Marcellus Drilling News

Energy Companies | Gastar Exploration

Gastar 2015: Paper Loss of $429M; Ending Preferred Dividends
March 11, 2016March 11, 2016

As MDN previously reported, Gastar Exploration is throwing in the towel in the Marcellus/Utica (see Gastar Leaving Marcellus/Utica, Sells Assets to Tug Hill for $80M). Gastar is selling its Marcellus/Utica assets–mainly located in Marshall and Wetzel counties in West Virginia–to Tug Hill for $80 million. Before they go into the long, dark night, Gastar has just filed its fourth quarter and full year 2015 operating and financial update. During 2015 Gastar lost $429 million–but virtually all of it was a paper loss of writing down assets (not out of pocket money loss). Gastar also announced yesterday that after this month, the company will no longer pay dividends on its preferred stock. Here’s the updates from yesterday…
Read More “Gastar 2015: Paper Loss of $429M; Ending Preferred Dividends”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Transco | Williams

Dela. Riverkeeper Sues FERC Again – Over Leidy Pipeline Expansion
March 11, 2016March 11, 2016

It’s another week, so it must be time for another lawsuit from THE Delaware Riverkeeper against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Literally. Last week THE Delaware Riverkeeper, aka Maya van Rossum, filed a lawsuit against FERC to try and shut the agency down (see THE Delaware Riverkeeper Sues FERC, Tries to Close it Down). Not trusting their frivolous lawsuit will actually go anywhere, this week Riverkeeper filed another lawsuit (in a string of many)–this one aimed at making FERC reverse a decision to allow an expansion of Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Co.’s (Transco’s) Leidy Southeast pipeline. A year ago Riverkeeper filed a lawsuit against the same project in an attempt to stop tree clearing–a tactic that ultimately failed (see Dela. Riverkeeper Loses Bid to Stop Transco Expansion in PA). When will a judge slap Riverkeeper with a fine for its continued practice of filing frivolous lawsuits? Here’s the latest…
Read More “Dela. Riverkeeper Sues FERC Again – Over Leidy Pipeline Expansion”
Housing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA

Trailer Park Company Credits Marcellus/Utica for Record Profits
March 11, 2016March 11, 2016

A company we’ve written about for the past few years is UMH Properties–a real estate company that keeps snapping up trailer parks in the Marcellus/Utica region (see our UMH Properties stories here). UMH is a public company with shares of stock. Therefore, it files quarterly and annual reports, and hosts analyst conference calls. MDN picked through the latest from UMH to find some interesting quotes. In essence, UMH still loves the Marcellus/Utica and will continue to look for new acquisitions in our neck of the woods. The company made $14 million last year (in the black). So you see, not everyone in the Marcellus/Utica is going through tough times. Here’s a few select quotes from the annual report and from the UMH earnings phone call with analysts…
Read More “Trailer Park Company Credits Marcellus/Utica for Record Profits”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Mar 11, 2016
March 11, 2016March 11, 2016

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Atlantic Bridge Pipeline gets FERC rate approval; Univ of Cinci releases frack study, sort of; PA Supremes hear couple of o&g cases; Southwestern Energy has only one option to save itself; good news/bad news in the oil patch; o&g industry creates hundreds of thousands of jobs for women & minorities; and more!
Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Mar 11, 2016”
Energy Companies | Halcon Resources

Halcon Resources Hires Bankruptcy Law Firm to Help “Chart Course”
March 10, 2016March 10, 2016

Halcon Resources is a driller that “guessed wrong” by leasing 140,000 Utica Shale acres in the northern part of the play (in Ohio) and currently doesn’t drill in any of that acreage. In January the company suspended paying dividends (see Halcon Resources Suspends Dividend Payments for Preferred Stock). In February the company issued an “everything is OK, honest” statement, to calm investors’ fears (see Halcon Tries to Calm Jittery Investors with “Everything is OK” Statement). At that time the stock was trading for 42 cents per share. Perhaps it worked. Halcon’s stock, as of this morning, was trading at $1.08 per share. Is it enough? Yesterday Halcon announced they’ve hired PJT Partners as financial advisors and Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP as legal advisors “to assist the Company as it charts a course through this downturn.” Both firms have been added to the board of directors. We checked, and the law firm claims it is “the go-to bankruptcy firm.” Hmmm. Is that an indication of things to come?…
Read More “Halcon Resources Hires Bankruptcy Law Firm to Help “Chart Course””
Energy Services | Ethane | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Sunoco Logistics

