Energy Companies

Energy Companies | Energy Services | EQT Corp | Equitrans/EQT Midstream

EQT Changing Name (but Not Ownership) of Midstream Subsidiary
December 10, 2014December 10, 2014

Two years ago EQT spun off its midstream operations into a subsidiary and sold stock in it. That is, they floated an initial public offering (IPO) and raised over $260 million for the new subsidiary company (see EQT Midstream IPO Rakes in the Cash). On Monday of this week, the company said it will file paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to create a new company, called HoldCo, as a master limited partnership (MLP). HoldCo is being formed to take ownership of EQT Midstream and the IPO will float 21.3 million units. That is, EQT is getting a second bite of the IPO apple by creating an umbrella company to take ownership the midstream company, although EQT plans to purchase “more than 80%” of HoldCo’s stock themselves…
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Anadarko | Chesapeake Energy | Citrus | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

DOL Action: Several Marcellus Drillers Pay $4.5M in Back Wages
December 10, 2014December 10, 2014

In a multi-year so-called “investigation” that cost more money that was “recovered,” the U.S. Dept. of Labor (DOL) announced yesterday they’ve forced Chesapeake Energy, Citrus Energy and Anadarko Petroleum (and perhaps others) to pay $4.5 million in back wages to some 5,300 oil and gas workers in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The apparent “violation” is that these workers, working for subcontractors (not directly for the energy companies themselves), in some cases worked more than 40 hours in a given week but didn’t get time-and-a-half wages. We’re certainly not against playing by the rules, but it sure seems like utter folly to hype this as some sort of victory by Obama’s Labor Department–to work for more than two years and come up with a thimble-full of violations and carp and complain about how fractured the energy industry is–the same industry that, because of all those many subcontractors, has generated several hundred thousands new jobs in PA & WV that wouldn’t have been there otherwise. Here’s the press release by the DOL…
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Energy Companies | EQT Corp

EQT’s 2015 Plans: 181 Marcellus Wells, 58 UD Wells, 5 Utica Wells
December 9, 2014December 9, 2014

Yesterday EQT issued its 2015 “operational forecast” to telegraph their intentions for the year ahead. What does 2015 hold for the Pittsburgh-based exploration & production company? They plan to drill another 181 Marcellus Shale wells, 58 Upper Devonian shale wells, and 5 Utica Shale wells. They also plan to stop drilling Huron wells (the Huron layer is in Kentucky). Stated reason for stopping Huron development? The low price of natural gas. Can’t make money in the Huron at these prices. EQT will also invest $225-$250 million on midstream projects in 2015. Overall, they plan to spend a whopping $2.5 billion in 2015. Here’s the full forecast…
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Energy Companies | Stone Energy | Utica Shale | West Virginia | Wetzel County

Stone Energy WV Utica Well Turns in IP of 30 Mmcf/d
December 9, 2014December 9, 2014

Stone Energy is crowing about a Utica Shale well–in West Virginia. Yesterday in an operational update, Stone said their Pribble 6HU well in Wetzel County, WV is producing an initial 30 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. That doesn’t make it the top producing well (that crown still belongs to Magnum Hunter, see Magnum Hunter Takes the Prize: Top Producing Utica Well). But 30 Mmcf/d? That’s one of the better producing wells we’ve heard of. And once again, it’s another Utica well outside of Ohio–in WV! Here’s the details from Stone…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Rice Energy

Rice Energy Launches Midstream IPO – MDN Nails the Price
December 9, 2014December 9, 2014

A month ago MDN told you that Rice Energy would spin out a midstream (pipelines & processing plants) subsidiary (see Rice Energy Readies Midstream Subsidiary IPO – How Much?). At the time, we didn’t have a clue as to how much the company would want to raise, but based on a formula we devised (pretty simple, using the same ratio of Antero’s E&P IPO vs their midstream IPO) we came up with the number of $588.5 million for the Rice Midstream IPO. We said at the time we would be back to let you know how close we came with our “back of the envelope” prediction. Looks like it was pretty darned close. Like, scary close…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Talisman Energy

