Chesapeake Using $1B from Southwestern Deal to Buy Back Stock
A press release issued yesterday by Chesapeake Energy caught our interest. Chessy announced the closing of the deal we first announced back in October–a deal to sell some 413,000 Marcellus/Utica acres plus 435 already-drilled wells on that acreage to Southwestern Energy for $5.375 billion (see Chesapeake Sells Close to 25% of Marcellus/Utica Operation). Yesterday’s announcement says the deal is now done (see our related story today about Southwestern and Statoil), and that Chessy will use some of that money to buy back $1 billion worth of common stock, an effort to boost the company’s stock price. What’s interesting to us, aside from trying to make Carl Icahn’s stocks worth more, is how the details of the deal with Southwestern changed from October to now…
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Debtwire is an interesting service. They keep an eye on publicly traded companies to give subscribers to their service a heads-up on which companies are potentially carrying too much debt–companies that may, due to changing economic circumstances, have a hard time paying back that debt. Think of Debtwire as an early warning system to let you know BEFORE Moodys or Fitch Ratings downgrades a company’s credit rating. Later this month Debtwire will issue a new Distressed Watchlist with 176 companies on it. Some 55 new companies will be added to the list from the energy industry alone. With the addition of the 55 new companies, the Distressed Watchlist will have 70 (of 176) companies from the energy industry–making 40% of the list top heavy with energy companies. We have what we believe is an MDN exclusive–Debtwire has sent us the top 20 energy-related companies on the list. Of the top 20, four of them have operations in the Marcellus/Utica region…
Yesterday Range Resources released an announcement with two big pieces of news. The first (and lesser) news is this: Range is trimming its 2015 exploration and production budget by 18% compared to what they spent this year. The 2015 capital expenditure budget is now set at $1.3 billion. However, the company says production will continue to increase, even with less spending on drilling. The second and more important news: Range has drilled a Utica Shale well that has dethroned Magnum Hunter’s Utica well (see 
On Saturday, Triad Hunter, wholly-owned drilling subsidiary of Magnum Hunter Resources, lost control of a Utica Shale well in Monroe County, OH. The well had been drilled and temporarily plugged as the company planned to drill three more wells at the pad. However, “the well began to flow uncontrollably while recommencing production operations” according to a statement released by Magnum Hunter. Well pad personnel along with 28 homes located within a mile and a half were evacuated. Wild Well Control of Houston has been contacted and (presumably) now on site to contain the well. No injuries have been reported…