Diversified Sells Major Stake in Select Appalachian Wells for $200M
Diversified Energy Company, with major assets in the Appalachian region (including the Marcellus/Utica), announced yesterday the company had sold a majority stake in an unspecified number of Appalachian conventional oil and gas wells to an investment company called DP Lion Equity Holdco, for $200 million. We could not find who owns DP Lion. The company was registered as an LLC in the State of Delaware on Oct. 19, 2023. That’s about all we know about the buyer. The deal includes Diversified retaining a 20% ownership in the wells (80% goes to DP Lion). Diversified will also continue to operate the wells.
1/4/24 UPDATE: A sharp MDN reader sent us a link to a previous Diversified SEC filing that shows DP Lion Equity Holdco, LLC, is, in fact, a subsidiary of Diversified. So Diversified raised new money by selling some of its assets to itself! Or, more likely, to a slightly different set of investors, but the assets are still controlled (essentially owned) by Diversified.
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U.S. oil production increased by 21% over the past five years. According to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), in 2023, U.S. oil producers set a new annual all-time high production record. The increase in U.S. oil production is driven by a surge of production in a handful of states. We have a list of the Top 11 oil-producing states over the past year. One of the states on the list is a Marcellus/Utica state. Can you guess which one? Hint: It’s NOT Pennsylvania…
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The slight rise in the national rig count, with the count going up by one or two rigs a week over the past five weeks (what we call a “dead cat bounce”), is over. The Baker Hughes U.S. rig count lost ground again last week. The count went from 626 active rigs two weeks ago down to 623 last week. The Marcellus/Utica stayed even at 41 active rigs last week.
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The Energy Workforce & Technology Council, based in Houston, TX, is the national trade association for the global energy technology and services sector. The Council reports jobs in the O&G sector increased in November, adding 1,286 jobs. The O&G industry employs 652,398 jobs across the country, just 54,130 jobs away from returning to pre-pandemic levels. And how much do those jobs pay? The average hourly earnings for frontline oil-and-gas workers rose 1.3% in October from the previous month to $44.11, according to a Labor Department report released last week.