Fitch Ratings: American Energy-Marcellus May Default on Loan
Ratings agency giant Fitch Ratings maintains and periodically issues a “Loans of Concern” list. It is a list of companies Fitch considers to have “material, near-term default risks.” That is, the companies will likely default on repaying loans, which may lead to nastier things, like a bankruptcy. As of last week when Fitch issued the list, there were 53 companies on it. Of those 53 companies, some 49% of them (26 in all) are energy companies. You must be a Fitch subscriber in order to see the full report/list of companies. Alas, we are not. However, Argus got a look and lists a few of the names in the list. One of those names stood out for us: American Energy-Marcellus, which is one of the American Energy subsidiary companies founded by former Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon. American Energy’s Marcellus/Utica division later changed its name to Ascent Resources in June 2015 (see Big McClendon News: Sells 35K Utica Acres, Creates New Company). In August 2015 Moody’s, another ratings agency, downgraded Ascent’s credit profile (see Moody’s Downgrades Ascent Resources Credit Profile to Basement). Ascent has been working hard to stay afloat (see Ascent Resources Offers to Trade IOUs Due 2021 with IOUs Due 2021 and Ascent Resources Sells More of Company to Pay Down Debt). We are assuming Fitch’s name use of American Energy-Marcellus is the same company as Ascent Resources–but we don’t know for sure…
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In August 2015, MDN told you that one of the biggest drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, Antero Resources, floated the idea of building a $275 million state-of-the-art frack wastewater treatment plant in Doddridge County, WV (see 
Pennsylvania, like all states, is on a mission to combat the fairy tale of man-made global warming by reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (the stuff you exhale with every breath), and by reducing methane (i.e. natural gas) that escapes into the atmosphere. Global warmists have talked themselves into the belief that a little methane leaking here and there is worse than a supernova. Whatever. The Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) in PA is tasked with developing a plan to reduce CO2 and methane emissions in the Keystone State. They’ve just released a final version of their 2015 Climate Change Action Plan Update (full copy below). Among the suggestions from the brainiacs at the DEP is dressing up trucks in skirts (don’t ask)…
A quick tutorial on the U.S. electric grid system. At a very basic level, the electric grid in our country is made up of RTOs (regional transmission organizations) and ISOs (independent system operators). Each RTO or ISO covers a single state (ISO) or multiple states (RTO). Electric generation is shifted around to meet demands in each region, overseen by whichever regional authority is in charge. For much of the Marcellus/Utica region, the electric organization in charge is the RTO called PJM (lots of acronyms!) PJM Interconnection covers all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. There has been a flurry of new natgas-fired electric plants announced over the past six months or so. The question being asked by industry analysts and bankers (who back such projects) is this: Are we building too many new electric plants, particularly in the Marcellus/Utica?…
Events related to drilling in the Marcellus and Utica Shale, primarily pro-drilling.
Just when you thought things had finally settled down with midstream giant Williams, a new rumor is making the rounds. Brief history: Energy Transfer Equity’s (ETE) billionaire CEO Kelsy Warren propositioned Williams for over six months before going public with his overtures (see 
This one has us scratching our heads. Landowners Damon and Kendra Baker, in Tioga County, PA, signed a lease with Shell’s SWEPI in 2006. We’re guessing the signing bonus was peanuts because at that time the Marcellus was still in its infancy in PA. SWEPI constructed a well pad on their property in 2010 but had drilled no wells by the time the lease expired in 2011. The Bakers wanted a healthy re-signing bonus to allow SWEPI to lease their land again. SWEPI’s final offer was $150,000 (not sure for how many acres). The Baker’s, according to SWEPI, wanted half a million dollars. SWEPI said “no thanks” and therefore, according to state Dept. of Environmental Protection standards, needs to restore the property to its original state and be done with it. But the Bakers won’t let them re-enter the property. So SWEPI is suing and the clock is ticking–they only have until December to put it back to original condition or the company will be fined $500/day until it’s done…
In January, three liberal Democrat county commissioners from Fayette County, WV, with the backing and help of the radical WV Mountain Party, voted to ban injection wells in the county (see 
In March 2015, Dominion–a huge natural gas and electric utility as well as a midstream company–announced plans to build the State of Virginia’s largest natural gas powered electric generating plant, in Greensville County, VA (see 
A company we’ve written about for the past few years is UMH Properties–a New Jersey-based real estate company that keeps snapping up trailer parks in the Marcellus/Utica region (see our 
Stark State College, located in North Canton, OH, has just been awarded a half million dollar grant from OH Gov. John Kasich’s Education Innovation program to provide ShaleNET education and training to students at Stark State’s sister schools, Eastern Gateway Community College in Steubenville, OH and Hocking College in Nelsonville, OH. MDN first reported on Stark’s new Well Site Training Center back in 2014 (see 
We’ve commented on the impending election this November a few times. We try to keep our opinions about the disastrous Hillary Clinton out of MDN as much as possible, realizing not everyone agrees with us. (Have we told you lately what a DISASTER she would be as president?) However, energy–in particular fracking and shale–is a key issue in the upcoming election. Nowhere is that more obvious than the official party platforms recently adopted at each national party’s convention (in Cleveland for the Republicans, and in Philadelphia for the Democrats). The National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO) has done us a favor. NARO, a non-partisan organization, has extracted statements from each party platform with respect to energy issues (see it below). IT IS STRIKING. The Republican platform is pro-fossil fuel and the Democrat platform is anti-fossil fuel. There is no other conclusion you can draw. The Democrat platform calls for bizarre policies like requiring energy from so-called renewables to power 50% of our electricity within 10 years–an impossible goal that would destroy our country’s economy. Folks, there is no other way of saying this than to say it: A vote for Hillary is a vote to end your own job (if you work in and around the energy industry). Are you insane? No, we didn’t think so. Prove it by voting for Trump…
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Eric Schneiderman, NY’s tempestuous AG, does NRDC’s bidding in war against Exxon; final DEP Mariner East 2 hearing; TVA natgas-fired electric plant coming in TN; Sierra Clubbers file lawsuit against Sabal Trail pipeline; the coming frac sand boom; Eleventh Circuit Court disappoints, won’t hear WOTUS case; US ethane squeezing out Canadian propane/butane; and more!
Everyone loves a Top 5 or Top 10, including MDN. Who are the Top 5 drillers in the Utica Shale? It depends, of course, on your criteria for selecting such a list. One of MDN’s favorite writers on The Motley Fool website, Matt DiLallo, has just published what he calls “The 5 Companies Dominating the Utica Shale Play.” In other words, the Top 5 Utica drillers. Matt points out that in the span of five short years the Utica has become the nation’s second largest shale gas play, behind only the Marcellus. Matt uses a combination of acres-under-lease and number-of-wells-drilled to come up with his list of five drillers who are leading the charge in the Utica. It won’t surprise you to learn that Chesapeake Energy, which was the first company to drill in the Utica under then-CEO Aubrey McClendon, is head-and-shoulders above the rest as the #1 Dominator in the Utica. Some of the others in the Top 5 list may, however, surprise you. Here’s Matt’s excellent roundup of the Utica…