Gulfport Energy 2Q17: $106M Profit, Drills Northern Utica Well
Gulfport Energy, which is the second most active driller in the Ohio Utica, behind Chesapeake Energy, has (so far) drilled 303 Utica wells and owns 211,000 acres of leases in the Buckeye State. Gulfport, which drills mainly in the Utica (but also the SCOOP, in Oklahoma) reported their second quarter 2017 production numbers on July 31 (see Gulfport 2Q17: Most Active Utica Quarter Ever, 29 Wells Added). As we pointed out, they separate their production update from their financial update. On Tuesday the company turned in its financial report for 2Q17. The company done good–real good. A year ago, in 2Q16, Gulfport lost $340 million. This year, in 2Q17, Gulfport made $106 million in profit. Quite a turnaround–almost half a billion dollar swing in one year! On a conference call, Gulfport CEO Mike Moore mentioned they drilled their first Utica well in Jefferson County, OH–“our farthest northern well drilled to date.” Below are comments from this week’s conference call, along with a full 2Q17 update–production & financial…
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Earlier this week Rex Energy issued its second quarter 2017 update. During 2Q17 Rex drilled 2, completed 6 and put online into sales 4 wells in their Butler County, PA acreage. They also began drilling a new 4-well pad in Butler. In the company’s Carroll County, OH acreage, Rex drilled a 3 wells on a single pad. The big news from the update was a deal with BP to market Rex’s natural gas liquids (or C3+) production, and the sale of a water pipeline owned by Rex in Salineville, OH for $8 million. Rex’s finances didn’t do so well. In 2Q17 the company lost $10 million versus making a $16 million profit in 2Q16. Production picked up a bit, from 173.4 million cubic feet equivalent per day (MMcfe/d) in 1Q17 to 177.1 MMcfe/d in 2Q17. The official statement said 2Q17 production was “constrained” during the quarter “due to unplanned maintenance downtime in the company’s midstream services.” Which means they had hoped it would have been higher than 177.1 MMcfe/d. Looking forward to 3Q17 Rex says they plan to bring 12 new wells in Butler County online…
In May, MDN told you that virulent anti-drillers in Youngstown, OH, puppets of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), have once again circulated a petition to put a so-called Community Bill of Rights ballot measure on the ballot this November (see 
In late January, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission member Norman Bay announced he was quitting, in a huff, because President Trump has elevating another commission member to be chairperson (see 
Below is a story of an Ohio landowner who “worked to get good easements and good language” in the contract he signed with Rover Pipeline. But, according to the landowner, once construction began, “everyone seemed to forget” what they promised in the contract. And so landowner Roger Meggyesy has been vigilant to point out violations to third-party pipeline inspectors who report on Rover’s activities to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). As Meggyesy rhetorically asks, “Why do we have to come and fight after the fact?” It is disheartening to read these kinds of accounts. This guy did everything right, got it all in writing–and yet it’s still an uphill fight. We bring you this story because it’s important to air the problems along with highlighting the good stuff when it comes to these big pipeline projects…
Rover Pipeline is Energy Transfer’s $3.7 billion, 711-mile Marcellus/Utica natural gas pipeline that will run from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada. On April 13, Rover workers experienced an “inadvertent return” of “horizontal directional drilling fluid”. That is, they sprung a leak and spilled nearly 2 million gallons of drilling mud (see 
It’s not often these days we get to announce a new driller in the Marcellus/Utica. Today is one of those days. Actually, this company has been around since early 2015, but we’re only now becoming aware of them. Pin Oak Energy Partners, headquartered in Akron, OH, is an exploration and production company engaged in both conventional and unconventional oil and natural gas wells and the operation of associated assets (like pipelines). Pin Oak currently operates 363 wells producing nearly 5.7 MMcfe/d (32% liquids) across more than 32,000 acres in the Marcellus/Utica region. The company is also involved in midstream, field services and operations through its affiliate companies. Pin Oak is on an aggressive acquisition binge of shale AND midstream assets, as well as leasing new acreage. Who is Pin Oak? According to CEO Chris Halvorson, Pin Oak is comprised of folks who were formerly with AB Resources. You may recall that AB Resources built a position in the southwestern “core” of the Marcellus and sold out to Chevron several years ago. Pin Oak is “what’s next” for for the former AB folks. Their target: the Appalachian basin. In July, Pin Oak bought 9,300 acres of leases and 8 Utica wells from EQT in Guernsey, Muskingum, and Columbiana counties (Ohio). Earlier this week Pin Oak announced they’ve purchased another 7,700 acres of leases and 10 Utica wells from an undisclosed seller in Trumbull, Tuscarawas and Mahoning counties (in Ohio) and Mercer, Crawford and Venango counties (in Pennsylvania). Below are two recent announcements. Pin Oak can be summed up in one word: aggressive. Keep a close eye on this company in the coming months and years…
