Antero Resources | Apex Energy | Ascent Resources | Belmont County | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy | Inflection Energy | Jefferson County (OH) | Lycoming County | Monroe County | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Southwestern Energy | Susquehanna County | Weekly Permits | West Virginia | Westmoreland County | Wetzel County
23 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 2-8
New shale permits issued for Jan. 2-8 in the Marcellus/Utica included 14 new permits in Pennsylvania, 8 new permits in Ohio, and just 1 new permit in West Virginia. The top recipient of permits for last week was Apex Energy, grabbing 6 permits to drill on a single pad in Westmoreland County, PA. Right behind Apex was Coterra Energy with 5 permits to drill on a single pad in Susquehanna County, PA. Opposite sides of the state.
Read More “23 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jan 2-8”
What a difference three years can make! Three years ago, Henry Hub prices were hovering around $2 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf). Stock valuations for Marcellus/Utica drillers were majorly depressed (down 80-90% from previous highs), and gas producers were struggling. Fast forward to today. Balance sheets and earnings statements are through the roof. Most experts believe $4-$5/Mcf gas is sustainable–at least for the next X years. What does the future look like for M-U drillers? What are the risks? And can we keep the current bright outlook going?
Unlike the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), which gets the creepy crawlies at the mere mention of the word “fracking,” the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) has been dealing with fracking and water requests for use in fracking for more than a decade. Somehow the SRBC, a quasi-governmental agency (as is the DRBC), manages to allow fracking, and there are NO negative impacts on local water and NO negative impact on the Susquehanna River and its tributaries. Must be the people who run the SRBC are just more talented than those who run the DRBC.
Southwestern Energy, which along with EQT and Chesapeake Energy, is one of the three leading producers of natural gas in the U.S., issued its third quarter update last Friday. The company reported total net production of 443 Bcfe (billion cubic feet equivalent), or 4.8 Bcfe/d, including 4.2 Bcf/d of natural gas and 97,000 barrels per day (Bbls/d) of liquids. Southwestern invested $543 million of capital during 3Q and placed 31 wells online to sales, including 14 in the Marcellus/Utica and 17 in Haynesville. The company made $450 million in profit during 3Q22, versus losing $1.86 billion in the same quarter a year ago.
Expectations play a big role in investing. The financial markets do a lot of anticipating and forecasting and guessing about where a company or entire sector is heading. Such is the game being played right now with expectations for Marcellus/Utica shale gas companies and their forthcoming third quarter financial updates. Given the high price of natural gas during 3Q22, analysts expect shale gas companies to be swimming in free cash flow. The natural follow-on question is, what will they do with all of that extra cash?