Energy Companies

Energy Companies | WPX Energy

WPX CEO Riffs on Company Strategy Change from Gas to Oil Drilling
February 13, 2015February 13, 2015

Some people, and some companies, just have plain old bad luck and rotten timing. Like WPX Energy. WPX didn’t like the business it was in–drilling for natural gas in Pennsylvania, so they’ve sold off 46,700 acres and 63 operational wells in northeastern PA to Southwestern Energy for $300 million (see WPX Finalizes Sale of NEPA Marcellus Leases/Wells to Southwestern). They still have some acreage in southwest PA they’re trying to dump. What has WPX’s attention these days? What’s the all-fire hurry to get out of the northeast? They’re trying to convert the company from gas to oil drilling–just in time for oil prices to go as low as they’ve been in a generation. Talk about bad timing!…
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Energy Companies | EV Energy Partners

EV Energy Partners CEO Resigning, VP/CFO Promoted
February 13, 2015February 13, 2015

Changes are coming at the top of EV Energy Partners (EVEP). Mark Houser, current president and CEO, will resign at the end of February. Houser will remain on the board. In his place, EVEP is promoting Michael Mercer, senior VP and CFO, to the top post of president/CEO. EVEP says the move was planned. EVEP, you may recall, has been trying to unload a hoard of Utica Shale acreage (more than a half million acres) for the past three years–largely unsuccessfully (see EVEP’s Mark Houser Says More Utica Acreage Sales Ahead in 2014). They recently sold their interest in Cardinal Midstream to a pair of South Korean companies (see Total, EVEP Sell Interest in Cardinal Midstream to S Koreans for $612M). Perhaps Mercer will have more luck shopping their considerable inventory of Utica acreage?…
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CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies

Corporate Raider Mason Hawkins Holds 14% of CONSOL Energy Stock
February 12, 2015February 12, 2015

We consider this bad news for CONSOL Energy: Corporate raider (mainstream media calls it “activist investor”) Mason Hawkins, founder, chairman and CEO of Southeastern Asset Management, has just purchased another boatload of stock in CONSOL Energy. Hawkins, you may recall, is part of the dynamic duo, along with corporate raider Carl Ichan, who pressured Aubrey McClendon to leave Chesapeake Energy in 2013 (see Breaking: Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon Gets Pink Slip). Hawkins and Ichan then hired Doug Lawler as their proxy who came in and fired over 1,200 people at Chesapeake–an action intended to line the pockets of Hawkins and Ichan. Southeastern was/is the #1 stockholder in Chesapeake with 13.4% of Chessy’s stock. Southeastern is now, we believe, the #1 stockholder in CONSOL. After Hawkins’ latest spending spree, Southeastern now owns (according to our calculations) 14% of CONSOL’s stock…
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Energy Companies | Southwestern Energy | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Southwestern’s Contrarian Plan: Double Down on Drilling in the Marcellus
February 12, 2015February 12, 2015

Southwestern Energy is one of the few exploration and production (E&P) companies that is bucking the trend. Most E&Ps are slashing their 2015 drilling budgets by a third or more. Not Southwestern. They recently closed on the purchase of a massive 413,000 Marcellus Shale acres, mostly in West Virginia, from Chesapeake Energy (see Chesapeake Using $1B from Southwestern Deal to Buy Back Stock). Southwestern paid $5.375 billion. Rather than pull back on spending, in December the company announced it would double its investment in drilling for the northeast (see Southwestern Energy on a Tear – Doubles Marcellus Budget for 2015). We picked up a few more details on Southwestern’s plans for 2015, which include drilling 70 wells in northern WV…
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Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Hilcorp Energy | Lawrence County | Mahoning County | Mercer County | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Trumbull County | Utica Shale

Full Speed Ahead for Hilcorp in the Northern Utica in 2015
February 10, 2015February 10, 2015

In 2014 Hilcorp spent some $400 million on drilling in the *northern* Utica Shale play–an area that virtually everyone else has abandoned for the more alluring wet gas to be found in the southeaster portion of the play. According to Hilcorp, they are enjoying success in the northern Utica and that’s where they will continue to focus their efforts…
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Devon Energy | Energy Companies | Guernsey County | Ohio | Utica Shale | Wayne County (OH)

