Range Resources Corp

Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Statewide PA

Range Resources Chops 11% of Workforce (so Far) in 2015
July 31, 2015July 31, 2015

The low price drillers receive for natural gas, NGLs and oil, and the results those prices have on revenues for drillers, continues to take a big bite out of the industry. Companies, rightly or wrongly, reduce head count in order to keep the balance sheet less red than it otherwise would be. One of the easiest and quickest ways to improve finances at big companies is to cut head count. Two weeks ago CONSOL Energy laid off 10% of its workforce–some 470 people (see CONSOL Slashes 10% of Workforce – 470 Jobs Gone). Range Resources is latest to confirm company-wide layoffs. So far this year Range has cut 11% of its workforce. In May, Range laid off 41 people in the Marcellus/Utica region…
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Commodity Price | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Range Resources Corp

2 Pipelines Will Raise Gas Sale Price by $1 for Range Resources
July 30, 2015July 30, 2015

As we told you yesterday, Range Resources is excited about two pipeline projects that will go online soon–Spectra Energy’s Uniontown to Gas City (U2GC) Project and Mariner East I–Sunoco Logistics’ NGL pipeline from western PA to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia. On the quarterly analyst conference call yesterday, Range Resources CEO Jeff Ventura led off with a discussion about those two projects. To point out the importance of pipelines, these two projects will mean, according to Ventura, that Range will get $1 per Mcf more for their production once the pipelines go online. That’s a huge increase–as much as 33%–over what they receive now. Here are Ventura’s enlightening comments from yesterday’s conference call…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Statewide PA | Washington County

PA Court: Gas Storage Fields Lock Up Property for Drilling Too
July 30, 2015July 30, 2015

In some locations there are small or large underground storage fields for natural gas located in the Marcellus/Utica. We’ve covered stories in the past about one such field–the Brinker Storage Field, a 35,000 acre area in Columbiana County, Ohio that Columbia has used to store natural gas going back more than 50 years (see Some Brinker Field (OH) Leases Revised, Others in Lawsuit). More often than not these fields seem to be a flash point with respect to leases and potential drilling under them. Because the fields were leased years ago, there are disagreements about what the leases say about royalties for any gas drilled under them. Little did we know (in fact we didn’t know) there are such storage fields located in Pennsylvania too. A case went to court challenging the right of Range Resources and NiSource (their Columbia Gas subsidiary) to retain lease rights for both storing natural gas and drilling for natural gas for property partially included in a unit that includes a 14,000 underground Donegal Storage Field operated by NiSource in Washington County, PA. The landowners have just lost the case–meaning units with storage fields under them can “hold by production” undrilled land in the unit solely because there is gas stored…
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Energy Companies | Range Resources Corp

Range Resources 2Q15: Record High Production, Net Inc. Drops 168%
July 29, 2015July 29, 2015

Range Resources Corporation, the very first Marcellus driller and one of the largest, continues to focus primarily on the Marcellus/Utica region. They also drill in the Midcontinent region, but most of their effort and time is spent in the Appalachian Basin. Yesterday Range released their operating and financial update for second quarter 2015. Among the highlights: Production averaged 1.373 billion cubic feet per day equivalent (Bcfe/d), a 24% increase over 2Q14 and a new record high for the company. Range reduced drilling costs by 11% year over year. However, the company is clearly scaling back in 2015. Range drilled and completed 89 wells in the Marcellus/Utica region during the first half of 2015, but they plan to cut that in half for the second half of 2015–planning to drill and complete an additional 44 wells. Low prices have affected Range like all of the other E&Ps we’ve covered thus far. Quarterly revenues dropped 68% year over year–from $765.5 million in 2Q14 to $247.5 million in 2Q15. Adding in expenses, Range’s net income for 2Q14 was $171.4 million in 2Q14 and dropped to minus $118.6 million in 2Q15–a 169% drop. But help on the price front for Range is on the way according to the update, in the form of two pipeline projects Range expects to go online soon…
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Energy Companies | Range Resources Corp

Range Resources Updated PowerPoint Presentation for 2Q15
July 29, 2015July 29, 2015

In addition to providing a quarterly update yesterday, Range Resources also updated its investor presentation with expected well economics, rates of return and other operational information. We have a copy of that newly updated PowerPoint below, along with a list of slides to check out…
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Energy Companies | Energy Services | EQT Corp | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Range Resources Corp | Statewide PA | Washington County

EQT Midstream Building $250 Million Pipeline – for Range Resources!
July 24, 2015July 24, 2015

In a show of “coopetition” or cooperative competition, EQT Midstream, a division of major Marcellus/Utica driller EQT Corporation, is going to build a $250 million, 32-mile “header pipeline” for arch-rival Range Resources in southwestern Pennsylvania to “support Range’s dry Marcellus and Utica development.” The new pipeline, which will be built in two phases in 2016 and 2017, will provide Range with more than half a billion cubic feet of natural capacity per day…
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Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Carrizo Oil & Gas | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Equinor/Statoil | Exxon Mobil | Industrywide Issues | M&A | Range Resources Corp | Research | Rice Energy

