Chesapeake CEO Says Southwestern Buyout Will Close Early 4Q
In January, Chesapeake Energy, now helmed by Nick Dell’Osso, announced a deal to buy out and merge with competitor Southwestern Energy for $7.4 billion (see Deal is Done! Chesapeake & Southwestern Announce $7.4B Merger). In April, the Bidenistas at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Dept. of Justice (DOJ) sent the dreaded “Second Request” for information (see Bidenistas Delay Chessy/Southwestern Merger, Request More Info). The Second Request automatically delayed the merger from the first half of 2024 to the second half. We are finally near the tail end of the government’s delay tactics. At yesterday’s Gastech event in Houston, Dell’Osso said the merger deal will close “early in the fourth quarter.” Read More “Chesapeake CEO Says Southwestern Buyout Will Close Early 4Q”

The 295-mile Portland Natural Gas Transmission System (PNGTS) spans New England from the Canadian border to pipeline connections in New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts. The system began operations in 1999 and is located between three major pipeline networks originating in Canada and the U.S. TC Energy owns 61.7% of PNGTS. The remaining 38.3 percent is owned by Northern New England Investment Company. At least until yesterday, when PNGTS was spun off into its own standalone company, now owned by the evil BlackRock.
A major change in ownership is coming for gas-fired power plants through the Marcellus/Utica region as well as New England. Quantum Capital Group announced yesterday that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Cogentrix Energy, an independent power producer, from another investment firm (Carlyle) for $3 billion. The Cogentrix portfolio is comprised of 5.3 gigawatts of natural gas-fired power plants located throughout PJM (the M-U region), ERCOT (Texas), and ISO-NE (New England). M-U molecules feed most power plants in PJM and ISO-NE, ergo our molecules will feed the plants changing hands.
In November 2018, under intense pressure from activist investors, EQT split itself into two companies: EQT Corporation and Equitrans Midstream (see
Last November, Tellurian, a company founded by Charif Souki, filed a report with the Securities and Exchange Commission warning investors that its financial situation raised “substantial doubt” that the company could continue as a going concern (see
Diversified Energy (formerly Diversified Gas & Oil), with major assets in the Marcellus/Utica region (with assets in other regions, too), owns approximately 8 million acres of leases with 67,000 (mostly) conventional oil and gas wells. The company’s business model is to buy lower-producing wells on the cheap and find ways to make them more productive. Last September, Diversified’s CEO Rusty Huston, in an interview with Forbes, signaled that he would be looking to buy more assets outside of the Marcellus/Utica — specifically along the Gulf Coast (see
In April, EQT Corporation and Equinor (formerly known as Statoil) announced a deal to swap land in Pennsylvania and Ohio (see
Antero Midstream, a separate company from Antero Resources (at least on paper, although it is managed by the same people), issued a press release yesterday to announce it had purchased a bolt-on acquisition of gathering and compression assets in the Marcellus Shale for $70 million from Summit Midstream Partners. The assets acquired include two compressor stations and 48 miles of high-pressure gas-gathering pipelines located in West Virginia.