Stone Energy

Stone Energy, an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company (E&P) headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana drills mainly in the Gulf of Mexico but also has a presence in the Marcellus/Utica Shale with 75,000 acres of leases. Last year Stone quit drilling in the northeast and actually shut-in part of their production due to low prices (see Stone Energy 3Q15: Shut Down 110 Mmcfe/d of Marcellus Production). Yesterday Stone issued an operational (not financial) update for first quarter 2016. According to the update, Stone continued to keep production from their “Mary field” shut in while other Marcellus production limped along at 23 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d). Another salient fact to keep in mind: last year Stone lost more than $1 billion (see Stone Energy 2015: $1.1 Billion Loss, Quit Drilling in Marcellus). Here’s the latest from Stone Energy…
Read More “Stone Energy 1Q16: Most Marcellus Production Still Closed Down”

Stone Energy is an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company (E&P) headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana, drilling mainly in the Gulf of Mexico but also with a presence in the Marcellus/Utica Shale. Last year they quit drilling in the northeast and actually shut-in part of their production due to low prices (see Stone Energy 3Q15: Shut Down 110 Mmcfe/d of Marcellus Production). Last year the company lost over $1 billion (see Stone Energy 2015: $1.1 Billion Loss, Quit Drilling in Marcellus). Last Thursday Stone announced they’ve maxed out their credit cards. That is, they have now borrowed as much as they can borrow on their existing line of credit from the bank–grabbing another $385 million. The borrowed money (which now totals $477 million) will be used for “general corporate purposes.” That is, to pay salaries and keep the lights on…
Read More “Stone Energy Borrows $385M, Maxes Out Credit Line”

Stone Energy, an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company (E&P) headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana drills mainly in the Gulf of Mexico but also has a presence in the Marcellus/Utica Shale. Last year they quit drilling in the northeast and actually shut-in part of their production due to low prices (see Stone Energy 3Q15: Shut Down 110 Mmcfe/d of Marcellus Production). However, Stone does have around 75,000 acres of leases–so they’re an important player in our neck of the woods. So we keep tabs on them. In December Stone said they would spend 3-5% of their $200 million budget in 2016 in the Marcellus/Utica–about enough to drill one well. Which led to our conclusion they’re in maintenance-only mode for this year. And no wonder why. Yesterday Stone released their fourth quarter and full year 2015 operating and financial results, and it’s not a pretty picture. In 2014 Stone lost $190 million for the year. In 2015, they lost a huge $1.1 billion for the year. You can’t rack up losses like that for long. Here’s yesterday’s update from Stone Energy…
Read More “Stone Energy 2015: $1.1 Billion Loss, Quit Drilling in Marcellus”

Stone Energy, an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company (E&P) headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana drills mainly in the Gulf of Mexico but also has a presence in the Marcellus/Utica Shale. Earlier this year they stopped drilling in the northeast and shut in most of their Marcellus/Utica production (see Stone Energy 3Q15: Shut Down 110 Mmcfe/d of Marcellus Production). Stone has just released their 2016 capital expenditure budget. Are they planning to drill in the northeast in 2016?…
Read More “Stone Energy 2016 Budget Released – Will They Drill in the NE?”

Stone Energy is one of the smaller drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, drilling 38 wells in the Marcellus and a single Utica test well in 2014. Early in 2015 Stone said they wouldn’t be drilling any new Marcellus/Utica wells beyond the first quarter (see Stone Energy Will Suspend Marcellus/Utica Drilling after 1Q15). Even though they aren’t currently active in the region, it’s still good to keep tabs on Stone, as we expect they will become active again at some point. For that reason, we’re reporting that Stone announced yesterday their bankers have “reaffirmed” the company may continue to borrow up to $500 million. That is, Stone continues to have a $500M line of credit, which is important for new drilling projects…
Read More “Bankers Reaffirm Stone Energy’s $500M Line of Credit”

