Carrizo O&G Top Management Dumps Another $646K in Company Stock
Carrizo Oil & Gas, a Houston-based driller, actively drills in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas, the Delaware Basin in West Texas, the Niobrara Formation in Colorado, and until mid-year in 2015, they did have an active drilling program in the Ohio Utica and Pennsylvania Marcellus. No more. They haven’t drilled in Appalachia since 3Q15 (see Carrizo O&G 1Q16: Still Not Active in the Marcellus, Prod. Down). However, we expect at some point Carrizo will return to northeast drilling–so we keep track of the company. Last year we noted that Carrizo’s top mangement was engaged in dumping the company’s stock (see What’s Up with Carrizo Top Mgmt Continued Selling of Co. Stock?). They’re at it again. Three of Carrizo’s top managers, including the CEO, COO and a VP, along with a board member, have just sold off a collective 17,082 shares worth $646,280. Hey, we have absolutely no issue with those who help a company succeed, in profiting from that success. Top managers are often awarded stock bonuses and it’s not uncommon to cash them in. But we get nervous when we see the people running a company selling large tranches of stock, repeatedly. Makes us wonder what they know that we don’t!…
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As you may have noticed, in today’s lineup of stories MDN covered news about two different natural gas-fired electric plant companies and the plants they are building in the northeast. Gas-fired plants are not only springing up everywhere in the northeast, but across the country. Why? Because a) Obama’s war on coal has forced many coal generating plants to close, and b) shale gas has made clean-burning natural gas as cheap as, sometimes cheaper than, burning coal to produce electricity. But coal and natgas aren’t the only sources that produce electricity. Solar, wind, biomass and others are also used to produce electricity. Radical environmentalists, who frankly don’t think for themselves and live in a false bubble, pretend that solar and wind could, “if we only had the will,” take over all electric production in this country. What a lark. There’s a reason natural gas is becoming the dominant fuel to produce electricity in this country–it costs less. Our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, is fresh out with an analysis of how much it costs to build new electric plants. Guess which source is the cheapest? Yep–natural gas. And guess which sources cost two-to-four times as much to build as natgas? Yep–wind and solar. Which is why the radicals want to force natural gas into oblivion. Their preferred sources just can’t compete economically…
A new report just issued by Global consulting and research firm IHS, says that Canadian oil sands and U.S. “tight oil” (i.e. shale oil) production have “become the twin pillars of North American energy security.” Canada’s oil sands the shale in U.S. represent 95% of the growth in North American oil production from 2009-2015. Over the same time we reduced our dependence on offshore oil imports by 40%. Folks, this is HUGE. Fracking of shale is nothing short of a miracle in our country. For Crazy Bernie Sanders to shout, as he did at a rally in California last week, that “We are going to ban fracking all across this country” is insanity itself. Can you imagine if that fossil actually became President and signed an Executive Order banning all fracking? Hillary Clinton’s position is essentially the same as Crazy Bernie’s. Loony tunes. For the first time since the oil shocks of the 1970s when OPEC began to royally screw us over, we now can tell OPEC where to go pump their oil. You can see why Obama’s decision to deny the Keystone XL Pipeline from Canada is so stupid and damaging to our energy security…
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Rice Energy approves directors; Integrated Core ups ownership of Rice; Wellington Mgmt ups ownership of Southwestern; JPMorgan Chase ups ownership of Rex Energy; OH uses geography & shale to sell the downstream; Reed Smith cutting back on space; Crazy Bernie promises to ban fracking from sea to shining sea; natgas price hits a new 5-month high; $50/barrel for oil won’t last, crash coming; CNG roadshow; and more!
Warren Resources, a small driller that drilled and brought online their first two Marcellus Shale wells last year, is based in Houston and operates in California, Colorado, Wyoming and Pennsylvania. In February MDN told you that Warren missed an important $7.5 million payment, the first ominous signal of what was to come (see 
As we do every month, MDN tracks how many rigs oilfield services company Patterson-UTI Energy reports operating–as a proxy for when/if the drop in rig counts for the Marcellus/Utica will turn around. Patterson operates a number of rigs in the northeast, as well as other areas of the continental United States (and Canada). Month by month Paterson’s rig count has declined over the past year plus. May was no different–although the good news is that the rate of decline slowed. Patterson reports operating an average of 53 rigs in May, versus 56 in April–a 5% drop…
It’s always fun to point out just how hypocritical Big Green groups, like the Sierra Clubbers, actually are. The Sierra Club in New Jersey is all up in arms that utility company UGI has hired a former member of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, Pamela Witmer, as vice president of government affairs. MDN was the first source to tell you the importance of her hiring, i.e. to help get the PennEast Pipeline approved (see 
In May 2015 MDN reported that after more than two years of acrimony and lawsuits between Range Resources and Mt. Pleasant (Washington County), PA., Range agreed to close four freshwater ponds (called “impoundments,” not to be confused with wastewater impoundments) the company was using to drill wells in nearby non-Mt. Pleasant locations (see 
We are close to the endgame with respect to Pennsylvania adopting onerous new drilling regulations rammed through by the former Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection, John Quigley. MDN reported in April that the state’s Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) voted to approve the new regulations (see 
Last July MDN told you that Talen Energy, an electric generation company based in Allentown, PA, had cut a deal to acquire MACH Gen, LLC, the owner of three natural gas-fired electric generating plants (see 
Events related to drilling in the Marcellus and Utica Shale, primarily pro-drilling.