage. Perhaps that bodes well for more drilling by Warren? We’ll see. According to the Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook, Vol. 3 (recently published), Warren received permits to drill 4 Marcellus wells in Pennsylvania during the last four months of 2014…
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Antero Resources | Energy Companies

Antero Shops for $1.25B Cash from IOUs, Wants to Pay Down Old Debt
March 4, 2015March 4, 2015

Seems that everyone (upstream and midstream) companies is in the market looking for cash in return for IOUs, otherwise known as “unsecured notes”. Today we reported that two midstream companies, MarkWest and Williams, have successfully landed $650 million and $3 billion in cash from IOUs, respectively. Now it’s Marcellus/Utica driller Antero Resources’ turn. Yesterday Antero issued two press releases announcing what appears to be two different tranches of notes–one from $750 million and the other for $500 million. Will cash-for-IOUs lightening strike a third time?…
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Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies

Magnum Hunter Drills 53 NE Wells in 2014, Plans Just 5 in 2015
March 3, 2015March 3, 2015

Magnum Hunter Resources (MHR) released its full year and fourth quarter 2014 update yesterday (selected portions below). MHR is a small-to-medium sized, but growing, driller focused almost totally on the Marcellus and Utica Shale. They own 80,000 net acres in the Marcellus and 120,000 net acres in the Utica. In 2014, the company drilled a combined 53 wells and achieved an average daily production of 101.3 million cubic feet equivalent. However, 2015 is a different matter. They plan to drill just 5 wells (and maybe not even those). They’re actively seeking joint venture partners who will give them a total of $500 million to drill in the Utica. The chief problem that we see is that MHR is swimming in debt…
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Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies

Magnum Hunter Investor Call Transcript + Slide Deck
March 3, 2015March 3, 2015

In addition to releasing their 2014 update yesterday, Magnum Hunter Resources also held an analyst/investor conference call including CEO Gary Evans and other top MHR managers. Below we’ve included a transcript of the prepared remarks on that call (with highlighted passages of interest to MDN readers). We’ve also included their brand new PowerPoint presentation. We indicate our favorite slides from the new presentation…
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Energy Companies | WPX Energy

WPX Energy Axes 8% of Its Workforce, Consolidates Offices in Tulsa
March 3, 2015March 3, 2015

As we’ve previously mentioned, WPX Energy is now largely out of the Marcellus and Utica region. They sold off their most developed leased acreage–46,700 acres and 63 operational wells–to Southwestern Energy earlier this year (see WPX Finalizes Sale of NEPA Marcellus Leases/Wells to Southwestern). WPX still has some acreage in southwest PA they’re looking to unload–but they’ve mostly exited stage left. We’ve also previously mentioned the company has rotten luck–they decided they didn’t like the low price of natural gas in the northeast and so they retooled the company to drill for oil instead–just in time for the price of oil to tank (see WPX CEO Riffs on Company Strategy Change from Gas to Oil Drilling). WPX’s CEO, Rick Muncrief, was installed by a corporate raider. You know what that means. When times get tough, the little guys get axed from the payroll. And that’s just what’s happened. Yesterday WPX announced they’re “trimming” (that’s what firing is called these days) 8% of the workforce…
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Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell | Taxation

Beaver County Officials Don’t Think Wolf’s Tax Will Kill Shell Cracker
March 3, 2015March 3, 2015

Let’s do some simple arithmetic and use some basic logic. If you drill less Marcellus and Utica Shale wells, you get less natural gas and gas liquids–like ethane. If you have less ethane, and if there’s already several pipelines flowing that lesser amount of ethane out of the region, you don’t have much left over to feed a big ethane cracker plant–like the one Shell is considering for Beaver County, PA. Make sense? It does to PA’s new Senate Majority Leader, Jake Corman, who said a proposed severance tax–that would cause drilling to drastically be scaled back–may kill the Shell project (see New PA Senate Leader Says Severance Tax Could Kill Cracker Plant). Although Democrats like PA Gov. Tom Wolf don’t like the fact that actions (and not good intentions) have consequences, they do. And a severance tax will drastically reduce the number of new Marcellus wells drilled in the state, and cause a decrease in the amount of ethane being extracted. Local business and political leaders in Beaver County don’t quite see it that way though…
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Energy Companies | Penn Virginia Corporation

George Soros Finally Bullies Penn Virginia into Selling Itself
March 2, 2015March 2, 2015

Billionaire bully George Soros, the guy who bankrolls just about anything liberal and Democrat has, for years, played both sides of the fence when it comes to the issue of shale drilling (see George Soros Plays Both Sides of Fracking Issue, for Profit). We told you one year ago that Soros had taken a major position in exploration & production (E&P) Penn Virginia (see Penn Virginia the Latest Plaything for Billionaire George Soros). Penn Virginia has a small position in the Marcellus Shale, only 21,700 net acres with no drilled wells. We said the following last March: “Why did he invest? To instill good LibDem values like lifetime employment, free condoms, etc. in the capitalist heathens at the company? Nope. Soros invested $29.1 million in Penn Virginia, grabbing a 9.1% ownership, so he can force them to sell themselves.” What is the Wall Street Journal reporting now? Penn Virginia is shopping for a buyer because they’re being forced to by Soros. It took nearly a year, but Soros got his way in the end. Some people buy and flip houses or buy and flip cars for profit. Soros, playing with the lives of everyone employed at a company, buys and flips companies like Penn Virginia–just to make a buck…
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Energy Companies | Southwestern Energy