Stone Energy, an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company (E&P) headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana drills mainly in the Gulf of Mexico but also has a presence in the Marcellus/Utica Shale. Earlier this year the company released the one active Marcellus rig they were running and said they would not resume drilling in the northeast until receiving a hybrid rig in late 2015/early 2016 that can drill both Marcellus and Utica wells (see Stone Energy 1Q15: No New Marcellus Drilling, But More Production). Stone issued their second quarter 2015 results yesterday. Interestingly, some of Stone’s joint venture partners elected not to exercise rights to own more of the wells drilled by Stone, leaving Stone with a higher percentage ownership for a number of Marcellus wells. Stone said they expect production in the Marcellus region (currently 144 MMcfe per day) to tapper off over the rest of the year because they aren’t drilling or completing any new wells. Even so, they expect 2015 production to exceed 2014 production in the northeast. Despite cost-cutting measures, Stone’s net income (which includes expenses), like that of so many other drillers across the country, took a dive in 2Q15–going from $4.4 million net income in 2Q14 to minus $152.9 million in 2Q15…
Read More “Stone Energy 2Q15: Increased % Ownership in Marcellus JV Wells”

Two weeks ago Stone Energy Corporation, one of the smaller drillers in the Marcellus Shale region, issued a drilling and production update. No, Stone has not suddenly begun drilling in the Marcellus again. As we told you earlier this year, Stone hit the pause button on new drilling in the Marcellus after 1Q15 (see Stone Energy 1Q15: No New Marcellus Drilling, But More Production). The recent drilling/production update from Stone is mostly about their Gulf of Mexico deepwater operations. But notice the final paragraph where they mention Marcellus (Appalachia) production…
Read More “Stone Energy’s Marcellus Production Pleasantly Surprises in 2Q15”

Stone Energy, one of the smaller drillers in the Marcellus/Utica region, released their first quarter 2015 update yesterday. Previously Stone announced they would hit the pause button on any new Marcellus drilling after 1Q15 (see Stone Energy Will Suspend Marcellus/Utica Drilling after 1Q15). Even though Stone is not drilling any new wells, they did begin bringing 8 Marcellus wells online that were previously drilled, which led to a slight bump up in Marcellus production to an average of 130 million cubic feet per day during 1Q15. Below are select portions of yesterday’s update that touch on the northeast…
Read More “Stone Energy 1Q15: No New Marcellus Drilling, But More Production”

Similar to the recent announcement by Antero Resources, Stone Energy has announced a big scale back in the Marcellus/Utica for 2015. However, whereas Antero is one of the biggest drillers in the northeast, Stone is one of the smallest drillers in the Marcellus/Utica. In 2014 Stone drilled 38 wells in the Marcellus, and a single Utica test well. The company plans to spend $450 million for drilling in 2015, down from $875 million spent in 2014–roughly half of what they spent last year. But the majority of that $450 million (75%) will go to drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and deep water. Only 8% of the budget, or $36 million, will go to the Marcellus/Utica region. Stone says after they complete a few wells in the first quarter of this year, they’re suspending all Marcellus drilling for the rest of this year–releasing the single rig that’s been operating in the Marcellus. Landowners signed with Stone–if Stone hasn’t already begun your well, you can forget about it for at least for the rest of this year…
Read More “Stone Energy Will Suspend Marcellus/Utica Drilling after 1Q15”

Stone Energy released their third quarter update on Monday. Stone is an independent oil and natural gas exploration and production company headquartered in Lafayette, LA with additional offices in New Orleans, Houston and Morgantown, WV. Stone is engaged in the acquisition, exploration, and development of properties in the Deep Water Gulf of Mexico, Appalachia (Marcellus & Utica), and the onshore and offshore Gulf Coast. So the northeast is far from the only focus for Stone. We’ve culled through yesterday’s update and have pulled out those references to the Marcellus/Utica. We found that Stone expects to drill “over” 35 wells this year in the Marcellus–and they’ve just drilled their first Utica Shale test well (which will be completed during the fourth quarter of this year)…
Read More “Stone Energy 3Q14: 35 Marcellus Wells in 2014; 1st Utica Test Well”