Goldman: Cabot O&G, Range Resources Among Top Takeover Targets
July 20, 2015July 20, 2015

With all of this talk about CONSOL Energy and Noble Energy and mergers/acquisitions and workforce reductions, we came across an interesting story and analysis by SNL Financial summarizing a Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research report issued last Friday. The Goldman report evaluates 38 exploration and production (E&P) companies on their suitability and desirability as mergers and acquisitions candidates based on asset quality, potential upside returns to the buyer as oil and gas prices improve, and low break-even operations. That is, of all the E&Ps out there, which ones are most likely to be targeted for a takeover, and by whom? The surprising answer is that Cabot Oil & Gas and Range Resources, both huge Marcellus drillers, are among the takeover targets. And the super majors interested in doing the taking over? Exxon Mobil and Statoil…
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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Halliburton | Industrywide Issues | Range Resources Corp | Sand/Proppant | Schlumberger

DUG East Panelists Discuss the Critical Role of Sand in Drilling
June 29, 2015June 29, 2015

Some interesting tidbits from a roundtable discussion at last week’s Hart Energy DUG East conference. The panelists included reps from Chesapeake Energy, Range Resources, Halliburton and Schlumberger. Really, the biggest of the bigs when it comes to producers and oilfield services companies in the Marcellus Shale. A lot of the discussion seemed to revolve around the lowly grain of sand. It may surprise you (as it did us) to learn just how much sand is now being used per well in the Marcellus/Utica…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation

Range Fires Back: Proof We Didn’t Cause PA Methane Migration
June 18, 2015June 18, 2015

Yesterday MDN told you about the new, negative tone being set at the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection by its new leader, Sec. John Quigley, by fining Range Resources for a case of methane migration (see PA DEP Slaps Range with Record $8.9M Fine for Methane Migration). Perhaps Quigley has adopted EPA Region 6 administrator Al Armendariz’s philosophy of making an example of one or two companies (see EPA Region 6 Administrator: Crucify Energy Companies). Quigley says Range did a sloppy cement job on a gas well they drilled in 2011 and has refused to correct the situation. Range immediately fired back, very loud and very clear, that water wells in that area had high levels of methane in them BEFORE any drilling took place–and Range has the documented pre-drilling tests to prove it…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation

PA DEP Slaps Range with Record $8.9M Fine for Methane Migration
June 17, 2015June 17, 2015

Last September Range Resources was assessed a then-new record high fine of $4.15 million for a series of leaking frack wastewater impoundments in southwestern Pennsylvania (see PA DEP Fines Range Resources $4.15M for Wastewater Impoundments). A short time later, in October 2014, EQT replaced Range as the “highest ever” fine when the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) assessed EQT a $4.53 million fine for a leaky wastewater impoundment in northeastern PA, in Tioga County (see PA DEP Levies Biggest Fine Ever, $4.5M Against EQT). There’s a new mafia don, er a, “sheriff” in town–PennFuture DEP Secretary John Quigley–and he’s just slapped Range Resources with a new highest-ever fine nearly double EQT’s fine: $8.9 million. The offense? Methane migration from a well in Lycoming County, PA. The DEP says the Range well, drilled in 2011, has been leaking methane since at least 2013 (improperly cemented well casing) and the methane has “contaminated the groundwater-fed wells of private water supplies, and a nearby stream.” The DEP doesn’t say how many water wells have been affected nor which stream is affected…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation | Washington County

Range Capitulates, Closing 4 Freshwater Ponds in Mt. Pleasant, PA
May 29, 2015May 29, 2015

More than two years of acrimony and lawsuits are now over for Range Resources in Mt. Pleasant (Washington County), PA. Mt. Pleasant is one of the original seven selfish towns that sued PA to overturn portions of the Act 13 oil and gas law. The town was giving Range a hard time over four freshwater ponds (called “impoundments,” not to be confused with wastewater impoundments) the company was using to drill wells in nearby non-Mt. Pleasant locations. The town served the company with notices of violation in July 2013 and then held a public hearing in August 2013 where things got heated between the town and Range (see Range Resources Argues with Mt Pleasant over Water Impoundment). Mt. Pleasant kept after them (see Mt. Pleasant Zoning Bd Says Range Water Impoundments in Violation), and after them (see Mt Pleasant Twp Shenanigans re Range Request for Water Ponds), and after them (see Mt. Pleasant, PA Continues to Ride Range Over Water Ponds). Sooner or later a company can take a hint that a township is anti-business. Range is throwing in the towel, closing down all four freshwater ponds, and leaving town…
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Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