Rumor Mill: Repsol Once Again Interested in Buying Talisman
December 9, 2014December 9, 2014

In July MDN told you that Spanish oil company Repsol was seriously looking at buying some of, or even all of, Canadian company Talisman Energy (see Repsol Eyes Talisman Energy for “Assets” – Takeover Target?). Talisman is a major driller in the Marcellus Shale. Then, in the heat of August, came the word that those talks were off (see Talks for Repsol to Buy Some/All of Talisman Energy are “Frozen”). However, the rumor mill is buzzing again. Bloomberg is reporting the talks are back on and once again Repsol is looking at possibly a buyout of Talisman…
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Antero Resources | CNG/LNG | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | WGL Holdings

WGL & Antero to Provide Marcellus Gas to India via Cove Point
December 5, 2014December 5, 2014

An exciting announcement yesterday. You know that Dominion was given the green light in September and is now building an LNG (liquefied natural gas) export facility in Cove Point, Maryland (see Dominion Gets Final Fed Approval to Build Cove Point LNG Plant). Dominion has already lined up Japan and India to purchase all of the LNG the plant can produce. The question has remained, who will ship natural gas to the plant, and where will that gas come from? Stands to reason most of it (perhaps all of it) will come from the Marcellus and Utica. We previously told you that Cabot Oil & Gas is one of the suppliers–supplying 0.35 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of gas to Japan when the plant is up and operating (see Cabot Signs Deal to Export Gas via Cove Point, MD). We now know of the first official supplier for India: WGL Midstream, using Marcellus gas supplied by Antero Resources…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Pennsylvania | Southwestern Energy | Susquehanna County | WPX Energy

First Shoe Drops: WPX Sells 1/2 Marcellus Assets to Southwestern
December 3, 2014December 3, 2014

As we’ve been saying for some time, WPX Energy, the spun off but totally independent exploration & production company that was once part of midstream giant Williams, has been looking to exit the Marcellus stage left (see Flip Flop: All of WPX’s Marcellus Wells on the Auction Block). The first shoe has now dropped: WPX announced yesterday they’ve sold all of their Susquehanna County, PA leases and wells to Southwestern Energy for $300 million. We have all of the facts of the deal–how many acres, how many wells–along with answers to questions that landowners still signed with WPX in other PA geographies want to know–primarily, “Are we next?” We also have Southwestern’s take on the deal and (interestingly) what they seem to most value about the deal. It may surprise you…
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Energy Companies | Gastar Exploration | Lease & Royalty Payments | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Looks to Lease More Ohio River, Other State Land for Drilling
December 3, 2014December 3, 2014

West Virginia is interested in leasing more under-the-water land (and under other state-owned land) for shale drilling. You may recall that Gastar recently had the winning bid to drill under 232 acres of the Ohio River as it flows through Marshall and Wetzel counties (see Gastar Wins Lease to Drill Under Ohio River in WV). WV is getting $3,500 per acre and a 20% royalty on gas produced from Gastar–a nifty $812,000 check just for signing the lease, money that goes into the coffers of the state. They like that money and they want more of it–and Gastar is interested in drilling under more WV-owned land…
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Accidents | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Susquehanna County

PA DEP Fines Cabot $120K for January Water Tank Explosion in NEPA
December 3, 2014December 3, 2014

Here’s one that slipped by us when it happened. On Jan. 11, 2014 there was an explosion at a Cabot Oil & Gas well site in Susquehanna Count, PA. The explosion happened in a brine water storage tank at the site in Jessup Township, caused by a water truck driver (who was injured in the blast). The incident is coming to light now because yesterday the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) levied a $120,000 fine on Cabot. Thanks to the investigative work done by the Scranton Times-Tribune, we know exactly what happened…
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Broome County | Chenango County | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Delaware County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Schoharie County | Susquehanna County | Williams

FERC Issues Final Approval for Constitution Pipeline in PA/NY
December 3, 2014December 3, 2014