In November 2015 MDN reported on a lawsuit filed by GreenHunter Resources (filed in October 2015) against two former GreenHunter employees and a competitor (see 
A recent ruling from Ohio’s Seventh District Court of Appeals has the potential to affect conventional and unconventional (shale) leases. As with most legal rulings, this one is a bit complex. We’ll do our best to summarize. In Ohio, most oil and gas leases have both a primary term and a secondary term. The primary term is that period of time a driller has to locate and drill for oil or gas–typically five years. The secondary term is that period of time (which can last for decades) under which oil and gas is produced from the well. In most lease contracts, as long as the well is producing in “paying quantities” the lease remains in effect. But when the well does not produce in paying quantities, the lease is terminated and the landowner can seek a new lease. Of course, the definition of “paying quantities” is key. In a previous case, the Ohio Supreme Court defined paying quantities. However, the recent Seventh District Court case, Paulus v. Beck Energy Corp., added to, or should we say “refined” the definition provided by the Supreme Court by providing guidance on what items may be considered when determining paying quantities and lack of production in Ohio…
CONSOL Energy released its second quarter 2017 update yesterday, along with a conference call to discuss results in 2Q17 and what’s ahead for the rest of 2017 and even a hint of what’s coming in 2018. Perhaps the biggest news coming from yesterday is that CONSOL had problems with two well pads in the Ohio Utica during last quarter–problems which slowed them down and resulted in a rare decrease in natural gas production year over year. CONSOL production was down 7% due to problems with drilling out frack plugs at two well pads in Monroe County, OH. According to CONSOL COO Tim Dugan, they were “one-time” events and unusual. Dugan said, more or less, CONSOL is experimenting and hey, sometimes the experiments go wrong. But the “operational improvements” the company has made by experimenting have far outweighed any temporary problems like those in Monroe County. CONSOL will spend more and drill more in 2017 than previously forecast–spending $620-$645 million to drill 34 wells this year (which works out to close to $19 million/well on the high end). In 2018, CONSOL will add a third drilling rig, although they’re not yet saying where it will get deployed (PA Marcellus or OH Utica). Here’s the latest from a company that will soon split in two (coal and gas) and rename itself…
Rover is Energy Transfer’s $3.7 billion, 711-mile Marcellus/Utica natural gas pipeline that will run from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada. On April 13, Rover workers experienced an “inadvertent return” of “horizontal directional drilling fluid”. That is, they sprung a leak and spilled nearly 2 million gallons of drilling fluid (see 
MDN has highlighted Capstone Turbine Corporation, a California company that manufactures small electric-generating plants that run on natural gas, several times in the past. Our most recent story (in February) shared the news that Capstone had sold three more of their “microturbines” to midstreamers in the Marcellus Shale play (see 
Yesterday the American Petroleum Institute (API) released a new study showing that the natural gas and oil industry supported 10.3 million U.S. jobs and added $1.3 trillion to the nation’s economy in 2015. The study, “Impacts of the Natural Gas and Oil Industry on the US Economy in 2015” (full copy below) found that jobs supported by the o&g industry increased by half a million since 2011, and showed that all 50 states, whether producing or non-producing, continued to benefit from the o&g industry. The study was conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and commissioned by API. Yes, it’s an industry-funded study. But hey, if we don’t do the research and toot our own horn, you can be sure anti-fossil fuelers won’t do it for us! This is solid, no-nonsense (and real) economic research. We thought it would be interesting to look at the impact of the o&g industry in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia–the only three states producing Marcellus and Utica Shale gas and oil. Yes, each of those states still has a thriving conventional o&g industry as well and conventional numbers are part of the study–but let’s be honest. The unconventional (shale) sector dwarfs production of the conventional sector. When you look at o&g’s impact in our region, you find that it created 322,600 jobs in PA, 262,800 jobs in OH, and 70,900 jobs in WV. Value added (economic impact) for each state was: $44.4 billion in PA, $37.9 billion in OH, and $8 billion in WV. Add them all together and you get roughly 656,000 jobs and $90 billion of economic contribution in 2015. From one industry–oil and gas. WE LOVE FOSSIL FUELS!…
Last week MDN told you about opposition from a neighbor in an industrial park in Lordstown (Trumbull County, OH) to a proposal by Clean Energy Future to build a second natural gas-fired electric plant next door to one already under construction now (see 
In May, MDN told you that virulent anti-drillers in Youngstown, OH, puppets of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), have once again circulated a petition to put a so-called Community Bill of Rights ballot measure on the ballot this November (see