Energy Companies

Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | McKean County | Pennsylvania | Seneca Resources

Seneca No Longer Interested in Buying Sewer Water for Fracking
August 14, 2014August 14, 2014

MDN told you 4 1/2 (!) years ago about a plan by the Kane Borough Sewer Authority in McKean County, PA to sell sewer effluent to Seneca Resources for drilling gas wells. Seneca is the oil and gas drilling division of National Fuel Gas Company (see Kane Borough Sewer Authority Making Money from Selling Effluent to Marcellus Shale Driller). Effluent is the treated water discharged from sewage treatment plants. In an update to that story, it seems Seneca and other drillers are no longer interested in Kane’s sewer water…
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Energy Companies | Gastar Exploration

Gastar Gets a Bump Up in Bank Line of Credit
August 14, 2014August 14, 2014

Gastar Exploration, an important driller in the Marcellus and Utica Shale, reported very favorable numbers for their Marcellus and Utica Shale programs, as we told you earlier this week (see Gastar 2Q14: Liquids 48% of Production, 72% of Revenue). On the heels of Gastar’s good 2Q14 news, they announced yesterday that the bank has increased their line of credit by $25 million to $145 million, which, according to Gastar’s CFO, will help fund their “recently expanded 2014 capital expenditures budget” in the Marcellus/Utica…
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Eclipse Resources | Energy Companies

Eclipse Resources Focus on Utica in 2Q14: Revenue & Production Up
August 14, 2014August 14, 2014

Eclipse Resources, a driller based in State College, PA and focused solely on the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays in the northeast, released their second quarter financial and operational update yesterday. Among the highlights: Eclipse drilled (or began drilling) 24 Utica Shale wells in 2Q14. From start to finish, they now average just 23 days to drill a well. The company now has nearly 100,000 acres under least–most of it with Utica potential, about a quarter of it with Marcellus potential. Revenue was up, production is up–things are looking up for Eclipse…
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Carrizo Oil & Gas | Energy Companies

Carrizo Gets a New CFO – Change in Direction?
August 14, 2014August 14, 2014

We don’t often talk about personnel changes at Marcellus and Utica Shale companies–unless they’re in the “C” suite: Chief Executive Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Financial Officer. It is that last one that has just had a changeover at Marcellus/Utica driller Carrizo Oil & Gas. CFO Paul Boling, who was Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Secretary, and Treasurer retired on Monday. He’s been replaced by David L. Pitts, Carrizo’s current Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer…
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Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

Range Sets Record Straight on Cecil 23 Impoundment & Chlorides
August 13, 2014August 13, 2014

Last week MDN outlined the latest kerfuffle in Cecil Township (Washington County), PA between Range Resources and the town over allegations that the Cecil 23 wastewater impoundment may have, at some point, leaked (see More Problems for Range Resources with SWPA Impoundments). The “evidence” of such a leak is a single monitoring well that showed slightly high levels of chlorides, or salts. Rather than wait for the state Dept. of Environmental Protection to alert neighbors that they would be visiting to do some testing, Cecil officials took matters in their own hands and distributed letters to some 50 nearby residents–scaring them. Range responded by distributing their own letter–something necessary to set the record straight. We have a copy of that letter to share with you…
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Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County | Wastewater

PA Marcellus Sludge with Low Radiation Heading to Michigan
August 13, 2014August 13, 2014

In May MDN told you about a tank at a Range Resources’ Carter wastewater impoundment in Mt. Pleasant Township (Washington County), PA that was found to have low levels of radiation. Although the level of radiation in the tank is barley above “background levels,” it’s high enough that it must be properly disposed of (see Low Levels of Radiation Found in Range PA Wastewater Impoundment). Apparently the tank, used to separate wastewater from sludge, is a really big tank. So big (heavy) it can’t be easily or safely moved along highways. So Range transferred the material in the big tank into two smaller tanks. Those tanks will soon be on their way for permanent disposal in…Michigan?
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Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Protege Energy | Utica Shale | Washington County (OH)

Marietta Tries 2nd Time to Lease City Land for Utica Drilling
August 13, 2014August 13, 2014

The City of Marietta, OH has several parcels of land they’re interested in leasing for Utica gas drilling: (1) Gunlock Park, behind the Walmart complex off Pike Streeet, (2) city-owned land along Goose Run Road in Marietta Township, (3) city garage property off Alderman Street, and (4) Buckeye Park off Acme and Greene Streets, and (5) the Kroger swap (i.e. “wetlands”) off Acme Street. All five locations total 95 acres. MDN reported that because city council snoozed, they lost out on an earlier opportunity to lease the Gunlock Park and Goose Run properties (35 acres) back in May (see Delay in Leasing City-Owned Land Costs Marietta, OH Big $). The city will run a second advertisement (legal requirement) to lease all parcels, and once again, they may have some interest. If they don’t botch it this time…
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Bradford County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Southwestern Energy

Southwestern Fined $128K in PA for Drilling with Expired Permits
August 12, 2014August 12, 2014

One of the biggest drillers in the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale is Southwestern Energy (based in Houston, TX). In fact, according to MDN’s own 2014 Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook, Vol. 1, there are only two other companies with more permits to drill wells in PA over the past year: Chesapeake Energy and Range Resources. So you may consider Southwestern one of the “big 3” in the Marcellus. Southwestern has just been fined $128,031 for drilling wells after permits to drill those wells was expired. Southwestern drilled five wells in Bradford County, PA after the permits issued for those wells had expired. Such permits expire after one year of being issued. Southwestern went ahead and drilled anywhere from 4 to 18 months after expiration…
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Energy Companies | Rice Energy