Bon Voyage! First Ethane Export Ship Leaves Marcus Hook in Philly
March 10, 2016March 10, 2016

An Ineos tanker ship carrying 173,000 barrels of Marcellus ethane set sail yesterday from the Marcus Hook terminal near Philadelphia. On Feb. 24 we brought you the story that the ship would set sail “within a week” (see Marcellus Ethane Export Sets Sail “Within a Week” from Philly). One week turned into two weeks–perhaps that’s to be expected. But finally! Our Marcellus ethane is now on the high seas heading for Norway…
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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Dimock Trial Update: Jury Deliberates, Asks Judge for $$ Guidance
March 10, 2016March 10, 2016

Now that the trial against Cabot Oil & Gas–a trial in which the two families from Dimock, PA allege Cabot caused the water wells of two families to become contaminated with methane–has gone to the jury for deliberation, the Democrat-controlled Scranton Times-Tribune and local TV station WNEP have all sudden woken up and started to cover the trial again. They simply ignored the trial for nearly two weeks as witness after witness for the plantiffs was exposed on the witness stand as lying or shading the truth. It was so bad, the Times-Tribune and WNEP simply stopped reporting the news. Now that the jury has taken more than six hours to deliberate and have asked the judge about monetary compensation–indicating they may actually find for the plantiffs–the anti-drilling Times-Tribune and WNEP is all atwitter. They’ve decided to begin covering the story again…
Read More “Dimock Trial Update: Jury Deliberates, Asks Judge for $$ Guidance”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Anti-Driller Vera Scroggins Assaults Phelim McAleer at Dimock Trial
March 10, 2016March 10, 2016

Vera Scroggins is a little-known anti-driller from Susquehanna County, PA who sometimes pops up in the news for trespassing on Cabot Oil & Gas drill sites (see PA Fracktivist Permanently Banned from Cabot Property). We know she has a potty mouth–just witness her abusive treatment of Phelim McAleer (creator of the FrackNation documentary) a few years ago, insulting him and swearing at him (watch this video). It seems Vera has a violent streak too. Yesterday outside the courthouse in Scranton, PA where two Dimock families suing Cabot have a trial under way, Phelim tried to interview and ask questions of a Dimock family not part of the court case, Craig and Julie Sautner. Phelim is persistent, like any good reporter, and he had his camera rolling as he repeatedly asked them to respond to the plaintiffs’ lawyer’s admission that no chemicals contaminated the water in Dimock–as they (the Sautners) have claimed. Vera was with the Sautners and tried to keep McAleer away from them. At one point she physically struck him, several times, all caught on tape. The police were called but no charges have been filed (yet). Here’s the video to show what happened…
Read More “Anti-Driller Vera Scroggins Assaults Phelim McAleer at Dimock Trial”
Ohio | Statewide OH

Ohio Utica Shale Production Doubles in 2015! Top 5 Counties & Drillers
March 10, 2016March 10, 2016

The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) yesterday released fourth quarter 2015 production numbers. The report shows that Utica oil production was up 75% in 4Q15 over 4Q14, and Utica natural gas production was up 80% in 4Q15 over 4Q14. Comparing year to year, shale oil production in 2015 for Ohio was up 100% (it doubled) over 2014, and shale natural gas production in 2015 was up 111% over 2014. The Utica Shale is truly the miracle that keeps on giving in the Buckeye State! Below is the ODNR announcement, along with a deeper analysis including the Top 5 counties and Top 5 drillers in the Utica Shale…
Read More “Ohio Utica Shale Production Doubles in 2015! Top 5 Counties & Drillers”
Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

List of 24 Ohio Utica Drillers & Their #1 Producing Wells in 4Q15
March 10, 2016March 10, 2016

The production numbers are in for Ohio, and wow! What a fourth quarter! (See our companion story today: Ohio Utica Shale Production Doubles in 2015! Top 5 Counties & Drillers) Ace reporter Tom Knox from Columbus Business First has analyzed the data from the fourth quarter and assembled a list of the 24 active drillers in the Utica Shale, along with identifying their single-most productive Utica well in 4Q15. It is a cool list. Here it is…
Read More “List of 24 Ohio Utica Drillers & Their #1 Producing Wells in 4Q15”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Jessup Borough Final Approval for PA’s Largest NatGas Power Plant
March 10, 2016March 10, 2016

