Energy Companies

Accidents | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Dimock Residents Petition EPA to Stop Their Investigation
February 1, 2012February 1, 2012

A group of residents from the Dimock, Pennsylvania area have formed a group called “Enough is Enough” to combat the negative image being painted of their quaint, rural town in the Endless Mountains region of northeast PA. A steady drumbeat of negative press over the past three years, instigated by anti-drilling organizations, has created an image of Dimock as a chemical wasteland a la “Love Canal” (the Niagara Falls neighborhood that became famous in the 1970s because of widespread underground chemical contamination) in the minds of those who have never visited the area.

Dimock residents want to dispel that image.

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CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Marshall County | Monroe County | Noble Energy | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Range Resources Corp | Utica Shale | Washington County | West Virginia

MarkWest to Expand/Build NGL Plants on New Agreements
February 1, 2012February 1, 2012

MarkWest Energy Partners, a major midstream player in the Marcellus and Utica Shales, just announced major expansion plans that will add an additional 600 million cubic feet per day (mmcf/d) of natural gas processing capacity which includes natural gas liquids (NGLs). Most of the new capacity will come from expansion of its Majorsville, WV plant. The expansion is made possible by new long-term agreements MarkWest signed with CONSOL Energy, Noble Energy and Range Resources to process NGLs.

MarkWest also announced they will build two new processing plants in Ohio’s Utica Shale—in Harrison and Monroe counties.

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Commodity Price | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

Range’s Wet Gas Drilling Location & Dry Gas Drilling Timeline
January 31, 2012January 31, 2012

The talk coming from the largest drillers in the Marcellus Shale is that they will scale back drilling activities in the dry (methane only) portions of the Marcellus Shale play and instead focus on the wet (liquids-rich) portion.

Ever wonder where, exactly, the liquids-rich area can be found? We now know where it is for Range Resources, one of the largest drillers in Pennsylvania. We also have an estimate of how long drilling in the dry gas portion of the Marcellus may be pushed back for Range due to low prices for natural gas.

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Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Tyler County | West Virginia

Magnum Hunter Completes Four Marcellus Wells in WV Q411
January 31, 2012January 31, 2012

Magnum Hunter, a Houston, TX-based independent exploration and production company, issued an operational update for Q4 2011 yesterday. Following is the section reporting on their drilling operations in the Appalachian/Marcellus region:

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Dominion Exploration | Energy Companies | Exporting | Industrywide Issues

Dominion Expects to Receive Shale Gas Export Permit in 2012
January 30, 2012January 30, 2012

Last September, Dominion Resources filed an application with the Department of Energy (DOE) to begin exporting liquefied natural gas from its Cove Point terminal in Maryland—up to 1 billion cubic feet of gas per day (see this MDN story). Dominion Resources CEO Thomas Farrell said last Friday he believes the permit will be issued later this year.

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Accidents | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Cabot Letter to EPA: You Need to Rethink Dimock Decision
January 27, 2012January 27, 2012

Cabot Oil & Gas President & CEO Dan Dinges sent a letter yesterday to federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson about the EPA’s sudden change of plans concerning the situation in Dimock, PA (the full letter is embedded below). The upshot of the letter? You need to rethink your recent decision to interfere in Dimock.

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Energy Companies | EQT Corp

EQT Production Up 44% in 2011, Suspends Huron Shale Drilling
January 27, 2012January 27, 2012

Pittsburgh-based EQT Corp. released 2011 results yesterday. Because of the prolific gas volumes in the Marcellus Shale, EQT reports production for natural gas was up an astonishing 44 percent over 2010. Some 42 percent of EQT’s production is from the Marcellus, which was up 18.9 percent last year.

EQT reports drilling 222 gross wells in 2011, 105 of them in the Marcellus Shale and 115 in the Huron Shale. The Huron is located mostly in western West Virginia, with very small slices in Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia. Because of slumping prices for natural gas, EQT has announced they are suspending drilling in the Huron and instead will concentrate on the liquids-rich portion of the Marcellus.

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CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies

CONSOL Will Spend $130M Less on Marcellus Drilling in 2012
January 27, 2012January 27, 2012

CONSOL Energy, the coal and natural gas giant with drilling operations in the Marcellus and Utica Shales, released it’s fourth quarter results along with a year-in-review yesterday. Even though the price of natural gas steadily declined during 2011, CONSOL was able to pay off all of its short term debt and ended the year with a cash balance of $376 million. CONSOL spent $1.4 billion on capital projects in 2011 and paid out dividends to shareholders totaling $96 million. The company has increased its regular quarterly dividend by 25 percent. The annual dividend is now $0.50 per share.

