Encino’s “Four Pillars” Transformed Co. into M-U’s Top Oil Producer
We’ve written a number of times about the Ohio Utica Shale and its beginnings with gas legend Aubrey McClendon, who, as CEO of Chesapeake Energy, was one of (if not THE) first to recognize the Utica as an oil play. However, it was a successor company, Encino Energy, that figured out how to coax large quantities of oil out of the Utica shale. Encino is one of the big success stories of drilling for oil in the Ohio Utica Shale. However, using the right tech is only part of the equation that transformed a company founded in 2017 into the #1 largest oil producer in Ohio and all of the Marcellus/Utica. Read More “Encino’s “Four Pillars” Transformed Co. into M-U’s Top Oil Producer”
Earlier this week, MDN told you about the final chapter in the tragedy of the Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) Refining Complex (see 
If we had a nickel for every peak oil prediction we’ve reported on over the years, we’d be rich! Every few months, somebody comes along to say that either oil production or oil demand is heading for a decline…real soon now, any day, it’s inevitable. And they list their reasons why we’re hitting peak and about to go into a decline. And every darned time, they’re wrong. We have another such prediction, but this one is a bit different. It comes from an investment advisor writing to other investors on the Seeking Alpha website, an investment advisor whose work we have shared with you in the past. It’s a column from someone whose opinion we respect. 
In June 2019, a series of explosions and a massive fire occurred at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) Refining Complex (see 
As we often say, we’re suckers for a good railroad story. There’s something magical about the clickety-clack of trains heading cross country. Shortline railroads play an important role in the Marcellus/Utica by transporting machinery, materials for drilling, and sand. But today’s story is not about shortlines but long-haul railroads. Here’s a fascinating fact: U.S. rail freight transported nearly 1.8 million metric tons of materials in 2023, with energy products, including coal, oil, and natural gas, being the most common. The number two most common product hauled (not even close) is agricultural products. 
We’ve written a number of times about the Ohio Utica Shale and its beginnings with gas legend Aubrey McClendon, who, as CEO of Chesapeake Energy, was one of (if not THE) first to recognize the Utica as an oil play. However, it was a successor company, Encino Energy, that figured out how to coax large quantities of oil out of the Utica shale. Encino is one of the big success stories of drilling for oil in the Ohio Utica Shale. Roughly six years ago, Encino, in partnership with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), closed on buying Chesapeake Energy’s Ohio Utica assets for $2 billion (see 
EOG Resources, one of the largest oil and gas drillers in the U.S. (with international operations in Trinidad and China), owns a huge 430,000+ acres of leases in the Ohio Utica. EOG calls its position the “Ohio Utica combo play” and now considers it one of the company’s “premium plays.” EOG concentrates on oil drilling in the Utica. As part of the company’s first quarter 2024 update, Keith Trasko, Senior VP for Exploration and Production at EOG, said Utica wells “compete with the best plays in America, very comparable to the Permian on a production per foot basis.” Wow! High praise indeed. The Utica is the new Permian…we like the sound of that!
When drilling for oil (or for natural gas), quite often, the hydrocarbon you’re not drilling for comes out of the ground along with the hydrocarbon you are drilling for. Natural gas coming out of the ground along with oil (in an oil play) is called “associated gas.” And in the Marcellus/Utica, other hydrocarbons (aside from methane) come out too, including ethane, propane, butane, and isobutane — called natural gas liquids (NGLs). Production of oil and NGLs are measured in barrels (Bbl), while methane is measured in thousand cubic feet (Mcf) or million Btus (MMBtu). Years ago, the oil and gas industry created a way to evaluate the total output for a given well or wells by converting all of the hydrocarbons into one unit, called barrels of oil equivalent (Boe). Not long after that came a comparison of how much each commodity sells for on an equivalent basis.
For years, we have watched natural gas production in oil-focused plays like the Permian (in Texas and New Mexico) steadily rise. It was an annoyance, a curiosity, mostly an afterthought because production in the Marcellus/Utica, where we concentrate our attention, was also rising and quite dominant. But the M-U hit a plateau in December 2019 and in January 2020 began a long-term trend of staying about even (see 
U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced the Protecting American Households From Rising Energy Costs Act, legislation that would ban the export of crude oil or liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the U.S.’s biggest adversaries: China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. “We should not allow American liquid natural gas to fuel China’s state-sponsored industries. The Chinese Communist Party uses that energy to cheat and undermine Ohio production and Ohio jobs,” said Brown. “Blocking China and other adversaries from obtaining our LNG will protect our national security.”
The radicalized environmental left does itself no favors with its antics and histrionics aimed at bullying public officials. Case in point: On Wednesday, Feb. 21, a small group of activists (six or seven) with Third Act Virginia were removed from Attorney General Jason Miyares’ office in Richmond after staging a sit-in. The wackos were there to deliver a petition to the AG demanding that he shut down work on the final 1% of Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). The AG and his staff refused to meet with the wackos, so they pitched a fit like two-year-olds and had to be removed.