Kudos to the members of the Jessup Borough Council (Lackawanna County, PA) who approved several measures that have now cleared the way for Invenergy to begin building Pennsylvania’s largest (to date) natural gas-powered electric generating plant. We’ve tracked this story for years. Invenergy wants to build a 1,480 megawatt electric generating plant in Jessup using cheap, abundant Marcellus Shale gas. They’re going to spend something like $500 million on the project–a big investment in Jessup and the greater Scranton, PA area. Previously the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved the project (see PA DEP Approves Jessup, PA Marcellus Gas Electric Plant). But there has been some serious local opposition, based on fears of air pollution (see Public Hearing on NEPA Proposed Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant). All of the debating and toing and froing are now done. With Monday’s votes, it’s now time for the bulldozers to begin moving dirt at the site…
Read More “Jessup Borough Final Approval for PA’s Largest NatGas Power Plant”
Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy

Gulfport Floats 2nd Stock Offering in a Year, Wants $371M
March 10, 2016March 10, 2016

How many times can you go to the (money) well? Gulfport Energy plans to find out. Gulfport, like many upstream (i.e. drilling) companies is in short supply of cash. One of the favorite techniques to raise new piles of cash is to sell off further ownership in the company by floating new stock. Gulfport did it in April of 2015 when it floated 9.5 million shares looking to raise $454 million (see Gulfport Upsizes Stock Offering to 9.5M Shares, Seeks $454M). They’re going back to the well again. This time they’re floating 14.7 million shares at a hoped-for price of $25.25 per share, meaning they want to get $371 million. Will they get it?…
Read More “Gulfport Floats 2nd Stock Offering in a Year, Wants $371M”
Energy Companies | Southwestern Energy

Southwestern in 2015…Drill Like Crazy; in 2016…Don’t Drill
March 10, 2016March 10, 2016

One of our favorite authors who writes for The Motley Fool, Matt DiLallo, has just published another excellent article. This one is about Southwestern Energy, one of the biggest drillers in the Marcellus Shale. Matt looks at why Southwestern’s stock price dropped like a rock in February–down 32% in a single month. In February 2015, MDN pointed out Southwestern had adopted a contrarian plan for the year–doubling down on drilling in the Marcellus (see Southwestern’s Contrarian Plan: Double Down on Drilling in the Marcellus). At the time most drillers in our neck of the woods were pulling back and drilling less. Not Southwestern. And that’s what Matt points out in his brief article. It was Southwestern’s breakneck drilling last year that got them into financial trouble. Southwestern has announced that for 2016 they’ve suspended all drilling. According to Matt, “The company clearly learned a valuable lesson last year”…
Read More “Southwestern in 2015…Drill Like Crazy; in 2016…Don’t Drill”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Obama DOJ Considers Prosecuting Global Warming Deniers
March 10, 2016March 10, 2016

Is this what our once-great country has come to under Barack Hussein Obama? The criminalization of free speech? If you simply say, as MDN does, that extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere–caused by mankind’s activity in burning fossil fuels–is NOT causing Mother Earth to catastrophically warm up, the Obama Justice Department is considering prosecuting you and throwing you in jail. So says the head of the DOJ, Attorney General Loretta Lynch. It is the death of the First Amendment of our tattered Constitution–a Constitution daily shredded by Obama and his sycophants…
Read More “Obama DOJ Considers Prosecuting Global Warming Deniers”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Litigation

Radicalized Children Try to Force Climate Change Action in Court
March 10, 2016March 10, 2016

In August 2015 MDN told you about a lawsuit brought by a group of left coast radicalized children who want to force the federal government to become communist and “force action” on mythical climate change (see Group of Kids Sues U.S. Govt to Force Action on “Climate Change”). This past January the case proceeded with industry groups joining the government as defendants (see Climate Change Lawsuit by Radicalized Children Gets Interesting). What’s happening is that adults are using children to force a radical/Fascist agenda on the American public. The so-called children had their first day in court yesterday. The defendants–the government and groups like the American Petroleum Institute–asked the judge to throw out the case…
Read More “Radicalized Children Try to Force Climate Change Action in Court”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Mar 10, 2016
March 10, 2016March 10, 2016

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Belmont County talks RUMA with drillers & pipeline companies; the case against the CELDF; WV production blows by 1 Tcf in 2014; no further cut in WV severance tax this year; divestment bill dies in Vermont legislature; Sabine ruling in midstream contact case not a precedent–everyone hopes; irrational exuberance in the oilfield; and more!
Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Mar 10, 2016”