Carrizo CEO Says Transition to Focus on Oil “Now Completed”
Last November MDN told you that Carrizo was de-emphasizing the Marcellus and instead focusing on more oily and wet gas plays, like the Utica (see Carrizo Down on Marcellus, Up on Utica and Other Wet/Oil Plays). In releasing their 2013 fourth quarter and full year results yesterday, Carrizo’s CEO Chip Johnson said, “We began our shift from gas to oil back in 2010, and I’m pleased to say that we’ve now completed the transition. Crude oil now accounts for more than 60% of our proved reserves, and even though we sold almost 45% of our 2012 U.S. reserve base through our Barnett Shale and other non-core divestitures, we were still able to increase our PV-10 by 44% in 2013. Oil also now accounts for the majority of our production, as we expect it to be approximately 60% of 2014 volumes.”
Does that mean Carrizo is exiting the Marcellus completely? Not according to the update. Carrizo drilled 6 Marcellus wells in 4Q13. They complain that midstream (pipeline) delays continue to “impact” their operations in the Marcellus, along with really low commodity prices. So for now they’ve pulled back. For 2014 they plan to complete the wells they’ve already drilled–24 in all, and finish up drilling 3 wells already begun. According to our trusty NGI’s Shale Play Factbook, Carrizo owns leases on 49,200 acres in the Marcellus (and 21,700 acres in the Utica). Here’s yesterday’s update which clearly details the oil/wet gas direction of the company…
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ecorpStim has poked their heads up again to try and catch a bit of attention for their innovative waterless fracking solution. A press release issued yesterday by the company (full copy below) touts a new short video about their technology and promises that their “non-flammable propane stimulation” solution, developed in “2013,” will roll out in field demonstrations by “the end of this year.” We gave the video a watch a liked it (see it below).
CONSOL Energy’s CEO Brett Harvey must be getting some heat over the company’s recent announcement that they have signed an agreement to export ethane from the Marcellus to Europe (see 
No less than three press releases were issued by Cabot Oil & Gas yesterday. In fact, the news is coming so fast and furious from all corners, it’s hard to keep up! First, Cabot announced a deal with the Transco pipeline to ship up to 850,000 MMBtu per day on the Transco once a new section is built–estimated to go online in 2017. Second, Cabot announced proved reserves at the end of 2013 were up 42% from 2012–to 5.5 trillion cubic feet. And third, the company’s production for 2013 was up 55% over 2012 to 413.6 billion cubic feet equivalent (Bcfe)–virtually all of it in the Marcellus Shale–and all of that from a single northeastern PA county, Susquehanna County. Cabot is an incredible story. No wonder their fourth quarter 2013 profit soared 91%!
Unfortunately our worst fears were realized when PA State Police announced yesterday they had removed “what appear to be” the remains of Ian McKee, 27, a Cameron International contractor working at the Chevron Marcellus well site in Greene County. A warning folks, this is a bit gruesome. Apparently they found some bones but no body. It is a heart-rending story. No matter who it would have been, it’s a tragedy. In the case of Ian, he was young, living with his fiance with a baby on the way. Please say a prayer for his family and friends–they will need it in the coming days as they deal with this.