Energy Companies

Antero Resources | Ashland County | Carroll County | Chesapeake Energy | Devon Energy | HG Energy | Medina County | Monroe County | Noble County | Ohio | Portage County | Stark County | Utica Shale

Flip Side: Some OH Utica Shale Wells Get Plugged/Abandoned
January 2, 2013January 2, 2013

When it comes to drilling in the Ohio Utica Shale, a lot of attention has been focused on the ramp up in activity—the growing number of drilling rigs, huge land lease deals, and eye-popping initial production results for some of the wells drilled. But there is another side to the story.

Every now and again, a well does not produce. Could be the driller did not properly find the shale layer (extremely rare). Could be they did find it but for whatever reason the layer doesn’t produce in that area. More likely there were problems during the drilling that caused the work to be stopped—like a broken-off drill bit. In Ohio, there have been nine Utica Shale wells that have been plugged and abandoned (so far). Here’s where they are located and who did the drilling:

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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Chesapeake Energy’s Huge Vote of Confidence in Ohio’s Utica Shale
January 2, 2013January 2, 2013

Chesapeake Energy is the largest driller (by far) in the Ohio Utica Shale—a situation not likely to change any time soon. Chesapeake is in love with Ohio’s Utica Shale.

Here’s a rundown of their drilling operations in the Ohio Utica, including how many wells drilled (to date), how much they’ve invested in the state, and their plans for 2013:

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Accidents | Chesapeake Energy | CNX Resources | Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | West Virginia

WV Landowner Sues 3 Companies for Methane Contamination of Water
January 2, 2013January 2, 2013

A landowner in Marshall County, West Virginia had previously sued Chesapeake Energy, claiming Chesapeake’s nearby drilling and fracking operations (from 2009/2010) caused methane to migrate and contaminate his water well. Chesapeake sampled the well and found the kind of methane in the well (the “fingerprint” for the methane) does not match the methane from their drilled natural gas well.

The story then gets complicated. It seems that CNX Gas, a division of CONSOL Energy, had previously drilled a number of shallow natural gas wells in the area, and that Columbia Gas, a division of NiSource, has an underground natural gas storage field adjacent to the landowner’s property. Oy vey. There’s no shortage of possibilities for how the methane may have gotten into his well, and so now everyone is now getting sued…

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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies

Probe into Chesapeake’s CEO Aubrey McClendon Nears End
December 31, 2012December 31, 2012

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the probe into the financial dealings of Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon, which started in April 2012 and was supposed to be wrapped up in “weeks not months” has still not concluded, but will do so by mid-January. When it does, don’t expect McClendon to step down as CEO…

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Energy Companies | Halcon Resources | Ohio | Trumbull County | Utica Shale

Trumbull County’s First Utica Shale Well Now in Process
December 31, 2012December 31, 2012

Although BP is the largest leaseholder for Utica Shale drilling in Trumbull County, OH with 84,000 acres under lease, Halcon Resources, which purchased 15,000 acres of leases from Carrizo Oil & Gas in October (see this MDN story), is the first to put drill bit to earth and is currently drilling the county’s very first horizontal Utica Shale well:

Read More “Trumbull County’s First Utica Shale Well Now in Process”
Antero Resources | Carroll County | Chesapeake Energy | Columbiana County | Eclipse Resources | Energy Companies | Guernsey County | Monroe County | Ohio | PDC Energy | Utica Shale

11 New Utica Shale Drilling Permits in OH, as of Dec 12
December 28, 2012December 28, 2012

The latest round of permits to drill new Utica Shale wells from the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) includes 11 new permits, 8 of which went to Chesapeake Energy.

Here’s the latest Ohio Utica permit report (with grand totals by county) as of Dec. 12:

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Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell | Statewide PA

Shell Ethane Cracker in PA Still Not a Done Deal
December 27, 2012December 27, 2012

As MDN has cautioned in previous stories, and as Shell themselves have said, the $2 billion ethane cracker plant planned for Monaca (Beaver County), PA is still not a done deal. Yes it’s looking good, yes PA passed the necessary tax incentives, but Shell is still studying the site for the proposed plant. Although Shell was supposed to purchase the land by the end of 2012, that now will not happen.

