S&P Global Market Intelligence has done some forensic analysis of permits issued to drill new shale wells in Pennsylvania during August 2020. They compared last month’s permit numbers with the numbers from a year ago and found that PA issued 77 new permits last month, down 24% from August 2019.
Read More “PA Shale Drilling Permits Down 24% in August, but EQT Roars Back”
In 2010 gigantic Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp. bought a 30% stake (joint venture) in Rex Energy’s Marcellus drilling operation in Bulter County, PA for $150.7 million. Sumitomo wrote down much of the value for that purchase in 2015. In 2018 Rex went bankrupt and now PennEnergy Resources owns and operates the Butler assets (see Rex Energy Sells Itself to PennEnergy Resources for $600M). PennEnergy is getting a new JV partner. Yesterday Sumitomo announced the sale of their 30% share of the action.
Read More “Sumitomo Corp Sells JV Stake in Butler County, PA Marcellus”
Companies in the Marcellus/Utica shale industry have stepped up and given money, and in some cases retooled manufacturing operations, in order to help communities, first responders and medical professionals respond to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Companies like ExxonMobil, Range Resources, Cabot Oil & Gas, EQT, Alta Resources, Chevron, Greylock Energy, Olympus Energy, Penn E&R, Southwestern Energy and others. We are gratified and proud of the industry where we hang our hat.
Read More “Marcellus Companies $tep Up to Help During COVID-19 Crisis”
EnCap Investments is a venture capital investor that funds independent companies in the U.S. oil and gas industry. EnCap has its fingers in a number of pies in the Marcellus/Utica. According to a Bloomberg article, EnCap plans to use a pile of $6 billion in cash it’s sitting on to drill new oil and natural gas wells this year. EnCap currently runs 23 drilling rigs at its various portfolio companies. Two of those companies drill in the Marcellus/Utica.
Read More “EnCap Keeps $6B Spigot Open to Fund New Shale Drilling”
A recently decided court case, while not precendential (doesn’t apply to anyone else other than the landowners/drillers in this case), is still instructive. This story begins when the Wilson family in Armstrong County, PA (western part of the state) leased three different tracts of land totaling 473 acres to Synder Brothers in 2003 for vertical drilling.
Read More “PA Superior Court Rules Landowner Can’t Nix Lease for Shut-ins”
Revolution Pipeline, built by Energy Transfer, runs through Bulter, Beaver, Allegheny and Washington counties in southwest PA. The 24-inch gathering pipeline shifted and exploded more than a year ago, in September 2018, just as it was entering service (see Revolution Pipeline Near Pittsburgh Explodes – Home & Barn Destroyed). The ongoing outage is credited with forcing EdgeMarc Energy into bankruptcy (see EdgeMarc Energy Files for Bankruptcy, Blames Revolution Pipe). The outage also negatively affects another driller/producer: PennEnergy Resources.
Read More “PennEnergy Sues Energy Transfer re Revolution Pipeline Explosion”
Here is what we believe to be an exclusive: In June, PennEnergy Resources sold/transferred four well pads (with multiple wells) located in Butler and Lawrence counties in western PA to Geopetro LLC. We have the names of the well pads and proof of the transfer. We’ve not seen this news anywhere else.
Read More “PennEnergy Sells 4 Well Pads, Multiple Wells to GeoPetro in W PA”
It seems the door *does* swing both ways when it comes to Pennsylvania municipalities and the Act 13 lawsuit decision that allows municipalities to have a say in zoning in, or zoning out, shale drilling. In 2013 seven selfish PA towns won the right, from the PA Supreme Court, to impose their own zoning rules on oil and gas drilling (see PA Supreme Court Rules Against State/Drillers in Act 13 Case). Since that time, Big Green groups have asked the court to rule the door only swings one way–that zoning can keep shale drilling out, but never allow *more* of it. That notion has now been put to rest. The door swings both ways.
Read More “Dela. Riverkeeper Loses Court Case to Block Martian Drilling”
PennEnergy Resources, a Pittsburgh based independent oil and gas company focused on the Marcellus/Utica Shale, is getting ready to drill new wells on a pad in Economy (Beaver County), PA. The plan is facing stiff opposition from local residents because it’s located near a housing development in a residential (albeit rural) area, and will use a local road for access.
Read More “PennEnergy Resources Gets Ready to Drill in Economy, PA”
We caught a helpful update on PennEnergy Resources from a report on last week’s Hart Energy DUG East Conference in Pittsburgh. PennEnergy CEO Richard Weber told the DUG audience that his company is currently producing an average half a billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, with plans to increase that by 10% this year. One thing holding the company back is the ongoing outage of Energy Transfer’s Revolution Pipeline gathering system.
