Energy Companies

Endeavour International | Energy Companies | SM Energy

Endeavour 3Q12: Income Way Up, Land Swap for Marcellus Acres
November 1, 2012November 1, 2012

A relatively young independent oil and gas company (started in 2004), Endeavour International, continues its rapid growth as reported in their third quarter financial and operational update. Endeavour has a large oil drilling operation in the North Sea. They also have a natural gas drilling presence in the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale.

According to the 3Q12 update, Endeavour now owns about 31,000 acres in the Marcellus Shale leases (see the release below). However, last year Endeavour had a deal with SM Energy to purchase SM’s Marcellus acreage, which would have added 50,000 additional acres to their Marcellus portfolio (see this MDN story). For no publicly stated reason, Endeavour bailed out of the deal and SM threatened to sue last December (see this MDN story).

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1st NRG | Energy Companies | Utica Shale

1st NRG Corp Gets $7M Loan to Begin Drilling in Utica, Other Plays
November 1, 2012November 1, 2012

The Ohio Utica Shale’s newest entrant, 1st NRG Corporation, previously announced they would drill on 7,150 acres of the Utica Shale in eastern Ohio (see this MDN story). Yesterday they announced they have secured a $7 million loan which will help finance the drilling.

1st NRG’s announcement is, frankly, a lot of fluff aimed at reassuring investors. It’s big on broad descriptions of the shale plays where they plan to drill, but absent details about how and when that drilling will take place. Here’s the 1st NRG announcement:

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Anadarko | Energy Companies

Anadarko 3Q12 Update: Lowered Marcellus Well Cost by $1.5M
October 31, 2012October 31, 2012

Anadarko Petroleum reported third quarter results on Monday. Anadarko is an independent exploration and production (E&P) company—a very large one—with a good deal of drilling in the Marcellus Shale. Third quarter revenues were $3.33 billion for the company, up 4.2% on the year.

In their operations update (MDN has extracted the Marcellus/Utica Shale portion below), Anadarko reports they’ve lowered drilling costs by $1.5 million per well since 2011. It now costs them an average $2.3 million to drill a Marcellus Shale well. They also report encouraging results in targeting the shallower Geneseo Shale with plans for drilling the Geneseo in 2013.

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Antero Resources | Doddridge County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia

MarkWest Opens Sherwood I Wet Gas Processing Facility in WV
October 31, 2012October 31, 2012

MarkWest, a huge midstream (pipeline & processing facilities) company and Antero Resources, a Marcellus Shale driller, inked a deal in May 2012 for MarkWest to gather and process Antero’s wet gas, or natural gas liquids in West Virginia (see this MDN story).

MarkWest announced today the first phase of that deal is now online with the commencement of operations at the Sherwood I facility in Doddridge County, WV. The Sherwood I facility has the capacity to process 200 million cubic feet per day of wet gas. MarkWest is building Sherwood II now, which would add an additional 200 Mmcf/d of capacity. Eventually a third Sherwood facility may be built for a total capacity of 600 Mmcf/d.

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Energy Companies | Talisman Energy

Talisman Energy’s Big 3Q12 Loss, Treads Water in Marcellus
October 31, 2012October 31, 2012

There’s no way to sugarcoat the dreadful third quarter results Talisman Energy reported yesterday—and they don’t try. The Canadian company, one of the larger drillers in the Marcellus Shale, announced a $731-million loss for the third quarter yesterday, which included $443-million of charges tied to exiting from Peru and setbacks with their operations in Norway and Quebec. Talisman’s stock dropped nearly 5% on the news.

The new president & CEO, Hal Kvisle, gave a sobering and frank review of the company and charted out four key priorities moving forward. One of those priorities is where they will focus their operations in the months and years ahead.

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Energy Companies | EXCO Resources

EXCO Resources Posts 3Q12 Loss, Marcellus Production Up
October 30, 2012October 30, 2012

EXCO Resources released their third quarter financials and operational update yesterday. The company lost $346 million ($1.62 per share) in 3Q12, mostly because of an accounting “write-down” on the value of some of their oil and gas properties.

With most of their Marcellus drilling activity concentrated in Lycoming County, PA, EXCO reports year-over-year production for their Marcellus operation increased 35% from 3Q11. EXCO currently operates one drilling rig in the Marcellus and says although they previously committed to drill 49 wells this year, they “continue to evaluate” their 2012 drilling program. Translation: Don’t count on a full 49 wells being drilled this year.

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Commodity Price | Energy Companies | Equinor/Statoil | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Statoil Starts Shipping NatGas to Canada, Plans NYC Pipeline
October 30, 2012October 30, 2012

In a bid to get more money for its natural gas, Statoil, a Norwegian company with major operations in the Marcellus Shale, said late last week they will start shipping gas to Canada effective Nov. 1. They also plan to build a new natural gas pipeline to Manhattan, NY.

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BP | Chevron | ConocoPhillips | Energy Companies | Equinor/Statoil | Exxon Mobil | Shell | Total

Top 10 Energy Companies & Top 10 Drillers Worldwide
October 29, 2012October 29, 2012

Each year Platts publishes a list of the top 250 energy companies in the world. They evaluate companies using four metrics: asset value, revenue, profit, and return on invested capital. It probably won’t surprise you to find out that 7 of the top 10 energy companies in the world have a presence in the Marcellus or Utica Shale.

