Energy Companies

Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy | Utica Shale

Gulfport Energy 2Q12 Update: First Utica Well Comes Online
August 8, 2012August 8, 2012

Gulfport Energy Corporation has released their second quarter earnings and operations update. Gulfport is a Utica Shale driller (among other basins across the U.S. and Canada). In the news for Gulfport for 2Q12: They drilled four new Utica Shale wells, three of which were completed and waiting to go online. Their first horizontal well in the Utica, drilled in February of this year, came online and at its peak was producing 17.1 million cubic feet of gas per day (Mmcf/d), along with 432 barrels of condensate per day and 1,881 barrels of natural gas liquids per day.

The relevant sections of the update dealing with Utica Shale operations:

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Energy Companies | Gastar Exploration | Marshall County | West Virginia

Gastar 2Q12 Update: Production Up 87% Mostly from WV Marcellus
August 8, 2012August 8, 2012

Gastar Exploration released their second quarter earnings and operations update yesterday. They report production increased 87% from second quarter 2011—to 34.8 MMcfe per day. Most of the increase comes from drilling in the Marcellus Shale in Marshall County, WV. Gastar says it would have been even better were it not for problems with processing capacity and pipeline issues.

Here are the relevant sections from the Gastar update dealing with the Marcellus Shale:

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Energy Companies | Epsilon Energy

Epsilon Energy 2Q12 Update: Scaling Back in the Marcellus
August 8, 2012August 8, 2012

Canadian independent driller Epsilon Energy has released its 2Q12 update. Epsilon focuses on the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale, the Bakken Shale and Midale Dolomite in Saskatchewan, and the Brown Dense Limestone in Mississippi. Epsilon significantly scaled back its drilling activity in the Marcellus during the second quarter because of low natural gas prices. Instead, they are concentrating on oil drilling in the Bakken Shale region of Canada.

Epsilon also owns a 35% interest in the Auburn gas gathering system, located in the PA Marcellus. Relevant sections of the update pertaining to the Marcellus:

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Access Midstream Partners | Energy Companies | Energy Services

Access Midstream 2Q12 Update: Pipeline Throughput up 33.5%
August 8, 2012August 8, 2012

The quarterly reports keep coming in. This one is from Access Midstream Partners, the newly named and former Chesapeake Midstream Partners. Access is a large pipeline company with major operations in the Marcellus Shale. The Marcellus, in fact, is largely responsible for an increase of 33.5% in throughput, or the amount of gas handled each day, by Access for the second quarter (over the second quarter of last year). Access reports hooking up 179 new wells to its gathering systems in 2Q12.

Here is the quarterly update press release:

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Energy Companies | Range Resources Corp

Podcast: Robert Mangino Talks with Range’s Matt Pitzarella
August 8, 2012August 8, 2012

Pittsburgh KDKA 1020 Radio’s Robert Mangino talks with Matt Pitzarella of Range Resources and Gene Barr, president of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry. Robert Mangino hosts a Marcellus Shale hour on his radio talk show each Tuesday at 7 pm.

Listen to the latest show below:

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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies

Chesapeake Energy 2Q12 Update: 3.1M Acres in Marcellus/Utica
August 7, 2012August 7, 2012

Chesapeake Energy, the second largest producer of natural gas in the U.S., released its second quarter earnings and operational update yesterday. Because of recent sales of their midstream division and other asset sales, second quarter profits for the company went up—rather dramatically. They reported a profit of $972 million, or $1.29 a share, up from $510 million a year earlier. That includes $584 million in an after-tax gain from the recent sale of Chesapeake Midstream Partners and $490 million in gains related to hedging. If you exclude the asset sales, adjusted earnings were $3 million, or 6 cents a share. Revenue increased 2.1% to $3.39 billion.

Chesapeake reports their lease holdings in the Utica Shale are now 1.3 million acres—the largest position of any driller. As of June 30, they’ve drilled 87 wells in the Utica. Chesapeake is also the largest lease holder in the Marcellus, with a whopping 1.8 million acres. They currently have 10 rigs operating in the “dry gas” portion of the Marcellus.

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About MDN | Chesapeake Energy | Encana Energy | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

MDN is Called Out by the Huffington Post [Free Access]
August 3, 2012August 3, 2012

Hey, it’s not every day you get prominently mentioned in a Huffington Post article, so we thought we would bring it to your attention: A ‘War on Shale Gas’?

MDN editor Jim Willis has long admired the HuffPo and its founder Arianna Huffington. Certainly not for her (or its) political positions! But because Arianna had the moxie to pioneer a new form of media at a time when it was not easy to do so. We love free speech, we love a plucky attitude, and we love that the HuffPo has kicked the venerable New York Times’ derriere. The HuffPo passed the NYT in both traffic and revenue (for their web properties) a long time ago.

So when a contributor to the HuffPo takes a shot at MDN, you may find it weird or unusual that MDN would respond with accolades for the HuffPo. You shouldn’t. We just keep it honest and if you read this blog for any amount of time you already know that.

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Energy Companies | Halcon Resources | Lease & Royalty Payments | Mahoning County | NCL Appalachian Partners | Ohio | Trumbull County

Halcon Resources Pays $194M for Old Leases in Trumbull County, OH
August 3, 2012August 3, 2012

Bombshell: Halcon Resources Corp. is paying NCL Appalachian Partners $194 million (over $6,000 per acre) to take over land leases for drilling on 31,000 acres mostly in Trumbull County, OH (and about 3,000 acres in Mahoning County, OH). This is not money going to landowners but to the leaseholder, NCL. And it’s for old leases dating back to the 1960s.

