Range Resources O&G Production Sees Huge Increase in 2Q12
Range Resources announced second quarter results today. Production volumes for all classes (natgas, NGLs and oil) are up an eye-popping 42% over the same quarter last year, and up 10% from the first quarter of this year. And if they remove the Barnett Shale numbers from the equation for last year, production would have been up 51%. Range sold off their Barnett assets last year, which included 390 active wells on 52,000 net acres. Range’s main focus continues to be the Marcellus and Utica Shale region.
Production, by volume, was 80% natural gas, 14% natural gas liquids, and 6% crude oil. From the press release:
Read More “Range Resources O&G Production Sees Huge Increase in 2Q12”

Al Amrendariz, EPA Region 6 administrator (Texas and surrounding states) has been
Lest you think MDN is a bit off the reservation when it comes to criticisms of the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), you might want to read about EPA Region 6 administrator Al Armendariz in an expose by Forbes magazine. Region 6 oversees Texas and surrounding states. Armendariz, a former professor at Southern Methodist University and appointed by President Obama in November 2009 to be Region 6 administrator, is caught on tape talking about his philosophy of “enforcement” and how to target oil and gas companies. He compares his approach to enforcement to how the Romans used to enter a village, find the first five men they could find and crucify them on the spot so the other villagers would be compliant. (See the embedded video below.)
In 2011, Marcellus drilling expanded exponentially in Pennsylvania. According to the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), companies drilled 2,755 Marcellus shale gas wells in Pennsylvania in 2011, up from 1,386 in 2010. That’s nearly a 200 percent increase (or doubling) in one year alone.
In areas where there is active drilling, like northeast and southwest Pennsylvania, near the end of completing a gas well is a process called flaring—when some of the gas and other impurities are burned off. Sometimes flaring a well, which results in a large flame coming out of the well, can be seen up to 10 miles away, which catches neighbors by surprise. Tony Gaudlip from Range Resources explains the flaring process, and why it’s not used as much as it once was.