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Anti Lawyer Will Get to Question Chevron Execs in Pa. PFAS Case
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.
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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.
Southwestern Energy, with major assets in the Marcellus/Utica and Louisiana Haynesville, issued its second quarter update last week. You may recall that Southwestern agreed earlier this year to a deal to be acquired by and merged into Chesapeake Energy (see 
Every major public “upstream” (exploration and production) company invests in finding and developing reserves — except one, which happens to be the largest owner of wells in the country. Diversified Energy (formerly Diversified Gas & Oil), with major assets in the Marcellus/Utica region (also assets in other regions, too), owns approximately 8 million acres of leases with 67,000 (mostly) conventional oil and gas wells. The company’s business model is to buy lower-producing wells on the cheap and find ways to make them more productive. The company doesn’t do any of its own drilling from scratch. It buys wells drilled long ago (or, in some cases, still under development).
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 details about the founding and current status of INR (see 
Coterra Energy, formed by the merger of Cabot Oil & Gas (drills for natural gas in the Marcellus) and Cimarex Energy (drills for oil in the Permian and Anadarko basins), issued its second quarter 2024 update on Friday. The company turned in respectable financial numbers, making a profit of $220 million in 2Q24, up 5% from the $209 million it made in 2Q23. Unfortunately, there was bad news for the Marcellus. The company has just trimmed another 325 MMcf/d of production across the Marcellus basin, and once the three pads it is actively drilling have concluded in October, no new drilling is planned.
Antero Resources, which is 100% focused on the Marcellus/Utica with over 500,000 net acres under lease (and the largest M-U driller in West Virginia), issued its second quarter 2024 update last week. The company reports net production averaged 3.4 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d) during 2Q24, an increase of 1% year-over-year (i.e., pretty much the same as last year). Of the company’s 2024 production, liquids (NGLs) averaged 212 thousand barrels per day (MBbl/d), an increase of 10% from 2Q23. Natural gas production averaged 2.1 Bcf/d, down 4% from 2Q23. The company lost $66 million in 2Q24 versus losing $83 million in 2Q23. The bleeding slowed, but the company is still bleeding.