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Marcellus Drilling News
  • Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Reserves (Proved and Unproved) | Statewide OH

    Gulfport 2015 Update: Reserves Up 83%, NatGas Production Triples

    February 3, 2016February 3, 2016

    Gulfport Energy, a Utica Shale driller quite active in Ohio until mid-2015 when they began to pull back, released their fourth quarter and full year 2015 operational update yesterday. But not their financials–that comes later this month. There is no mention of drilling activity in 4Q15 (nor any guidance for 2016). We previously brought you the rumor that Gulfport was pushing the pause button on their drilling activities, back in November (see Rumor: Gulfport Energy Suspends Some (All?) Ohio Utica Drilling). However, data from the forthcoming Volume 3 of the 2015 Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook, which covers permit activity for from September through December 2015, shows that Gulfport received 30 permits in Ohio during that period of time. So it appears they have continued their program, albeit scaled back. The 4Q15 and full year 2015 update shows Gulfport’s oil and gas reserves have grown 83% for 2015 over 2014, and natural gas production tripled year over year. Production/operations-wise, 2015 was a very good year for Gulfport. What’s left to be seen is whether it was a good year for Gulfport financially too. Here’s the operations update…
    Read More “Gulfport 2015 Update: Reserves Up 83%, NatGas Production Triples”

  • Energy Companies | Exxon Mobil

    ExxonMobil 2015: 50% Decline in Earnings, Thank God for Downstream

    February 3, 2016February 3, 2016

    Yesterday ExxonMobil released its fourth quarter and full year 2015 update. Not a pretty picture. ExxonMobil is the largest oil and gas company headquartered in the U.S. It’s also the owner of XTO Energy–which is one of the major drillers in the Marcellus/Utica Shale. Everyone watches Exxon closely as a barometer for other oil “majors” as they’re called. Yesterday Exxon reported a 58% drop in quarterly profit for 4Q15 (over 4Q14), and a 50% decline in 2015 earnings over 2014 earnings. Capital and exploration spending was $31.1 billion in 2015, down 19% from 2014. Exxon anticipates more cuts in spending for 2016, with capital and exploration spending of $23.2 billion, a decrease of 25% from 2015 levels. The clear sentiment in the statement below is, “Thank God for downstream” (gas stations and chemical plants) which kept the company from falling even further…
    Read More “ExxonMobil 2015: 50% Decline in Earnings, Thank God for Downstream”

  • Anadarko | Energy Companies | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania

    Anadarko 2015: Loses $6.7B, Marcellus Drilling Almost Dried Up

    February 3, 2016February 3, 2016

    Anadarko Petroleum is a huge oil and gas company with drilling operations scattered all over the world–both onshore and offshore. One of those operations, teeny tiny for Anadarko, is in the Marcellus Shale in Lycoming County, PA. Some of their leases are for land in the Loyalsock State Forest where antis are attempting to stop Anadarko from drilling (see Antis Ask PA Gov Wolf to Stop New Drilling in Loyalsock Forest). Don’t worry, Anadarko can take a hint. What was once a very active drilling program in PA for Anadarko just a few years ago–with 30, 40, even 60 permits being issued for wells in any given four month period–has dried up to virtually nothing. For the last four months of 2015 Anadarko received 4 permits to drill in PA, according to the latest data from the Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook. On Monday Anadarko released their fourth quarter and full year 2015 results. The company posted a $1.25 billion loss for 4Q15 alone. The company lost $6.7 billion for the full year. Yikes! Grab the tourniquets before the company bleeds out! Anadarko announced spending for 2016 will be slashed 50% over 2015 spending levels…
    Read More “Anadarko 2015: Loses $6.7B, Marcellus Drilling Almost Dried Up”

  • Best of the Rest

    Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Feb 3, 2016

    February 3, 2016February 3, 2016

    The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Most prolific natgas region is in decline; big oil companies at risk of Moody’s downgrade; OH has drilled 1,673 Utica wells; crude by rail is slowing down; oil industry supports energy reform bill; Alberta cuts royalty tax to boost local drilling; BP’s disastrous 2015; and more!
    Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Feb 3, 2016”

  • Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

    Cabot O&G 2015 Update; Cutting 2016 Drilling Budget 58%

    February 2, 2016February 2, 2016

    cabot-logo-siteCabot Oil & Gas, one of the premier drillers in the Marcellus Shale (operates totally within Susquehanna County, PA) released their fourth quarter and full year 2015 operational update this morning. The highlights: Cabot ended up spending $774 million on capital expenditures (mostly drilling) in 2015, down a bit from the previous estimate of $850 million. It’s down because they scaled back activity during 4Q15. They also had to write down the value for some of their non-core holdings by $73 million–what’s called an impairment charge. Looking ahead, Cabot plans to spend $615 million on capital expenditures (i.e. drilling) in 2016, which is down 58% from 2015. They will drill approximately 30 new wells, 25 of them in the Marcellus and 5 in the Texas Eagle Ford Shale. Here’s the update…
    Read More “Cabot O&G 2015 Update; Cutting 2016 Drilling Budget 58%”

