Cabot O&G (Now Coterra Energy) Settles Lawsuit for Securities Fraud
In October 2020, a law firm filed a lawsuit on behalf of several Cabot Oil & Gas shareholders against Cabot (now Coterra Energy), claiming the company “had inadequate environmental controls and procedures and/or failed to properly mitigate known issues related to those controls and procedures,” and that the company “failed to fix faulty gas wells which polluted Pennsylvania’s water supplies through stray gas migration” (see Second Lawsuit Filed Against Cabot Claiming Securities Fraud). The lawsuit alleged that the company, in general and via its CEO (Dan Dinges), CFO (Scott Schroeder), and VP/Regional Manager (Phil Stalnaker), hid all of this from the public — namely from investors. Court documents filed this week show that following court-ordered mediation earlier this year, the two sides settled the case three-and-a-half years later.
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EOG Resources, one of the largest oil and gas drillers in the U.S. (with international operations in Trinidad and China), owns a huge 430,000+ 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 first quarter 2024 update, Keith Trasko, Senior VP for Exploration and Production at EOG, said Utica wells “compete with the best plays in America, very comparable to the Permian on a production per foot basis.” Wow! High praise indeed. The Utica is the new Permian…we like the sound of that!
Southwestern Energy, with major assets in the Marcellus/Utica and Louisiana Haynesville, issued its first 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 
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 first quarter 2024 update on Friday. The company turned in respectable financial numbers, making a profit of $352 million in 1Q24, albeit down 48% from the $677 million it made in 1Q23. The company produced 2.31 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) in the PA Marcellus during 1Q24, up 8% from 2.13 Bcf/d in 1Q23. However, the money it received for its natgas production dropped like a rock. The average sale price for its gas in 1Q24 was $2.20/Mcf, down 41% from $3.71/Mcf in 1Q23. No wonder the company has pivoted to spend more time and money on oil drilling rather than gas drilling.
Last Thursday, MDN brought you the news that Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost asked a Belmont County judge to find Austin Master Services (AMS) and Brad D. Domitrovitsch, who is in control of the company (both CEO and CFO), in contempt for “failing to meet the court’s deadline to clean up the illegal levels of fracking waste stored at its recycling facility in Martins Ferry” (see 
Two weeks ago, during the week of April 15 – 21, there were 16 new permits issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica. Last week, for the week of April 22 – 28, there were 26 new permits issued. Finally! A little good news on the permit front. Snyder Brothers took the top prize with eight new permits issued, all of them for a single well pad in Armstrong County, PA. Chesapeake Energy scored five new permits, all of them for a single pad in Bradford County, PA. EQT Corporation (using its Rice Drilling subsidiary) received four permits in Greene County, PA. Encino Energy also received four permits, all for one pad in Harrison County, OH. Antero Resources received three permits in Wetzel County, WV, and Southwestern Energy received two permits in Brooke County, WV.
Gulfport Energy, the third-largest driller in the Ohio Utica Shale (by the number of wells drilled), reported its first 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 1Q24 averaged 1,053.7 MMcfe/d, down just a shade from 1Q23’s average of 1,057.4 MMcfe/d. Production in 1Q consisted of 831.3 MMcfe/d in the Utica/Marcellus (79%) and 222.4 MMcfe/d in the SCOOP (21%). The production mix was comprised of approximately 92% natural gas, 6% natural gas liquids (NGLs), and 2% oil and condensate.
Antero Midstream, a separate company from Antero Resources (at least on paper, although it is managed by the same people), issued a press release yesterday to announce it had purchased a bolt-on acquisition of gathering and compression assets in the Marcellus Shale for $70 million from Summit Midstream Partners. The assets acquired include two compressor stations and 48 miles of high-pressure gas-gathering pipelines located in West Virginia.
Chesapeake Energy issued its first quarter 2024 update yesterday. The ongoing low price of natural gas and Chesapeake’s previously announced curtailment of ~25% of its production caused the company to miss Wall Street estimates (of $87 million) for first-quarter profit. Chessy made $26 million in net income during 1Q24 versus making $1.4 billion in 1Q23. Ouch. Chesapeake’s net production in the first quarter was approximately 3.20 Bcfe/d (100% natural gas), utilizing an average of nine rigs to drill 28 wells and place 29 wells on production while building an inventory of 24 drilled but uncompleted (DUCs) wells and 22 deferred turn in lines (TILs).
Encino Energy published its annual Community Progress Report for 2023 yesterday. The report provides insight into the company’s achievements through its Community Partnership Program and highlights its investments in the communities in which it operates. In five years of active operations in Ohio, Encino has donated more than $2 million to 145 community groups and organizations in the state. In addition, Encino employees have donated more than 2,000 hours of time to volunteer. Recipients include first responders at fire and police departments, seniors groups, 4H, hospitals, and many more.
Last week, CNX Resources issued its first quarter 2024 update. The company’s earnings totaled a paltry $6.8 million, or just $0.04 per share in 1Q24. That compares with $710 million, or $4.22 per share, in last year’s first quarter (down 99%). CNX’s revenue for 1Q24 fell 39% to $384.6 million from $1.28 billion last year. Production was 140.4 Bcfe (billion cubic feet equivalent) in 1Q24 — which works out to 1.54 Bcfe/d — up from 135.9 Bcfe last year (up 3%). The company announced it had delayed completion activities on three Marcellus Shale pads consisting of 11 wells “due to the challenging near term gas market conditions.” By delaying, the company will produce roughly 30 Bcfe less this year for a new target of 540 to 560 Bcfe.
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 first quarter 2024 update last week. The company reports net production averaged 3.4 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d) during 1Q24, an increase of 5% year-over-year. Of the company’s 2024 production, liquids (NGLs) averaged 202 thousand barrels per day (MBbl/d), an increase of 8% from 1Q23. Natural gas production averaged 2.2 Bcf/d, up 4% from 1Q23. The company made $36 million in 1Q24 versus a profit of $213 million in 1Q23 — down a big 83% year over year.