Rice Energy 2Q14: Marcellus Prod Up 84%, Utica Bigfoot Blockbuster
August 12, 2014August 12, 2014

Rice Energy, a small but rapidly growing and important driller in the Utica and Marcellus, issued their second quarter financial and operational update yesterday. Rice reports gas production for 2Q14 averaged 241 million cubic feet per day (virtually all of it from their Marcellus wells)–up 84% from the same period last year. Rice has drilled perhaps the most productive well in the Utica Shale–the Bigfoot 9H, a 6,950 foot lateral with 40 frac stages located in Belmont County, OH. Rice says the Bigfoot well has so far produced a total of 676 million cubic feet of natgas and continues to flow at a restricted rate of 14 MMcf/d. Truly impressive numbers. Here’s more impressive numbers from Rice…
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Energy Companies | Gastar Exploration

Gastar 2Q14: Liquids 48% of Production, 72% of Revenue
August 11, 2014August 14, 2014

Last week Gastar Exploration, an important driller in the Marcellus and Utica Shale, reported their second quarter 2014 operations and financial update. Among the important highlights: nearly half (48%) of Gastar’s production is now liquids (oil, condensate and NGLs). That 48% of production brought in 72% of Gastar’s revenue–the more liquids, the higher the profit. Also, Gastar fracked its first Utica Shale well in 2Q14. Below is the quarterly update followed by an interesting transcript of the analyst call from Gastar’s CEO Russell Porter…
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Energy Companies | Gastar Exploration

Gastar Adds 2 New Independent Directors to Board
August 11, 2014August 11, 2014

Gastar Exploration, a major driller in the Marcellus/Utica, has added two new independent directors to its board of directors–bumping the number of directors from five to seven. “Independent” means what it sounds like–no prior affiliation or agenda other than to help the company grow and expand. Often times board directors are populated with major investors or, unfortunately, corporate raiders like acolytes of Carl Icahn who infest the board at Chesapeake Energy. The two new board members at Gastar have no such agendas: one is the previous Chairman of the Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M, and the other is a petroleum engineer with 30 years of experience. Just the kind of people you want to have guiding the management team at one of the most important drillers in the Marcellus/Utica…
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Energy Companies | Stone Energy

Stone Energy Drills 1st Utica Well in 2Q14
August 11, 2014August 11, 2014

Stone Energy released its second quarter financial and operational update last week. Among the highlights: the company drilled its first Utica Shale test well. The company also drilled 9 new Marcellus wells and completed 18 more Marcellus wells. Here’s a few selected portions of the Stone update from last week:
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Access Midstream Partners | Cardinal Gas Services | Energy Companies | Energy Services | EnerVest | EV Energy Partners | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Pipelines | Total | Utica Shale

Cardinal Gas Courts S Koreans to Invest in Utica JV
August 11, 2014August 11, 2014

Cardinal Gas Services is a midstream company (pipelines and processing plants) concentrating on the Ohio Utica Shale. Cardinal is actually a joint venture between Access Midstream (formerly Chesapeake Midstream, now being bought by Williams), the U.S. subsidiary of French driller Total, and EnerVest Energy Partners. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any more complicated, it does. Reuters is reporting the rumor that a new consortium including South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS) and South Korean gas seller E1 Corp are making a play for 34% of Cardinal…
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Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation | Washington County

Robinson Twp, PA Offers a Preview into Future of NY Frack Debate
August 8, 2014August 8, 2014

One of the original seven selfish townships in Pennsylvania that sued the state over the Act 13 Marcellus Drilling law because of its zoning provisions–and won–has just become less selfish. In fact, the town, Robinson Township in Washington County, PA, has done a complete reversal. Two of the three anti-drilling supervisors were voted out of office last November. On their way out they tried to pull a fast one by passing super restrictive zoning (in December). Last night, the incoming two supervisors who are pro-drilling repealed the law and passed one of their own that’s favorable to the drilling industry. Below we take a look at Robinson’s complete reversal, which offers a fascinating preview into what’s coming to townships across New York State when Gov. Andrew “man child” Cuomo finally decides to make a decision to allow fracking…
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Antero Resources | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Ethane | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics

Antero Signs Deal to Export Marcellus/Utica Ethane to Sweden
August 8, 2014August 8, 2014

Borealis AG, an Austrian petrochemical company (majority-owned by International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) of Abu Dhabi) announced yesterday that it has signed a deal with Marcellus and Utica Shale powerhouse driller Antero Resources to buy some of Antero’s Utica/Marcellus ethane. The ethane will be pipelined to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia via the Sunoco Logistics Mariner East Pipeline. That’s if Sunoco can get the Mariner East Pipeline operating, given the current legal entanglements (see Setback for Mariner East NGL Pipe – Judges Say Not Public Utility). From Philly, the ethane will be loaded on container ships and sent to a Borealis ethane cracker plant in Stenungsund, Sweden…
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Antero Resources | Energy Companies

Antero Resources 2Q14: Gas Production Doubles, NGLs Quadruple
August 8, 2014August 8, 2014

Antero Resources, one of the biggest drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, had a very impressive second quarter 2014. The company reported on Wednesday that 2Q14 production for natural gas and equivalents was up an impressive 94% over the same period last year–to 891 million cubic feet per day. Closing in on that elite 1 Bcf/d Club! Antero’s natural gas liquids production was 20,237 Bbl/d, an astonishing 387% increase over the same period last year. Antero now has deals to sell ethane to three different cracker plants–two in the northeast and one in Sweden (see today’s story on that)–as well as agreements to sell natural gas to Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass LNG export facility. It’s all Marcellus/Utica and all cylinders firing for Antero…
Read More “Antero Resources 2Q14: Gas Production Doubles, NGLs Quadruple”