Devon Puts 2 Utica Wells Up for Sale, Not Happy with OH Utica
February 10, 2015February 10, 2015

Devon Energy has put Wayne County, OH’s lone Utica shale well up for sale, along with another Utica well they own in Guernsey County. To which we say we were surprised. We had forgotten Devon had drilled (or owned) any Utica wells in the first place. Perhaps the reason they’re dumping the Wayne County well, which the say has “future utility,” is because it hasn’t produced a thing–oil or natural gas. The well in Guernsey also appears to be a bust. Here’s the brief blurb we caught on Devon exiting the Utica…
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Belmont County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Monroe County | Ohio | Pipelines | Rice Energy | Rice Midstream

Rice Midstream Building New “Zeus” Pipeline in Belmont/Monroe OH
February 10, 2015February 10, 2015

MDN picked up on a bit of news we had not previously heard about. Rice Midstream, the newly formed subsidiary of Rice Energy launched in December (see Rice Midstream IPO Falls Short of Goal by Approx. $134M), is busy at work. They are building eight miles of 30-inch pipeline through portions of Belmont and Monroe counties (in Ohio) as part of their “Zeus” project. This is the first time we’d heard of Zeus (the pipeline). The project will last four months and employ 350 temporary union workers–welders and construction workers…
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American Energy Partners | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation

OH Coal Company Sues McClendon to Obtain Copies of Leases
February 10, 2015February 10, 2015

Robert Murray, who owns a coal company that operates under the name Murray Energy, sued Aubrey McClendon in 2013 when McClendon used the name American Energy Partners for his new company. Murray, you see, owns a subsidiary company in Ohio named American Energy Corp. Murray says ole Aubrey has infringed on his company’s name and trademark, so he sued (see McClendon Gets Sued in OH Over New Company’s Name). That was the last we had heard of it, until now. It seems the case is alive and well and Murray has just filed brief saying ole Aubrey should be forced to produce copies of leases he has with landowners in Ohio…
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Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Wastewater

GreenHunter to Coast Guard, We’re Barging While You Fiddle Around
February 9, 2015February 9, 2015

As MDN chronicled on Friday, there is a dispute between GreenHunter Resources and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) over what, exactly, constitutes “oil field waste” (see GreenHunter/Coast Guard War of Words — MDN Explains It). If we might toot our own horn for a moment, we were the first to understand and share that understanding of the key issue, which is whether or not produced water (“brine”) from horizontal wells is essentially the same chemically as produced water from vertical-only wells. That is what GreenHunter and the USCG disagree about. GreenHunter says it is the same thing, and the USCG isn’t so sure. On Saturday, our interpretation of that key issue was confirmed by USCG statements–they remain concerned that low levels of radiation, which may or may not be present in produced water from horizontal wells, DOES make shale well produced water potentially different from regular old produced water from vertical wells…
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Chief Oil & Gas | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Marshall County | Ohio County | Tug Hill Operating | West Virginia

Lease Terms Revealed for Land Deal in Marshall County, WV
February 9, 2015February 9, 2015

In November, MDN brought you the news that Tug Hill Operating, a privately-owned exploration and production company, did a deal with the Marshall and Ohio County Landgroup in West Virginia for a $100 million signing bonus for about 500 families (see Panhandle WV Landowners Broker $100M Deal with Tug Hill Operating). We later learned that Tug Hill’s CEO was at one time concurrently the COO of Chief Oil & Gas, meaning the two companies are “tight” and perhaps share a drilling program (see More Details on Tug Hill $100M Lease in WV Panhandle). In November we had precious few details, beyond the $100 million signing bonus and a claim that royalties may end up being another $400-$500 million. Can you imagine a half BILLION dollars rushing into the economy of those two panhandle counties? Astonishing. Behold the miracle of fracking! At any rate, we now have an inkling of what the terms may have been. The Marshall County Commission is considering signing a lease with Tug Hill for 72 acres behind the animal shelter. The deal isn’t done yet, but the we know the proposed terms, both for the signing bonus and the royalty…
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Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

EQT Shutters OH Utica Drilling, Still Likes PA/WV Utica Drilling
February 9, 2015February 9, 2015