We’ve been writing about the Constitution Pipeline for, like, forever! The Constitution is planned to run 124 miles from Susquehanna County, PA up into New York State, all the way to Schoharie County where it will connect to both the Iroquois Gas Transmission pipeline and the Tennessee Gas Pipeline. It will flow some 650,000 dekatherms of natural gas per day (enough natural gas to serve approximately 3 million homes), most of it produced by Cabot Oil & Gas, one of the owners of the pipeline. In October, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a final environmental approval (see Constitution Pipeline Gets FERC Final Environmental Approval). Yesterday, FERC issued its final approval for the project–meaning the shovels will now hit the ground and construction will now begin. Horray!…
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American Energy Partners | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Aubrey McClendon Raises Another $500M for More Leases
December 2, 2014December 2, 2014

Low oil prices don’t seem to be affecting Aubrey McClendon’s ability to raise cash. He’s just landed another half a billion dollars, which he plans to use to lease more land in the Utica, Marcellus and two other shale plays. McClendon and his American Energy Partners is also looking for new employees. Hey Chesapeake workers–tired of answering to Carl Icahn and seeing your friends axed from the payroll (wondering if you’re next)? Send your resume to Aubrey! Here’s the AEP announcement from yesterday…
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Energy Companies | Halcon Resources

Bloomberg Whispering Campaign: Halcon in Trouble
December 2, 2014December 2, 2014

A new whispering–actually shouting–campaign has begun in mainstream media. The new meme we noticed over the past few weeks is this: Shale drilling is the next dot com bubble that’s about to burst. America’s enemies, like Russia, happily make such proclamations to anyone who will listen (see the comments of Lukoil vice president Leonid Fedun here). Bloomberg is the latest to pile on. Their angle: some exploration and production companies, specifically Halcon Resources (and several others) are “leveraged” to the neck with “junk bond” financing and now, with the price of oil so low ($69 at close of yesterday), those companies will have a hard time paying their obligations and securing new credit lines. It’s as if they’re cheering and actually hope a new financial disaster occurs–this time in the energy sector. Is there any truth to the whispering campaign?…
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Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

Range Resources to Flare Their First Utica Well in Western PA
December 1, 2014December 1, 2014

Flaring a well–which involves burning the initial volume of natural gas (typically waste gas) or because a pipeline is not yet available to hook up to the well–is increasingly a rare event. Most companies attempt to capture even the initial amounts of gas. However, Range Resources is set to begin flaring their very first Utica Shale well, drilled about 10 miles from Washington, PA on the property of the Claysville Sportsmen’s Club in Donegal Township, east of Dutch Fork Lake. The flaring will begin on Dec. 7 and according to Range it will be really big, and really noisy…
Read More “Range Resources to Flare Their First Utica Well in Western PA”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

PA Family Sues Range Resources over Nearby Drilling, Impoundment
December 1, 2014December 1, 2014

Range Resources has for years been battling allegations that their wastewater impoundments in Washington County, PA have leaked and polluted nearby water wells. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) investigated and in September levied a $4.15 million fine against Range, requiring the company to close five of seven impoundments (see PA DEP Fines Range Resources $4.15M for Wastewater Impoundments). Along the way several landowners have sued Range–over the impoundments and over nearby drilling. Add one more to the list: The Lauff family in Mt. Pleasant Township has filed a lawsuit alleging negligence by Range in the way they drilled several nearby wells and in their operation of a wastewater impoundment…
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Energy Companies | Energy Services | EnerVest | EV Energy Partners | GASFRAC | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Tuscarawas County | Utica Shale

Details on GASFRAC’s Waterless Frack Test in OH Utica
November 26, 2014November 26, 2014

Two weeks ago MDN was (we believe) the first to call attention to a very short reference in the quarterly update from Canadian oilfield services company GASFRAC–a line that says GASFRAC had finally begun fracking a Utica Shale well using their waterless technology (see GASFRAC Begins Waterless Fracking Job in OH Utica). At the time we had no details about where the well is located, and who the exploration company is that GASFRAC is doing the work for. We now know those bits, thanks to some ace reporting by Tom Knox at Columbus Business First…
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