Energy Companies

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

PA Anti-Drilling Activist Asks Court to Lift Cabot Restraining Order
March 25, 2014March 25, 2014

Vera Scroggins, a local and outside NEPA a little-known anti-driller in Susquehanna County with a potty mouth (see this video of her harassing filmmaker Phelim McAleer), had her day in a Montrose, PA court yesterday in which she and her commie-lib ACLU lawyers tried to get a restraining order lifted. Vera, according to Cabot Oil & Gas, repeatedly violated no trespassing requests from the company. She would show up at Cabot drill sites playing tour guide to obtuse politicians from New York City and on occasion even Hollywood celebrities (like Susan Sarandon), pretending the drill sites and compressor plants she showed them are somehow harming the environment. Cabot repeatedly told Vera to please stop entering roadways and drill sites as a safety precaution. She wouldn’t listen, so Cabot was forced to turn to the local Susquehanna County Court for help (see NE PA Anti-Driller Slapped with Trespassing Injunction)…
Read More “PA Anti-Drilling Activist Asks Court to Lift Cabot Restraining Order”
Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies

Chesapeake’s 2014 Laser Focus: Liquids and Continued Fire Sales
March 25, 2014March 25, 2014

Chesapeake Energy is presenting at the 42nd Annual Howard Weil Energy Conference this week in New Orleans. As part of their presentation they released a new PowerPoint slide deck (copy embedded below). What does it show? Liquids liquids liquids. Chesapeake has its sights set on producing more liquids as it’s ticket to financial health. The presentation also reveals they will continue to shed “noncore assets and noncore affiliates.” That is, “Watch out below–more ballast coming over the side!” as Chessy will continue to dump divisions and subsidiaries in an effort to prop up the stock price and make bossman corporate raider Carl Icahn happy.

The slide deck is quite revealing and loaded with good information. We learn, for example, that Chessy is spending less than half in capital expenditures on drilling this year than they did just two years ago. First we’ll give you some of our insights and point out our favorite slides and what they reveal, then we’ll share SNL Financial’s take on the presentation. Finally, we’ve embedded the presentation itself so you can peruse it for yourself. The flavor and tone of the presentation is that Chessy is (now) fiscally disciplined and on track to turn the company around and make it profitable. Not mentioned anywhere in the presentation is the 800-pound gorilla: the lawsuits filed and investigations launched into Chesapeake’s alleged screwing of landowners out of royalty payments, which (if found true) will quickly derail all of their best-laid plans to make Icahn even more rich…
Read More “Chesapeake’s 2014 Laser Focus: Liquids and Continued Fire Sales”
Antero Resources | Eclipse Resources | Energy Companies | Energy Services | EnLink Midstream | Ohio | PDC Energy | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Some Utica Players Tip Their Hand on Plans for Next 3-5 Years
March 25, 2014March 25, 2014

Although drillers are often mum on future plans, some drillers (and midstream companies) who participated in the recent Ohio Oil & Gas Association (OOGA) annual winter meeting earlier this month were helpfully chatty about what’s coming in the Ohio Utica over the next few years.

Tom Knox, intrepid new reporter doing a great job at the Columbus Business Journal, was on hand at the OOGA meeting and took good notes. He reports on what PDC Energy, Antero Resources, Eclipse Resources and Enlink Midstream have planned in the next 3-5 years for the Utica…
Read More “Some Utica Players Tip Their Hand on Plans for Next 3-5 Years”
CNX Resources | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies

CONSOL Getting New CEO, Old CEO Kicked Upstairs as Exec Chairman
March 25, 2014March 25, 2014

More change on the way at CONSOL Energy. Over the past several years CONSOL has been on a mission to transform itself from one of the country’s largest coal producers to one of the country’s biggest shale exploration and production companies. And they’re succeeding. Along the way, CONSOL’s shale drilling division, CNX Gas, was guided by the very capable hand of COO Randy Albert–until he announced his retirement late last year. In January, Randy’s replacement, Tim Dugan, took the reigns at CNX (see New CNX Gas COO Tim Dugan – Marcellus & Utica Experience).