Like any real estate deal—until the money is in the bank and the deed in your hand, anything can happen…

Read More “Shell Ethane Cracker in PA Still Not a Done Deal”
Energy Companies | EV Energy Partners | Utica Shale

EV Energy Partners Utica Acreage Sale Delayed Until 2013
December 24, 2012December 24, 2012

Last week MDN told you to be on the lookout for a sale by EV Energy Partners (EVEP) of their Utica Shale acreage (see this MDN story). EVEP’s Executive Chairman, John Walker, said in November the company was looking to sell its interest in 100,000 operated acres by the end of 2012. Looks like that was a tad optimistic on Walker’s part…

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CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies

CONSOL Energy’s Executive Management Shake-up
December 21, 2012December 21, 2012

CONSOL Energy, headquartered in Pittsburgh, has been known as a coal company for generations. More recently, they’ve accumulated the fourth largest number of Marcellus Shale acres under lease and have a very active shale drilling program in both the Marcellus and the Utica Shale. So when CONSOL issues an “innocent” press release announcing three members of the executive management team are retiring, we notice.

MDN has no idea whether these announcements really mean anything beyond what they are: long-time employees retiring—although one of the three has only been with the company since 2005. Still, a big change (shake-up?) in upper management may spell a strategy change coming for the company. Here’s CONSOL’s press release from yesterday:

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Antero Resources | Chesapeake Energy | CNX Resources | Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy | Hilcorp Energy | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale | XTO

New Utica Permits for Hilcorp, Chesapeake, Others
December 21, 2012December 21, 2012

The latest permits issued last week by the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) for Utica Shale drilling include permits for Hilcorp, Chesapeake, Gulfport, XTO, CNX Gas and Antero.

Here’s the details on which counties and for how many wells:

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Chesapeake Energy | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Status Report on Chesapeake’s Utica Shale Drilling Program
December 21, 2012December 21, 2012

Chesapeake Energy is the second largest natural gas producer in the United States, behind ExxonMobil. If you’ve followed the shale gas drilling space for any length of time, you no doubt have heard about Chesapeake’s “problems” this past year. Their main problem is overextension: Leasing too much acreage without possessing enough money to drill on it. A further complication has been the low price of natural gas, meaning Chesapeake doesn’t make as much profit when they do drill. Too many bills to pay, not enough cash to pay them. The solution? Sell some of your assets.

Read More “Status Report on Chesapeake’s Utica Shale Drilling Program”
Anadarko | Chesapeake Energy | Chevron | Energy Companies | Energy Services | EnerVest | Exxon Mobil | Gulfport Energy | MarkWest Energy | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Motley Fool’s “Ubiquitous in the Utica”
December 21, 2012December 21, 2012

The Motley Fool investing website published a “round-up” type of article two days ago that focuses on the major players (drillers) in the Marcellus Shale (see this MDN story), part of a series that looks at major energy plays in the U.S. Yesterday they continued the series with an article that looks in detail at the Utica Shale.

The article starts off by listing the top 7 companies by the amount of acreage they lease. They are (from highest to lowest amount of acreage):

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Anadarko | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Talisman Energy | Taxation

PA PUC Rules Against Anadarko & Talisman on Impact Fee
December 21, 2012December 21, 2012

Contrary to the wishes of Anadarko Petroleum and Talisman Energy, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC), charged with collecting Act 13 impact fees from shale drilling in the state, ruled that setting conductor pipe does in fact trigger or require a company to pay an impact fee from that point forward. Anadarko and Talisman had argued it does not constitute spudding (or starting the drilling process) for a well. The impact fee is levied when a well is spud.

From the PUC announcement yesterday:

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Energy Companies | Natural Resource Partners

Natural Resource Partners Invests in Marcellus for Royalties
December 21, 2012December 21, 2012

Natural Resource Partners, a master limited partnership (MLP) company, announced yesterday they’ve invested $30.3 million to acquire royalty interest in 88,000 acres in the liquids-rich portion of the Marcellus Shale.

From the press announcement:

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Energy Companies | Stone Energy

Stone Energy 2013 Plans: Spend 33% of Budget on Marcellus
December 20, 2012December 20, 2012

Stone Energy, an independent driller, released its 2013 capital budget yesterday. Stone plans to spend $650 million in 2013, with a full one-third of that (33%) allocated to drilling in West Virginia’s Marcellus Shale. According to the announcement, Stone will use one horizontal drilling rig in the Marcellus next year to drill 26-32 new wells.

The Stone Energy announcement:

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Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

EQT Sells Gas Utility for $720M, Proceeds for Marcellus
December 20, 2012December 20, 2012

EQT Corporation announced today it’s selling its Equitable Gas Company (natural gas utility) to Peoples Natural Gas for $720 million in cash and “certain assets.” Those assets include picking up 200 miles of Marcellus Shale gas transmission pipelines in Pennsylvania as well as four storage pools. According to the press announcement, EQT plans to plow the proceeds back into more drilling and midstream operations in the Marcellus.

Today’s announcement from EQT:

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