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Accidents | Atlas Energy | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Westmoreland County

PA DEP Sides with Homeowner Against Atlas in Well Water Issue
January 26, 2012January 26, 2012

In 2008, a homeowner located near gas wells drilled in Westmoreland County, PA by Atlas Energy says his well water turned muddy immediately after drilling was done. At the time, Atlas told him to stop drinking the water and supplied him with a water buffalo, making fresh water deliveries ever since. That is, until two weeks ago when Atlas says that after re-testing the water is now safe to drink, so they ended the water deliveries. The homeowner disagrees and the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is siding with the homeowner in this case.

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Energy Companies | New York | Norse Energy | Statewide NY

Norse Energy Continues Selling Pieces of the Company
January 26, 2012January 26, 2012

Norse Energy, with leased acreage in both the Marcellus and Utica Shales in New York State, has been fighting to keep the company afloat until New York finally allows hydraulic fracturing and they can take advantage of their leaseholds. But to keep holding on, they’ve sold off bits and pieces of their leaseholds, as well as bits and pieces of the company. A few weeks ago they converted $3.5 million of bonds (or debt) into stock (or ownership) of the company (see this MDN story).

Yesterday, we learned they’ve sold off another $12.5 million of the company in another bonds for stock swap deal. And now they’re making the same offer to all of their bondholders: Let’s make a deal—soon.

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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Range Resources Corp

Enterprise Scores Second Commitment for New Ethane Pipeline
January 26, 2012January 26, 2012

Enterprise Products Partners have scored another customer, Range Resources, for their ethane pipeline that will connect the Marcellus and Utica Shales to the Gulf Coast. The 1,230 mile pipeline, dubbed the ATEX Express (Appalachia to Texas) will transport ethane from Washington County, PA to (at first) Cape Girardeau, MO—that’s new pipeline construction. And from Cape Girardeau, Enterprise will reverse an existing 16-inch diameter pipeline and place it into ethane service, going all the way to Mont Belvieu, TX.

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Broome County | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | New York | Talisman Energy

Broome County, NY Landowners Get Big Payment from Talisman
January 25, 2012January 25, 2012

New York landowners in Broome County will receive millions in lease payments this month from Talisman Energy—$5000 per acre (they’ve already received $500 per acre). The landowners belong to the Friendsville Group, a landowner coalition that signed a deal with Talisman in 2009. Most of the Friendsville Group members are landowners just over the border in Pennsylvania, who already received their full $5,500 per acre payments two years ago. The New York members had to wait—either until permits were granted, or January 2012.

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Chesapeake Energy | Commodity Price | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues

NG Prices React to Chesapeake’s Announcement to Cut Production
January 24, 2012January 24, 2012

Yesterday, MDN told you about Chesapeake Energy’s major announcement that they will reduce capital spending on dry natural gas, or methane-only production, by 70 percent this year (see this MDN story). Chesapeake is also shutting down 9 percent of their domestic production, some 0.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, which represents 1.5 percent of the entire natural gas output in the U.S. The result is predictable—less supply and steady demand equals higher prices. And that’s just what happened:

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Energy Companies | Stone Energy

Stone Energy to Double Marcellus Gas Production in 2012
January 24, 2012January 24, 2012

Stone Energy Corporation yesterday announced its planned capital budget spending plan for 2012. Stone’s projected capital budget is $625 million for the year, of which it plans to spend 30 percent (or $187.5 million) on drilling in the Marcellus Shale.

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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies

Major Chesapeake Announcement: Shifting from Dry to Wet Gas
January 23, 2012January 23, 2012

Chesapeake Energy today made a major announcement about a change in their investment and drilling strategy for 2012: they will reduce drilling in “dry” natural gas areas by 50 percent for 2012—to 24 rigs by the end of June from the currently operated 47 rigs. Chesapeake operated 75 dry gas rigs in 2011, so the new level is a 67 percent reduction from last year. Chesapeake will also spend some 70 percent less of their capital budget on dry gas drilling in 2012, down to $0.9 billion (from $3.1 billion in 2011). It’s the lowest capital expenditure they’ve made on drilling in dry gas areas since 2005.

By the end of June, Chesapeake says they will be operating only 12 rigs in the dry gas areas of the Marcellus Shale.

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Accidents | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

EPA Starts Water Deliveries in Dimock, PA
January 23, 2012January 23, 2012

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is getting itself involved in the ongoing situation in Dimock, PA by delivering water to four households that were affected by methane migration (see MDN’s recent Weekly Update for our view on EPA sticking its nose in). After the EPA told these same families two months ago their water was safe, they reversed course and now say they want to run some water tests themselves, and in the meantime they’ll deliver water to four of eleven families who have refused the Pennsylvania DEP’s settlement of the matter.

The EPA promised water to these same families a few weeks ago and reneged within 24 hours. This time they kept their promise.

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