Now there’s change afoot in the top job at CNX’s parent CONSOL. J. Brett Harvey, Chairman and CEO, will become Executive Chairman of the company (they’re kicking Brett upstairs). In his place becoming CEO will be current CONSOL president Nicholas J. DeIuliis. Nick will add CEO to his business card and be put in charge of the day to day operations at the company. Nick is a youthful 45 years old, taking the reigns of a $9.3 billion company. Here’s the announcement about the coming promotions at CONSOL, from last Friday:
Read More “CONSOL Getting New CEO, Old CEO Kicked Upstairs as Exec Chairman”
Energy Companies | Forced Pooling | Hilcorp Energy | Industrywide Issues | Lawrence County | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Hilcorp Forced Pooling Hearing Postponed, More Landowners Added
March 24, 2014March 24, 2014

MDN previously told you about Hilcorp’s lawsuit to force some hold-out landowners in Lawrence County, PA to allow drilling under their land–a concept called forced pooling. The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the PA courts treated it like a hot potato. The courts finally told the DEP that they (the DEP) would need to decide the matter. So the DEP had set aside two days this week to conduct public hearings in New Castle (see Forced Pooling Circus (ie Hearing) Coming to Lawrence County, PA).

However, the circus/hearing scheduled for this week has been postponed. No new date has been announced. The DEP and Hilcorp both wanted the delay offering the explanation that they need more time, “to provide more complete notice to potentially affected people.” Apparently some landowners haven’t yet been served notice that they will be affected–forced–to be part of a Hilcorp drilling unit, and both Hilcorp and the DEP want them to know it before the public hearing commences. Seems like the forced pooling in Lawrence issue keeps getting better and better (not)…
Read More “Hilcorp Forced Pooling Hearing Postponed, More Landowners Added”
Allegheny County | Energy Companies | Olympus/Huntley & Huntley | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp

PPG Blesses Deer Lakes Park Drilling in Allegheny County, PA
March 24, 2014March 24, 2014

Stop Press! The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial board has blessed the proposed deal to drill under (not on) Deer Lakes Park in Allegheny County, PA. Last Thursday MDN told you how County Executive Rich Fitzgerald got even more money out of Range Resources than originally proposed (see Allegheny Co Exec Bests Range on Deer Lakes Park Lease Deal). Anti-drillers are squawking (what’s new?). However, the increasingly anti-drilling Pittsburgh Post-Gazette endorsing the deal? Now that IS news!

Here’s what they wrote in today’s editorial…
Read More “PPG Blesses Deer Lakes Park Drilling in Allegheny County, PA”
Crosstex Energy | Devon Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | EnLink Midstream | Industrywide Issues | M&A

Crosstex Investors Cash in on Merger, Selling 18M Units for $550M
March 24, 2014March 24, 2014

Crosstex Energy recently got hitched with the midstream operation of Devon Energy and the new couple gave birth, or rather transformed itself, into EnLink Midstream (see Time to Congratulate Devon & Crosstex on the Birth of EnLink).The new EnLink has a growing presence in both the Utica and Marcellus Shale. They are a “player” in our space, so we keep a close eye on them.

Last Friday the newly combined and renamed EnLink announced owners of 18 million shares of stock in EnLink (called units) have put their shares up for sale with an eye to raising $550 million. However, that money will not flow to the coffers of EnLink. It will go to the owners of the units–presumably top management and/or investors in the old Crosstex. The action does make us wonder: Is this a prelude to some of top management leaving EnLink, or just big money investors cashing in to realize a big ROI? We don’t know. Here’s the announcement from Friday:
Read More “Crosstex Investors Cash in on Merger, Selling 18M Units for $550M”
Anadarko | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crime | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania

Protesters Shut Down Anadarko Drill Site in Lycoming County, PA
March 21, 2014March 21, 2014

The very twisted philosophy of so-called “Earth First” group members seems to be that humans are an infestation on Mother Earth, hence the name (full of self-loathing people, apparently). A group of Earth Firsters, most of them not from Pennsylvania, protested and shut down an Anadarko Petroleum drilling site in PA yesterday. Anadarko owns leases land in the Tiadaghton State Forest in Lycoming County, PA where they have an active drilling site (near Williamsport). Three of the protesters locked themselves to a solid concrete pipe embedded with shrapnel that reached across the road blocking the way to the drill site. The protesters had to be cut free at great personal danger to themselves and the first responders who cut them free. Five protesters in all were arrested.