Washington, PA Neighborhood Concerned about Range Drilling Plan
May 27, 2015May 27, 2015

There are, in MDN’s book, two types of opposition to shale drilling–legitimate and illegitimate. Under the illegitimate heading are the nutters who want to ban shale drilling because it extracts a fossil fuel. We call them global warming Kool Aid drinkers. They lie about shale drilling at every turn in an attempt to enlist the support of the hoi polloi, the common folk, to oppose it. That’s what’s happened in New York. Then you have what we would call legitimate opposition–or perhaps a better word is “concern” about shale drilling. That comes from people who live in residential neighborhoods who aren’t thrilled about the truck traffic, noise, dust, nighttime lights and other negatives that come with shale drilling. The adult approach is to try and find a compromise–a way to accommodate shale drilling but reduce its impact on those who live nearby. Range Resources faces such a situation with a plan to drill a 3-well pad that may eventually go to 10 wells in a residential area of Chartiers (Washington County), PA. The pad would be about 1,000 feet from the nearest home–less than 2/10ths of mile. The neighbors are understandably concerned…
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Allegheny County | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Olympus/Huntley & Huntley | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp

Deer Lakes School Signs Lease for $3,100/Acre + 18% Royalties
May 21, 2015May 21, 2015

Attention Martian parents from the Mars School District in Middlesex Township (Butler County), PA: In Allegheny County (bordering Butler County on the south) the Deer Lakes School District has just signed a lease to allow shale drilling under school property. Why are you Martians so afraid of shale drilling? (see Martian Arrogance: Town MUST “Protect Us” from Drilling via Zoning) At Tuesday night’s school board meeting, Deer Lakes board members voted to lease 110 acres of school property for drilling under (not on) with Huntley & Huntley, Inc. The lease terms are $3,100 per acre in a signing bonus and 18% royalties–yielding a nice check for $341,000 to the school just for signing. Those terms are not quite as rosy as last year’s deal struck by Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald who negotiated what turns out to be close to $4,000 per acre (and an 18% royalty) for leasing 1,180 acres in Deer Lakes Park (see Allegheny Co Exec Bests Range on Deer Lakes Park Lease Deal). The county park is literally a stone’s throw from the school…
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Energy Companies | Range Resources Corp

Range Resources Floats Another $750M in IOUs to Pay Down Old Debt
May 8, 2015May 8, 2015

Marcellus powerhouse driller Range Resources first announced yesterday that they are floating $500 million of new IOUs (called senior notes), then a short time later changed it and say no, they’re now offering $750 million of new IOUs instead. Cash from the senior note offering will go to pay off older IOUs and debts. The new round of IOUs will come due in 2025. Here’s the Range two-step from yesterday…
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Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

Range Resources Drills #1 Producing Marcellus Shale Well in 1Q15
April 30, 2015April 30, 2015

Range Resources released their first quarter 2015 results on Tuesday. We’ve spotted a several news outlets trumpeting the “news” in the release that Range has drilled the highest-ever initial producing Utica Shale well at 59 million cubic feet per day (Mmcf/d)–the Claysville Sportsman’s Club No. 1 well in Washington County, PA. Thing is, we reported that news back in December (see Range Resources Drills Highest-Ever Initial Producing Utica Well). The Claysville Utica well is not new news. However, Range did report some new news on Tuesday: Range has drilled what they claim is the highest ever initially-producing Marcellus Shale well. This Marcellus monster well is a wet gas well that produced an initial rate of 43.4 million cubic feet equivalent per day (Mmcfe/d). Range does not identify the well by name but says it, like their monster Utica well, is located in Washington County, PA. Range reports production in 1Q15 hit a record high of 1,328 Mmcfe per day–26% higher than 1Q14. On the financial side, revenues for Range were up 1% in 1Q15 vs 1Q14, but net income was down 15%…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County | Wastewater

Range Loses 2nd Appeal, Must Provide PA Well Site Chemical List
April 20, 2015February 8, 2019

Three families who live near a former drill site and frack wastewater impoundment at the Yeager Marcellus Shale site in Washington County, PA sued Range Resources in May 2012 claiming the air they breathe and the water they drink had been contaminated by Range’s operation at the site (see EPA Investigating Range Drill Site in Western PA). Litigation ensued, and years passed. In 2013, a Washington County court ordered Range (not its contractors, but Range itself) to disclose a list of all chemicals used at the site–right down to the type of motor oil used in vehicles coming and going at the site (see PA Judge Forces Range, Contractors to Provide Chemical List). It will be an almost impossible task to construct such a list at this point, especially in light of the fact they’re in the process of closing the site. So Range appealed. Last June they lost that appeal (see Court Says Range Resources Must Disclose Chemicals in SW PA). Range appealed again, and last week they lost that second appeal…
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