Here’s the Platts list of the top 10 energy companies in the world for 2012:

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Chesapeake Energy | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Processing Plants

Plans to Use Natural Gas to Create $2/Gal Diesel Fuel
October 29, 2012October 29, 2012

A Bloomberg article highlights technology with roots all the way to Nazi Germany will soon be used to convert natural gas into natural gas liquids and into hydrocarbon products including low-price diesel fuel, gasoline and jet fuel.

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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation | Taxation | Washington County

PA Rep. Jesse White Contacts MDN to Set Record Straight
October 26, 2012October 26, 2012

Yesterday MDN brought you the story of Cecil Township in Washington County, PA and how Range Resources indicated, according to the town, that they could influence the town resident who has brought a complaint against the town which is keeping the town from receiving $246,000 in impact fee revenue to drop his complaint in return for a private meeting between the town and Range (see this MDN story).

MDN quoted PA State Rep. Jesse White as part of that story. Rep. White said such an overture by Range is “extortion, plain and simple.” As part of that story, MDN referred to Rep. White as anti-drilling. He contacted us to set the record straight on that score. We always like to be accurate! So we’re happy to convey what Rep. White said.

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Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Seneca Resources

Seneca Boasts First 100% LNG-Powered Drill Rig in Marcellus
October 26, 2012October 26, 2012

EQT was the first driller in the Marcellus Shale to convert a drilling rig to run on electricity produced by LNG, or “liquefied natural gas” (see this MDN story). CONSOL has also been experimenting with converting some of their rigs to use LNG too (see this MDN story). You may now add a third driller to the list: Seneca Resources. Seneca is the gas drilling arm of National Fuel Gas Company.

Yesterday, Seneca announced they are converting two of their rigs to run on LNG. But unlike EQT and CONSOL which mix LNG with diesel fuel in a blend, Seneca is using 100% LNG to power their rigs—a first for drilling rigs in the Marcellus Shale. Seneca says they’ve already converted one rig that’s now in operation, a second rig will be finished in November, and a third rig is coming later this year. Seneca also says someday they’d like to use the gas coming out of the ground to power the rig that’s drilling it. Cool.

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Energy Companies | Noble Energy

Noble Energy 3Q12 Update: Marcellus Production Up 38%
October 26, 2012October 26, 2012

Earnings reports for the third quarter continue to roll out. Yesterday, Noble Energy provided their 3Q12 update. Noble is a large company with operations in a number of countries. Here in the U.S., Noble is actively drilling in the Marcellus Shale in West Virginia. They also have a joint venture in the Marcellus in Pennsylvania. Noble reports their Marcellus production grew to 102 million cubic feet per day in the third quarter, an increase of 38% over last quarter. They also report their first two wet gas wells have started to produce natural gas liquids and are doing better than expected.

Here’s the relevant portion of the Noble announcement that focuses on the Marcellus:

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Energy Companies | Range Resources Corp

Range Resources 3Q12: 24 New Wells in ‘Super-Rich’ Marcellus
October 25, 2012October 25, 2012

Range Resources posted its financial and operating update for the third quarter of 2012 yesterday. MDN has pulled out the operational report for the Marcellus Shale and includes it below. Of particular interest in the Range update are two items: 1) Range’s continued focus on what they call their “super-rich” area of the Marcellus—an area they define as having wet gas present with 1,350 Btus or higher; 2) Range had a “significant step-out well” in the super-rich area that tested at 1,044 barrels per day of natural gas liquids.

MDN has also included (below) a copy of a map Range published as part of a presentation earlier this year outlining where the super-rich area for them is located.

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Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation | Washington County

PA State Rep. White Accuses Range Resources of Extortion
October 25, 2012October 25, 2012

Pennsylvania State Rep. Jesse White (D) from Cecil, PA (Washington County) is a well-known and devoted anti-driller. He’s accusing Range Resources of attempted extortion of the Town of Cecil. Here’s the background:

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Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Ohio | Statewide OH | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Magnum Hunter Buys Virco for $106.7M with 51,500 Net Acres
October 25, 2012October 25, 2012

Magnum Hunter announced this morning they’ve purchased 100% of privately-held Viking International Resources, Inc. (“Virco”) for $106.7 million using a stock swap and cash. The deal means Magnum Hunter will get an additional 51,500 net acres in the Marcellus and Utica Shale in West Virginia and Ohio, pushing their total acreage to something just over 166,000 acres throughout the Appalachian region. Management already has it’s eye on the new acreage and has identified 74 new drilling locations in the Marcellus and 31 new locations in the Utica Shale.

Details on the transaction and what it means:

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CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies

CONSOL 3Q12 Update: $11M Loss, Spent $438M on New Projects
October 25, 2012October 25, 2012

CONSOL Energy released third quarter results today and it’s not pretty for the energy giant (a loss of $11 million) because of their historical dependence on coal as their main source of revenue. CONSOL continues to diversify, namely by expanding into shale gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale. But coals gradual decline is having an impact on the company.

Although these quarterly earnings reports tend to cause glazing over of the eyes, every now and again you pick up a juicy tidbit, like MDN did with this report. Among the language is a brief reference to how much it costs CONSOL to produce natural gas per thousand cubic feet. How much is it costing CONSOL?

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