MDN received exclusive photos from someone at the scene (below). We’ve also located a video showing the shrapnel embedded in a solid concrete pipe–and the gentle care the local first responders took in protecting the protesters as they cut them free. First responders put their own lives at risk to free these idiots. We would have been far less gentle (picking the whole thing up with a forklift and dropping it on the side of the road–with these kooks attached–comes to mind). Read the news, look at the photos, and be sure to watch the video below to see what we’re up against with extreme Earth First nutters…
Read More “Protesters Shut Down Anadarko Drill Site in Lycoming County, PA”
Energy Companies | Epsilon Energy

Epsilon Energy’s 2013 Marcellus Strategy Change – Is it Working?
March 21, 2014March 21, 2014

Canadian driller and midstream company Epsilon Energy had a shareholder rebellion last year and threw out the sitting board of directors. Epsilon CEO Michael Raleigh announced at the time that the company had embarked on a turnaround strategy of focusing on the Marcellus Shale–less than a year after saying they would scale back in the Marcellus (see Epsilon Energy Makes “About-Face” on Marcellus Drilling). How’s the turnaround going? Yesterday Epsilon released their fourth quarter and full year 2013 results. Looks like mixed results. Proved reserves are up, production is up, volumes are up on their gas gathering system, and revenues are up–8% over 2012. However, the company lost $13.5 million for the year (compared to a loss of $4 million in 2012).

Here’s the full update issued yesterday by Epsilon:
Read More “Epsilon Energy’s 2013 Marcellus Strategy Change – Is it Working?”
Earthquakes | Energy Companies | Hilcorp Energy | Industrywide Issues | Lawrence County | Mahoning County | Ohio | Pennsylvania

Hilcorp Awarded Permits to Drill 7 New Wells Near Earthquake Zone
March 20, 2014March 20, 2014

Oh oh. It appears one hand does not know what the other is doing. Last week a new series of small earthquakes–barely able to be felt, but there all the same–rumbled through the Mahoning Valley–near Youngstown, OH. Because of injection well related earthquakes near Youngstown two years ago, residents are understandably jittery and wonder if the drilling industry is somehow at fault with this new outbreak. So the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR), out of what they call “an abundance of caution,” asked Hilcorp to stop all drilling and fracking activity in the area (see # of Youngstown Earthquakes go from 2 to 11 – Fracking to Blame?).

Hilcorp readily complied. We’ve discussed (endlessly) that fracking simply does not cause earthquakes–injection wells can and have caused earthquakes, when injecting fluid over an active fault. However, it’s best to play it safe in this situation. Two days after the earthquakes and Hilcorp’s cessation of drilling in Mahoning County, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) awarded Hilcorp permits to drill seven new horizontal shale wells in Lawrence County, PA–about six miles from where they stopped drilling over the border in Ohio. Oops…
Read More “Hilcorp Awarded Permits to Drill 7 New Wells Near Earthquake Zone”
Allegheny County | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp

Allegheny Co Exec Bests Range on Deer Lakes Park Lease Deal
March 20, 2014March 20, 2014

In December MDN told you that Allegheny County, PA was close to a deal with Range Resources to all drilling under (not on) Deer Lakes Park (see Range’s Big Money Deal to Drill Under Deer Lakes Park in SW PA). The deal at that time called for a $3.5 million signing bonus and a royalty of 17%, meaning over time the county stands to gain something like $70 million.

The final deal has been struck between Range and County Executive Rich Fitzgerald. That old Rich, he’s wily and a tough negotiator. The final deal is a $4.7 million signing bonus and 18% royalties. Now it’s up to the Allegheny County Council to approve it. Let’s see–$70 million+ on one hand with no environmental impacts, or please a few loud-mouthed hippies who watched Gasland and don’t want us to drill. Tough decision…
Read More “Allegheny Co Exec Bests Range on Deer Lakes Park Lease Deal”
Broome County | Chenango County | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Delaware County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Otsego County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Schoharie County | Susquehanna County | Williams

Leatherstocking to Tap Constitution Pipeline for Local Deliveries
March 19, 2014March 19, 2014

Rural residents (and an aerospace manufacturer) located in New York’s Southern Tier and Central New York areas have a lot to be thankful for with the upcoming Constitution Pipeline–a natural gas pipeline that will deliver natural gas from the Marcellus Shale gas fields of Susquehanna County, PA all the way to two major interstate pipelines near Schoharie, NY (see New Marcellus Constitution Pipeline Announces “Final” Route). Williams is building the 124-mile pipeline with backing from Cabot Oil & Gas, whose gas will flow through it.

