ECA Marcellus Trust I Gives Investors NO Dividend for 2Q24
ECA Marcellus Trust I, the royalty interest holder in some of the wells drilled and maintained by Greylock Energy in Greene County, PA, announced yesterday that it will not issue a dividend to unitholders for the second quarter of 2024. The company paid 4.3 cents per unit in 1Q23, nothing in 2Q23, six-tenths of a penny ($0.006) in 3Q23, 3.0 cents in 4Q23, and most recently, 2.1 cents per unit for 1Q24. The company continues to hold back some profits ($90,000 in 2Q24) to build a cash reserve for “future known, anticipated or contingent expenses or liabilities.” Read More “ECA Marcellus Trust I Gives Investors NO Dividend for 2Q24”
The Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) continues to do its job. Yesterday, the group held a meeting and awarded five contracts for drilling and fracking UNDER (not on) several state-owned lands, including a contract with EOG Resources to drill under 85 acres in Keen Wildlife Area in Washington Township, Harrison County, for $211,650 ($2,500/acre). Also of interest at yesterday’s meeting was that 40 parcels of land in Salt Fork State Park and Salt Fork Wildlife Area were removed from the committee’s agenda. Apparently, the nominating company withdrew its application for those tracts.
Sometimes, we are at a loss to explain the actions of “our side” (the fossil fuel industry). This is one of those times. Penn State University, in recent years, has become hostile to fossil energy and the shale fracking that pervades (and blesses) the state. Yet petrochemical giant Shell, with its $15 billion ethane cracker in Beaver County, PA, is donating $1 million to Penn State to fund (and we quote): “initiatives focused on energy transition, decarbonization, polymer recycling and biodiversity, and the creation of an inclusive and innovative energy workforce.” Translating the gobbledygook: It’s $1 million to fund a way to put Shell and other fossil energy companies out of business. We have to ask, Why would Shell do this?
The mighty Shell ethane cracker plant in Monaca (Beaver County), PA, has a new person in charge: Emma Lewis, senior vice president of U.S. chemicals and products at Shell. We told you Lewis had replaced Hilary Mercer back in January (see 
A Washington County, PA, man and his anti-fossil fuel lawyer have won the right to force Chevron executives to testify in court in a case where the man accuses Chevron of using PFAS (“forever chemicals”) in fracking fluids in 2011-2012 near his home. He alleges the chemicals spread to his water well and damaged his health and the health of family members who drank and used the “contaminated” water.
Ascent Resources, founded as American Energy Partners by gas legend Aubrey McClendon, is a privately held company focusing 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. Ascent, headquartered in Oklahoma City, OK, is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer and the 8th largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The company issued its second quarter 2024 update on Wednesday. The company posted a 5% increase in net production to 2,190 MMcfe/d (2.19 Bcfe/d) compared to a year ago. Ascent is pivoting to produce more liquids, including oil and NGLs — although the emphasis is on producing more NGLs.
Here’s a court case that flew under the radar until now. It’s a case that has the potential to affect some drillers and some royalty owners in Ohio. Sabre Energy Corporation (the plaintiff) sued Gulfport Energy Corporation and Antero Resources Corporation (the defendants) for breach of contract. Sabre Energy owns Overriding Royalty Interests (ORRIs), or fractional shares, in defendants’ shares of royalties from their oil and gas leases. Sabre Energy contends that these ORRIs attach to defendants’ recently drilled deep horizontal wells, and so the defendants owe it royalties.
National Fuel Gas Company (NFG), headquartered in Buffalo, NY, is the parent company for Marcellus/Utica driller Seneca Resources and the parent of midstream company NFG Midstream (and subsidiary Empire Pipeline). Last week, NFG issued its latest quarterly update. During the quarter (considered the company’s third quarter), Seneca produced 96.5 Bcf (billion cubic feet) of natural gas, an increase of 2% from the prior year. Due to the sucky prices for natural gas, Seneca curtailed (shut-in) 5.6 Bcf during the quarter. Among the tidbits we picked up on is that NFG is about to officially file an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a new project.
Gulfport Energy, the third-largest driller in the Ohio Utica Shale (by the number of wells drilled), reported its second quarter 2024 numbers earlier this week. The company drills Utica and Marcellus wells in Ohio. It also has an active drilling program in the Oklahoma SCOOP shale play. Gulfport’s net daily production for 2Q24 averaged 1,050.1 MMcfe/d, up from 2Q23’s average of 1,039.3 MMcfe/d. Production in 2Q consisted of 836.9 MMcfe/d in the Utica/Marcellus (80%) and 213.2 MMcfe/d in the SCOOP (20%). The production mix was comprised of approximately 92% natural gas, 6% natural gas liquids (NGLs), and 2% oil and condensate. Gulfport brass talked up the Marcellus during a conference call with analysts.
Writing for Hart Energy’s Oil and Gas Investor magazine, author Nissa Darbonne penned a fabulous overview of the Utica, bringing us the history of oil drilling in Ohio (in the 1800s) all the way up to the present day and Encino Energy’s dominance in oil drilling in the Utica. The article includes details about Encino and other companies, including Infinity Natural Resources and EOG Resources. Yesterday, we brought you the story of oil giant EOG joining the Utica party (see 
In April, the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission upheld a regulatory order from the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) suspending operations of three wastewater injection wells located in Torch (Athens County), OH, owned by K&H Partners, a subsidiary of Tallgrass Energy (see 
In June 2018, MDN exclusively brought our readers the news that Diversified Gas & Oil (now called Diversified Energy) had purchased EQT Corporation’s Huron Shale assets, with a bunch of conventional wells, in Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia for $575 million (see 
Writing for Hart Energy’s Oil and Gas Investor magazine, author Nissa Darbonne penned a fabulous overview of the Utica, bringing us the history of oil drilling in Ohio (in the 1800s) all the way up to the present day and Encino Energy’s dominance in oil drilling in the Utica. The article includes details about Encino and other companies, including Infinity Natural Resources and EOG Resources. Yesterday, we brought you the secrets of the fracking recipe in the Utica used by Encino and INR (see 
EOG Resources, one of the largest oil and gas drillers in the U.S. (with international operations in Trinidad and China), owns nearly a half million acres of leases in the Ohio Utica. EOG calls its position the “Ohio Utica combo play” and now considers it one of the company’s “premium plays.” EOG concentrates on oil drilling in the Utica. As part of the company’s second quarter 2024 update, Jeff Leitzell, EOG’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) said the company added another 10,000 acres of leases to its Utica portfolio during 2Q (now at 445,000 acres). He also said the company is currently focusing on 225,000 acres that are in the “volatile oil window” of the Utica.