Southwestern Energy: Great 2014, Even Better 2015 On the Way
March 2, 2015March 2, 2015

Southwestern Energy released their full year 2014, fourth quarter 2014 and preview of 2015 big kahuna update last Thursday. There is a LOT in there. With the purchase of 413,000 Marcellus/Utica Shale acres from Chesapeake along with a boatload of operating and partially-drilled wells, Southwestern is now one of the top 3 or 4 drillers in the Marcellus region (see Chesapeake Sells Close to 25% of Marcellus/Utica Operation). Even before adding the new acreage, Southwestern was going great guns last year. In 2014, Southwestern invested $695 million in Northeast Appalachia, which included $571 million to spud 99 operated wells. Southwestern’s net gas production from Northeast Appalachia was 254 Bcf in 2014, up 69% from 151 Bcf in 2013. Gross operated production in Northeast Appalachia was over 1.0 Bcf per day at the end of 2014 compared to approximately 700 MMcf per day at the end of 2013. They didn’t do much in Southwest Appalachia, as they call it (which means SW PA, WV & eastern OH). That will change this year–dramatically. Spending last year for the NE Marcellus was $695 million. This year it will be $700 million. Spending last year in the SW Marcellus was $4 million. This year? They’re going to spend big money on their newly acquired acreage from Chesapeake: $520 million. Southwestern is whacking their spending in other shale plays like the Fayettville–cutting it in half–so they can invest in the Marcellus…
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Energy Companies | Halcon Resources | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Halcon CEO Floyd Wilson: “What’s the Utica?”
February 27, 2015February 27, 2015

In January, MDN told you the news that Halcon Resources, with with some 140,000 net acres in the Ohio Utica Shale, would not do any Utica drilling in 2015 (see Halcon Resources: Slashes Drilling Budget 50%, No Utica for 2015). Yesterday Halcon held an analyst/investor conference call to discuss the company’s 2014 results and 2015 projections. On the call was Floyd Wilson–the very straight-talking CEO of Halcon who once said he would drill no more, well, er, “substandard” wells in the Utica (see Halcon CEO Says No More S***** Wells in Northern OH Utica). The Utica came up precisely once on yesterday’s phone call. Here’s what the colorful Wilson said during a Q&A…
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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies

Chesapeake Energy Earnings Down 60%; Cutting Budget 34% in 2015
February 26, 2015February 26, 2015

Corporate raiders Mason Hawkins and Carl Ichan, Chesapeake Energy’s two largest investors, are not happy men today. Chesapeake released its full year and fourth quarter 2014 update yesterday and earnings were down–60% from 2013. Depressed earnings can largely be blamed on the low price of natural gas and oil, but also on Chesapeake’s lower estimated production for 2015. The news resulted in a stampede of investors selling Chessy’s stock–which took a massive 11% hit yesterday. Among the many bits of news coming from Chesapeake yesterday is that the company will slash its 2015 capital budget 34% over what it spent in 2014. There will be less drilling in both the Marcellus and Utica Shale, and Chesapeake is actually (if you believe them this time) shutting in wells in the Marcellus/Utica and curtailing some of their production, waiting for the price to increase. They’ve made that threat in the past and never followed through (see Chesapeake’s NatGas Production Cuts Never Materialized). The boy who cried wolf comes to mind. Below is the 2014 report from Chesapeake…
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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies

Chesapeake Energy Investor Phone Call Excerpts + PowerPoint
February 26, 2015February 26, 2015

Yesterday’s news that Chesapeake Energy is scaling back both production and new drilling in the Marcellus/Utica largely came from an analyst call in which Chesapeake management provided answers to questions by analysts. Below we have select portions of the transcript from that phone call, along with a copy of Chesapeake’s latest company presentation (slide deck). Chesapeake’s management talks about curtailment (shutting in and slowing down production) in the Marcellus, and scaling back new drilling in the Utica…
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Centre County | Clearfield County | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Rex Energy | Westmoreland County

Rex Energy Looks to Sell 28,300 Marcellus Acres in Bid to Raise $
February 26, 2015February 26, 2015

Last week Rex Energy released its 2014 year in review and projected some numbers for 2015 (see Rex Energy 2014: Revenues Up 39%, Production Up 66%, 50 New Wells). A day later the company hosted an analyst/investor conference call. In reviewing that call, there was some news of interest. Rex said it is considering selling 28,300 non-operated acres in Westmoreland, Clearfield and Centre counties (PA) as a way of raising more money. Officials also said they’re looking for a buyer for their 60% stake in Keystone Clearwater Solutions, an oilfield services company, and a joint venture partner with Rex in its Moraine East acreage. Huh. Below are excerpts from last week’s Rex conference call along with their latest PowerPoint presentation…
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