However, a regional gas pipeline company (think gas utility) founded just a few years, Leatherstocking Gas, will tap into the Constitution at (so far) four different locations along the pipeline so they can deliver that homegrown Marcellus gas to rural customers who are not being served by the big utilities like New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG, owned by Iberdrola). Yesterday Williams and Leatherstocking announced the deal to tap into the Constitution Pipeline in four locations…
Read More “Leatherstocking to Tap Constitution Pipeline for Local Deliveries”
Energy Companies | Penn Virginia Corporation

Penn Virginia the Latest Plaything for Billionaire George Soros
March 19, 2014March 19, 2014

Penn Virginia is an interesting company. They are an independent E&P (exploration and production) company incorporated in Virginia in 1882–but their headquarters is in Radnor, PA (near Philly). They drill for oil, NGLs and natural gas mostly in…Texas and Oklahoma! They also have operations and acreage in the Mid-Continent, Mississippi and last (and sorta least)–the Marcellus Shale. According to NGI’s Shale Play Factbook, Penn Virginia has leased 38,000 in the Marcellus. According to the latest MDN Databook, Penn Virginia has received permits for two well sites in the past two years–precisely squat. We don’t think they’ve actually drilled a single well in the Marcellus.

Why are we going on about who Penn Virginia since (so far) they are a bit player in the Marcellus? Because yesterday liberal Democrat billionaire George Soros got his claws into the company. Why did he invest? To instill good LibDem values like lifetime employment, free condoms, etc. in the capitalist heathens at the company? Nope. Soros invested $29.1 million in Penn Virginia, grabbing a 9.1% ownership, so he can force them to sell themselves…
Read More “Penn Virginia the Latest Plaything for Billionaire George Soros”
Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

OH Landowners Question Chesapeake’s Royalty Calculations
March 18, 2014March 18, 2014

The bad news for Chesapeake just keeps rolling in. Not only are landowners in Pennsylvania up in arms over minuscule royalty checks (see Bradford PA Landowner Rally over Chesapeake Royalty Shenanigans), so too are Ohio landowners now questioning whether or not they’re getting the shaft from Chessy.

As we mentioned last week, the anti-drilling site ProPublica published an “investigative” article trying to lay the blame for Chesapeake’s current bad behavior on the previous CEO (and founder) Aubrey McClendon (see Chesapeake Shafting Landowners out of Royalties Mess Gets Messier). In Ohio Chessy shows a big, fat zero in the column for post-production expenses deducted from the royalty payment. Some say that’s a lie…
Read More “OH Landowners Question Chesapeake’s Royalty Calculations”
Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies

Chesapeake Rushes to Spin Off Oilfield Services into New Company
March 18, 2014March 18, 2014

Three weeks ago MDN brought you the news that Doug “the ax” Lawler, nominal CEO of Chesapeake Energy (his boss corporate raider Carl Icahn really runs the show) had decided to either spin off or sell Chessy’s oilfield services division (see Chesapeake Energy Looks to Dump Oilfield Services Division). Doug and Carl are impatient men–they’re on a mission to fatten Carl’s bank account. Since there were no immediate takers for this latest fire sale item, Doug and Carl announced yesterday they’re spinning the oilfield services division out into it’s own company–a company that will be named Seventy Seven Energy Inc.

This action comes on the heals of selling off many (most? all?) of the remaining compressor plants owned by Chesapeake, including all 103 of the compressors they owned in the Marcellus (see Chesapeake Fire Sale Continues: Marcellus/Utica Compressor Plants). We have to ask–what is there left to sell at this point? Er, right–the company itself! However, no one will buy the company with the current cloud of accusations hanging over it that they’ve been cheating landowners out of royalties. Here’s the announcement that Chessy is saying sayonara to their oilfield services division…
Read More “Chesapeake Rushes to Spin Off Oilfield Services into New Company”
Energy Companies | Ohio | Rock Oil | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

New Houston-based E&P Targeting Oily Plays, Including Utica Shale
March 18, 2014March 18, 2014

A brand new shale exploration & production (E&P or what we calling driller) has formed in Houston, TX, but it has its eyes set on the Utica Shale–at least in part. Rock Oil Holdings recently began operations and received a nice little $250 million cash infusion from New York-based energy equity firm Riverstone Holdings LLC. Rock Oil says they will concentrate their efforts in the Eagle Ford Shale, the Utica Shale and the Permian Basin, “which are well suited to the Company’s land and technical capabilities.” In other words, they’re targeting “oily” shale plays–those with the potential for crude and for natural gas liquids (NGLs).

We’ll keep an eye out for Rock Oil in the coming months to see if they lease any Utica acreage. Meanwhile, here’s the announcement of Rock receiving start-up capital from Riverstone:
Read More “New Houston-based E&P Targeting Oily Plays, Including Utica Shale”