Rice Energy

Rice Energy issued their fourth quarter and full year 2015 financial and operational update yesterday. The company stumbled in 4Q15, losing $281 million, which made last year’s total year loss $291 million (i.e. most of the loss came in 4Q15). That’s the bad news. The good news is that production was up 57% in 4Q15 over 4Q14 and production for the entire year was up 101% over 2014, an average of 552 million cubic feet equivalent per day (Mmcfe/d). Also good for Rice is the price they’ve been getting for their gas. They averaged $3.39/Mcf in 4Q15 and $3.19 for all of 2015. Proved reserves are up 30%. The company also released details for 2016 yesterday. Rice, which is a pure play driller focusing on the Marcellus and Utica Shale region, will spend 14% less this year than they did last year–which is far less of a cut than most drillers. Below are both the 2015 update and the 2016 forecast, with lots of details about their Marcellus and Utica programs…
Read More “Rice Energy 2015: Lost $291M, Production Up 101%”

Yesterday the Rice family offered up for sale up to 5 million shares of stock in Rice Energy–the first time that’s happened since the Rice’s founded the company in 2007. Rice Energy was founded by Dan Rice III and his boys Dan IV, Toby and Derek. In fact Dan III, who was the most successful mutual fund manager in the U.S. for 10 years, was unceremoniously dumped by his employer BlackRock because BlackRock screwed up by not telling investors Dan was bankrolling a new company (Rice Energy) while at the same time investing in other oil and gas companies that could be construed as competitors via his mutual fund transactions (see BlackRock’s Screw-up with Dan Rice & Rice Energy). Dan was completely up front and transparent and told his bosses at BlackRock what he was doing–it was his bosses who screwed up, and then fired Dan in a blame-shifting move. Dan has been laughing his way to the bank ever since. Rice Energy has been a huge success. Until the end of last year Rice Energy was a private company–the Rices held most all of the stock. They went public last year and began to take OPM–other people’s money (see Rice Energy IPO Soars, Brings in $84M More Than Expected). As part of the IPO process, the Rices took out a loan with Morgan Stanley. Yesterday’s sale of up to 5 million shares is most definitely NOT the Rices stepping back from their own company. It’s actually meant to defend the company from financial market gyrations, as the Rices explain below…
Read More “Rice Family Sells 5M Shares of Rice Energy Stock to Pay Off Debt”

From time to time (not all of the time) when we notice a drilling or midstream company executive buying or selling company stock–called insider buying or insider selling–we bring you that news. We always take it as a good sign when those responsible for a company–either senior management or the board of directors–buys stock in the company they manage. For us, it’s evidence of confidence in the direction of the company. “Eating your own dog food.” Such is the case with one of our favorite Marcellus/Utica drillers–Rice Energy. Rice is a young company led by three young brothers–Dan (CEO), Toby (President & COO) and Derek (EVP). Toby has just purchased 7,500 shares of Rice Energy for $99,750…
Read More “Rice Energy President Toby Rice Buys $100K Worth of Co Stock”

Rice Energy, a very young but important pure play driller in the Marcellus/Utica, released its third quarter update yesterday. Bucking the trend of other northeast drillers, Rice earned $119 million in profit before interest, taxes and all that jazz (called EBITDAX), and they earned $59 million after all that jazz. In the black. No paper loss. It’s all good. One of the secrets to Rice’s success is that they’re selling their gas for an average of $0.38 higher per Mcf than others because of deals with the REX and Texas Eastern pipelines that carry Rice’s gas to markets outside of Appalachia. Production was 609 million cubic feet equivalent per day (Mmcfe/d) in 3Q15. The company reports expanding their line of credit at the bank to $750 million and transferring ownership (called a “drop down”) of their water services business from Rice Energy the driller to Rice Midstream the subsidiary, netting Rice Energy a nifty $200 million on paper. In essence they transferred money from one pocket to another. Here’s the full update from one of our favorite Marcellus/Utica drillers…
Read More “Rice Energy 3Q15: $59M Profit, $750M LOC, Selling Gas Outside NE”