  • Energy Companies | Warren Resources

    Warren Resources Misses $7.5M Debt Payment, 30-Day Clock Ticking

    February 2, 2016February 2, 2016

    Warren Resources, a small, independent exploration and production company with an ongoing drilling programs in California, Wyoming, and in the northeast Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale, announced yesterday they won’t (for now) make a $7.5 million in payments due on IOUs (i.e. notes) that are due to be made this month. Even though they claim to have enough money in the bank. Big red flag. Instead, Warren has hired investment bank Jeffries LLC to help the company with “potential restructuring of its balance sheet” and the company has “initiated restructuring discussions with representatives of the creditors under its first and second lien credit facilities.” Restructuring is a cheaper and (if you can swing it) better alternative than bankruptcy. The question is, will Warren’s restructuring be enough to keep the company out of bankruptcy proceedings? The terms of missing the payment allow a 30-day grace period before bad stuff begins to happen. The clock is ticking…
    Read More “Warren Resources Misses $7.5M Debt Payment, 30-Day Clock Ticking”

  • Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

    2015 PA Impact Fee Goes Down for Drillers, Towns Get Less Too

    February 2, 2016February 2, 2016

    Pennsylvania’s impact fee–their version of a severance tax–was crafted and became law in February 2012 as part of the Act 13 law. Since that time the impact fee has generated $854 million in revenue, with 60% of that revenue going to the local municipalities (towns and counties) where drilling actually happens, and the other 40% going to the black hole of politicians’ sticky fingers in Harrisburg for pork barrel projects. The 40% portion is the shakedown required to get the law passed in the first place. Disgusting, we know. The impact fee itself is a somewhat complex calculation with the highest fee paid during the first year and going down from there (see below). The fees across all years are based on the average price of natural gas sold at the Henry Hub for the previous year. Because the price of natgas tanked in 2015, impact fees paid by drillers will be lower than in previous years when the average price was higher. PA drillers will save $5,000 per well drilled for the first year, $5,000 per well in the second year, and so on…
    Read More “2015 PA Impact Fee Goes Down for Drillers, Towns Get Less Too”

  • Antero Resources | Doddridge County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Kanawha County | Litigation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

    More People Pile on Antero, Seek to Join Mass “Nuisance” Lawsuit

    February 2, 2016February 2, 2016

    Last September MDN told you about the troubling news that more than 200 residents in WV (likely those who don’t own the mineral rights under their land) began filing “scores” of “nuisance” lawsuits over the past couple of years against Antero Resources and Hall Drilling, in places like Doddridge County (see Scores of “Nuisance” Lawsuits Against WV Drillers Combined). The lawsuits claim excessive traffic, odors and noise from nearby drilling make it “impossible” for them to enjoy their homes. The troubling development was that all of these lawsuits (dozens? hundreds?) had been rolled up into one mega lawsuit that sits before the WV Mass Litigation Panel. In other words a class action lawsuit. Since then we’d not heard anything, until we read about two more such lawsuits filed in Kanawha County. The lawyers want to add the two to the existing mass litigation case…
    Read More “More People Pile on Antero, Seek to Join Mass “Nuisance” Lawsuit”

  • Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | M&A

    Dominion Resources Makes Play for Western NatGas Company Questar

    February 2, 2016February 2, 2016

    In what is being called a “cheap” deal, midstream and local utility Dominion, with a major presence in the Marcellus/Utica region, has floated a takover offer to Questar Corporation, offering to buy the company for $4.4 billion. Questar is a Rockies-based integrated natural gas company operating through three principal subsidiaries: Questar Gas provides retail natural gas distribution in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho; Wexpro develops and produces natural gas on behalf of Questar Gas; and Questar Pipeline operates interstate natural gas pipelines and storage facilities in the Western U.S. The deal is an attempt by Dominion to diversify out of the northeast/Mid-Atlantic region. It’s also a deal to bump up Dominion’s natural gas footprint, lessening the company’s reliance on electric power generation which is not growing. The reason this is MDN news is because…
    Read More “Dominion Resources Makes Play for Western NatGas Company Questar”

  • Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Statewide OH

    Federal Judge Tosses Anti Lawsuit Against MWCD re OH Lease Deals

    February 2, 2016February 2, 2016

    In some older news (but good news) that has until now escaped our notice, late last year a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit we first told you about in October 2013 (see Muskingum Watershed Taken to Court by Anti-Frackers (Yawn)). Lea Harper and her husband Steve filed a lawsuit challenging the right of the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District to enter into lease agreements with drillers to allow shale drilling on Conservancy-owned land. The Harpers were assisted in this lawsuit by the radical and odious Food & Water Watch. Judge Sara Lioi of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio found the lawsuit lacking in merit and tossed it. The Harpers and their Big Green backers have appealed the decision…
    Read More “Federal Judge Tosses Anti Lawsuit Against MWCD re OH Lease Deals”

  • Energy Services | Summit Midstream

    Instead of Selling, ECP Increases Ownership of Summit Midstream

    February 2, 2016February 2, 2016

    In November MDN told you that the majority owner of Summit Midstream, private equity firm Energy Capital Partners (ECP) was looking to sell some or all of their units (i.e. shares) in the company (see Summit Midstream 3Q15: Current Owner ECP Looking to Sell). At the time ECP owned 43.8% of the company. Looks like that plan didn’t work out so well–at least so far. In a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Summit reveals that ECP now owns 47.1% of the company…
    Read More “Instead of Selling, ECP Increases Ownership of Summit Midstream”

  • Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Public Opinion

    Survey: O&G Workers Love the Industry, but Not Their Company

    February 2, 2016February 2, 2016

    We spotted some interesting survey results from a survey conducted by the UK-based recruiting firm Petroplan. The survey polled more than 1,500 oil and gas professionals asking them about their attitudes toward our beloved industry. Respondents came from 107 countries and territories worldwide. Over 60% of those surveyed said they would be “very” or “extremely” likely to recommend a career in the oil and gas industry to others. However, their commitment to the particular company they work for, i.e. “company loyalty,” is low. Some 56% said they’d change jobs “given the right circumstances.” Here’s a high level overview of the survey results…
    Read More “Survey: O&G Workers Love the Industry, but Not Their Company”

  • Energy Companies | Energy Services | Equinor/Statoil | GE Oil & Gas | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

    4 People Win GE/Statoil Contest to Reduce Water Used in Shale

    February 2, 2016February 2, 2016

    GE and Norwegian oil giant Statoil today announced four winners of their Open Innovation Challenge, a contest designed to use crowd sourcing to find solutions that reduce fresh water use in shale oil and gas production. There of the winners are in the United States, and one is from Australia. Each winner gets a cash prize of $25,000 with the promise of future funding for their technology. Here’s the cool new technologies that won this year’s contest…
    Read More “4 People Win GE/Statoil Contest to Reduce Water Used in Shale”

  • Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues

    Will NatGas Price Drop to 20-Year Low in February? Quite Possibly

    February 2, 2016February 2, 2016

    A somewhat depressing article on MarketWatch says we are potentially heading for natural gas prices (at the Henry Hub) of $1.50 or lower. If the price hits those levels, it will be the lowest prices we’ve seen for natgas in the past 21 years. Even more ominous was a comment by oil and gas industry titan T. Boone Pickens. In a recent CNBC interview Boone said this: “I don’t think we’ll ever see $3 natural gas again.” Ouch. If that’s true, the question becomes, how can companies make a profit at these super low prices? Here’s more on what may lie ahead for natgas prices this month and this year…
    Read More “Will NatGas Price Drop to 20-Year Low in February? Quite Possibly”

  • Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Gastar Exploration

    Gastar’s Mike McCown Retires; Peg Heeg Joins Columbia Pipeline Bd

    February 2, 2016February 2, 2016

    From time to time we mention people coming and going at various drilling and midstream companies. The reason we mention it is because when there are changes at the top of an organization, it has the potential to affect the future actions of that organization. We have two such moves to report. The first is that Mike McCown, senior vice president and chief operating officer for driller Gastar is retiring. We’ve quoted Mike a number of times over the years–he’s an important cog in the Gastar wheel. The second bit of news is that Peggy Heeg has joined the board of directors at midstream giant Columbia Pipeline. Peggy is an attorney and former general counsel at El Paso Corporation…
    Read More “Gastar’s Mike McCown Retires; Peg Heeg Joins Columbia Pipeline Bd”

  • Best of the Rest

    Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Feb 2, 2016

    February 2, 2016February 2, 2016

    The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Marcellus rig count lowest since 2010; why Marcellus may spell the end for Canadian natgas; Marcellus/Utica “overpiped”?; more proppant = more production in NE; FERC destroys opposition to Constitution Pipeline; BP cutting jobs; Harold Hamm says $60 oil this year; and more!
    Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Feb 2, 2016”

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