Read More “Pipeline Outage Causing Headache for PennEnergy in W PA”
The political “leaders” in Franklin Park (Allegheny County, near Pittsburgh) have decided to reject a proposal to drill a shale well under (not on) the 80-acre Linbrook Park. With a signing bonus of $283,500 plus 18% royalties, the Franklin Park Borough would have seen revenue of *at least* $1 million. Talk about stupid.
Read More “Franklin Park Turns Down $1M+ to Drill Under Linbrook Park”
The mystery is now solved. Last week we incorrectly (based on a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article) reported that FirstEnergy wants to drill a well under (not on) Linbrook Park, located in the Borough of Franklin Park in Allegheny County (see original story here). It’s not FirstEnergy but PennEnergy that wants to do the drilling.
Read More “Big Crowd Turns Out to Support/Oppose Drilling Under SWPA Park”
NOTE: This story and the headline have been updated to correct an earlier error from the source we used. It is not FirstEnergy but PennEnergy that is proposing to drill under the park.
We spotted a second story today about a new lease, in this case proposed lease terms, for land in southwestern Pennsylvania. This time the driller, PennEnergy, wants to drill under (not on) a town park that sits on the border of Allegheny and Beaver counties.
Read More “PennEnergy Offers $3.5K/Ac to Drill Under SWPA Town Park”
Rex Energy, one of our favorite small drillers, has finally found a buyer for its Marcellus/Utica assets. And it’s a good home. After scheduling and rescheduling a bankruptcy auction four times in a single week, Rex canceled the auction and said it has cut a deal with PennEnergy Resources to buy the company–for $600.5 million. You may recall that Rex, heading into bankruptcy in May, owed nearly $1 billion to several creditors (see Rex Energy Owes Nearly $1B – Who They Owe & How Much). If the deal is for $600.5 million, somebody’s not going to get paid everything they’re owed. But then, that’s the nature of bankruptcy court–to decide who gets what and how much. The deal Rex/PennEnergy is subject to approval by the bankruptcy court, but we expect it will get approved. Part of the deal calls for PennEnergy to pay $1 million to Rex landowners who had sued the company claiming Rex didn’t pay them royalties. We think PennEnergy will be a good home for the Rex assets. PennEnergy launched in 2011, founded by two former Atlas Energy executives–Rich Weber and Greg Muse. The company is backed by EnCap Investments and now has 70 employees. No word on how many of Rex’s employees will come along with the deal. Rex’s acreage sits close to PennEnergy’s, hence the interest. Below the details as we have them, including Rex’s SEC filing outlining the deal…
Read More “Rex Energy Sells Itself to PennEnergy Resources for $600M”
Eclipse Resources, a Marcellus/Utica pure play driller headquartered in State College, PA, announced in March the company is looking for another company to buy, or (more likely) for another company to buy them (see Eclipse Resources Board Considering Either Merger or Acquisition). We have some new news to report, about a potential sale of Eclipse. Or more properly, a potential merger. EnCap Investments is a private equity/investment firm headquartered in Houston. EnCap owns a majority of Eclipse’s common stock. Put another way, Eclipse is considered a “portfolio company” of EnCap–because he who owns the most stock controls the company. EnCap has a number of portfolio companies–other energy companies in which they invest. One of them is PennEnergy Resources, an active driller in the southwest PA Marcellus (see Top 10 Drillers in SWPA, by Number of Permits Issued). According to sources who have spoken to the Pittsburgh Business Times, EnCap is actively pursuing a combination/merger between Eclipse and Penn Energy…
Read More “Rumor: EnCap Working on Plan to Merge Eclipse & Penn Energy”
Every now and again it’s fun to take a look at a “Top 10” list. Here’s one for you. How about a Top 10 List for drillers in southwestern PA, in Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Clarion, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington, and Westmoreland counties. This Top 10 list ranks drillers by how many shale well permits they’ve been granted. The list is extracted from a Top 40 list prepared by the (must read) Pittsburgh Business Times. Can you guess which 10 drillers are in the Top 10? How about the Top 1? It may come as no surprise that Range Resources, the very first company to drill a Marcellus Shale well (in 2004), has received the most permits to drill in SWPA. Here’s the full Top 10 list, with some interesting extra details…
Read More “Top 10 Drillers in SWPA, by Number of Permits Issued”