On an earnings call with analysts last Thursday, EQT’s top management said that they are “writing off” their Ohio Utica Shale acreage, taking a $162 million hit. The acreage performed “significantly below expectations.” However, that doesn’t mean EQT is giving up on the Utica–just their Utica acreage in Ohio. EQT owns a LOT of acreage in southwest Pennsylvania and West Virginia (over 400,000 acres) with dry gas Utica under much of it–and they’re eyeing the Utica in those locations very closely. EQT is in the midst of drilling two dry gas Utica test wells–one in Greene County, PA, the other in Wetzel County, WV…
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Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Wastewater

GreenHunter/Coast Guard War of Words — MDN Explains It
February 6, 2015February 6, 2015

MDN now believes we have the full story, and a proper understanding, for the current war of words between GreenHunter and the U.S. Coast Guard over the issue of barging produced water, sometimes referred to as brine, on the Ohio River and other inland waterways. On Wednesday MDN brought the news that GreenHunter claimed the Coast Guard has given the all clear to begin barge shipments of brine (see US Coast Guard Approves Brine Shipping via Barge on Ohio River). Yesterday we reported a response from the Coast Guard saying no, they haven’t decided and haven’t given clearance (see Breaking: Coast Guard Says They Did NOT Grant Barge Permission to GreenHunter). Yesterday GreenHunter, a publicly traded company, filed a statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) challenging the Coast Guard’s statement. It all comes down to semantics. MDN has spoken with a barge operator, has read the GreenHunter SEC statement (below), and we now think we know what is happening…
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Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

More on that Range Rig Fire in Washington County, PA
February 6, 2015February 6, 2015

Range Resources dodged a bullet with the fire at a well pad in North Strabane (Washington County, PA) on Wednesday. We now know that a hydraulic line leaked oil and that’s what started the fire. Personnel on site tried to extinguish it but enough oil spread on the rubber well pad liner that the liner itself caught fire–essentially like a huge tire burning. Which is what caused the billowing black smoke in the area. The fire spread and consumed the rig, destroying it, and a couple of trailers parked at the site. Range was in the beginning stages of drilling the well. The bullet they dodged is that no one was injured. Equipment can be replaced–people can’t…
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Energy Companies | EQT Corp

EQT 2014: Drilled 345 Wells, Production Up 26%, Net Income Up 74%
February 6, 2015February 6, 2015

Lots of EQT news to share today. Yesterday the company pushed out several updates, including a recap of their 2014 operational and financial results–for both the production/drilling side of the company and the midstream/pipeline side. Production sales volume was up 26% for the year over 2013; midstream gathered volume was up 27%; net income was up 74% from a year ago; and they still have an available borrowing credit line of $1.5 billion in the bank. EQT drilled 196 Marcellus wells, 103 Huron wells and 41 Upper Devonian wells in 2014…
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Energy Companies | EQT Corp

EQT Slashes 2015 Capex Budget 24%, Reduces Drilling Program 45%
February 6, 2015February 6, 2015

Perhaps the biggest news coming from EQT yesterday is the news that they’ve once reduced their capital expenditure (capex) budget for 2015. In December, the company said they would spend $2.5 billion on capex in 2015–down from $2.7 billion spent in 2014—and drill 244 new wells this year (see EQT’s 2015 Plans: 181 Marcellus Wells, 58 UD Wells, 5 Utica Wells). Yesterday EQT whacked the budget again, given the low price of oil and gas. They will now spend $2.05 billion on capex (down 24% from last year) and instead drill 191 wells, as opposed to the 345 wells they drilled in 2014 (down 45%)…
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Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Reserves (Proved and Unproved)

EQT Proved Reserves Up 29% in 2014, EURs Up 10%
February 6, 2015February 6, 2015

Among the mountain of news pushed out yesterday by EQT is a rundown on the company’s proved reserves, which rose 29% in 2014 to a whopping 10.7 trillion cubic feet equivalent (Tcfe). In their announcement about reserves, EQT mentions that estimated ultimate recoveries (EUR) per well are even higher than they hoped for: EUR of proved Marcellus wells drilled in 2014 averaged 7.9 billion cubic feet equivalent (Bcfe) as opposed to Marcellus wells drilled in 2013, which were estimated at an average of 7.2 Bcfe (up 10%) per well. EUR means the total amount of gas a well is expected to pump over its lifetime. Here’s a rundown on EQT’s reserve numbers, including 3P numbers (proved, probable and possible)…
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