By comparison, mass transfer of lease deals done by Chesapeake and others have been in the $1,000-$2,000 per acre range. But there is a difference: the lower-priced deals include a one or two percent royalty on anything produced going to the original leaseholder. Again, this is not landowner royalties, but leaseholder. It’s hard to follow the bouncing ball on this story.

The leases purchased by Halcon are not without potential problems (for Halcon) and opportunities (for landowners):

Read More “Halcon Resources Pays $194M for Old Leases in Trumbull County, OH”
Energy Companies | Southwestern Energy

Southwestern Energy 2Q12 Update IDs Cost to Produce Shale Gas
August 3, 2012August 3, 2012

Southwestern Energy released its second quarter earnings and operations update yesterday. The company lost $488 million dollars largely because of the low cost of natural gas. Interestingly, they report that their “all-in cash operating costs” for drilling shale gas wells averages $1.20 per 1,000 cubic feet equivalent (or Mcfe). One Mcfe is equivalent to one MMBtu, or “one million Btus”—the unit of measurement used to sell natural gas. The going price for natural gas on the NYMEX as of this morning is $2.90 MMBtu (or $2.90 Mcfe). Theoretically, Southwestern produces the gas for $1.20 per unit, and can sell it for $2.90 per unit (leaving hedging out of the equation). A bit simplistic, but useful nonetheless.

We learn from the update that so far Southwestern has drilled 120 wells in the Marcellus, 41 of which are currently producing. The holdup on many of the ones not producing? Lack of gathering pipelines—a recurring theme in a number of company quarterly updates for 2Q12.

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

AP Questions OH Gov’s Mathematical Skills on Utica Shale
August 3, 2012August 3, 2012

Ohio Gov. John Kasich has stated that an energy company executive told him (in 2010) that they would eventually recover $1 trillion worth of oil and gas from Ohio’s Utica Shale. Kasich has repeated that remark many times since then—using it as a justification for his plan to increase severance taxes in the state to spread some of that wealth around to all Ohioans.

The Associated Press takes aim at the $1 trillion claim (and at Kasich) with a new story saying Kasich and the unnamed energy exec are way off base:

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Energy Companies | Gordy Oil | Monroe County | West Virginia

Gordy Oil Abandons Monroe County, WV (For Now)
August 3, 2012August 3, 2012

Over a year ago, MDN pointed out a unique spirit of cooperation and partnership between Monroe County, WV and driller Gordy Oil (see this MDN story). It is the story of a driller being responsive to local concerns about a special underground geologic formation called a karst, a system of underground system of caves and streams. Local residents were concerned drilling may foul the water table in the area, and Gordy spent time listening and making adjustments to their plans.

Unfortunately, the opposition has continued, and Gordy Oil is now nowhere to be found in Monroe County. Is it because of the low price of oil? Or because of the drumbeat of opposition?

Read More “Gordy Oil Abandons Monroe County, WV (For Now)”
Beaver County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell | Statewide PA

PA Gov. Corbett Goes to Beaver County to Talk Cracker Plants
August 3, 2012August 3, 2012

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett went to Monaca in Beaver County, PA yesterday to talk about a planned ethane cracker plant that Shell says it wants to build there. He was joined by a number of officials—bipartisan in makeup. Corbett’s message? “We’re not there yet.” He said that although a great deal has been done, more will need to be done before Shell pulls the trigger and builds the plant.

The press release from the governor’s office talking about his trip to Monaca:

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Alcoa | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania General Energy | Statewide PA

Alcoa Enters Marcellus Drilling – Supplies Drill Pipe to PGE
August 3, 2012August 3, 2012

Alcoa (once upon a time known as the Aluminum Company of America), the world’s third largest producer of aluminum, is getting into the shale drilling industry by producing special pipe for gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale. Yesterday Alcoa announced a contract to provide driller Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE) with aluminum alloy drill pipe.

From the Aloca press release:

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Energy Companies | WPX Energy

WPX Energy 2Q12 Results – Marcellus Production Up 21%
August 2, 2012August 2, 2012

WPX Energy, the former upstream drilling arm of Williams spun out into its own company last year, has just reported their second quarter financial and operating results. WPX reports second quarter gas production from the Marcellus Shale is up 21% from the first quarter and continues to rise, although many of their drilled wells in the Marcellus are currently not producing because they’re waiting to be hooked up to pipelines.

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Energy Companies | PDC Mountaineer

PDC Energy 2Q12 Results – Drilling in Marcellus & Utica
August 2, 2012August 2, 2012

Drilling company PDC Energy has released its second quarter operating and financial results. The company reports completing three wells in the Marcellus in West Virginia during the first half of this year, as well as two Utica Shale wells in Ohio. They are now drilling their first Guernsey County, OH Utica well.

Read More “PDC Energy 2Q12 Results – Drilling in Marcellus & Utica”
Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Lenape Resources | Litigation | Livingston County | New York | Regulation

NY Driller Threatens DEC with Lawsuit over Town Bans
August 1, 2012August 1, 2012

In the misguided attempt to ban hydraulic fracturing in New York, one town took their ban vote too far. MDN reported about the bone-headed vote by the Town of Avon (Livingston County, NY) on June 28 to ban drilling activity in the town with a broadly worded zoning ordinance (see this MDN story).

A local driller with wells in Avon, Lenape Resources, warned Avon that the broad language they intended to use in their zoning ordinance would cause Lenape to shut down 16 existing conventional (vertical-only) gas wells they operate in the town along with a gas pipeline. Avon town board members didn’t listen and passed the new ordinance. Lenape president John Holko promptly shut down all of his wells in the town, ending free gas for some local residents, and low cost gas for the town itself. A really dumb move on the part of Avon.

There is a new development in this ongoing situation.

Read More “NY Driller Threatens DEC with Lawsuit over Town Bans”