• Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Dec 7, 2015

    The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Cuomo’s new (arrogant) energy mandates; Halcon note exchange successful; PA DEP still playing catch-up in regulating shale; Harrisburg finally has a budget deal (again); nutjobs press for Penn State for more action on so-called climate change; WV’s high natgas reserves; Mass. AG in bed with corrupt journalism; fracking in Florida; OPEC’s price war on gas & oil not over; and more!
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    Former XTO Marcellus Landman Gets 5+ Years in Prison for Fraud

    prisonIn a somewhat complicated scam, a former landman for XTO Energy, Steven E. Fisackerly (33 years old) defrauded XTO out of more than $1 million with fake lease deals in the West Virginia Marcellus Shale region. He cooked up bogus documents and passed them off as real, pocketing commissions. He even worked with a supposed/fake mineral rights owner to pocket kickbacks from lease payments sent to the fake rights owner. It was elaborate and convoluted–and ultimately stupid. Fisackerly plead guilty in May and will enter prison on January 4. His sentence? Pay back more than $1 million he defrauded from XTO, and serve 63 months (over 5 years) in federal prison…
    Read More “Former XTO Marcellus Landman Gets 5+ Years in Prison for Fraud”

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    OH Shale Wells Already Smash 2014 Record, 3Q15 Results (Exclusive)

    Ohio’s oil and natural gas horizontal well (i.e. Utica) production for 2015 has, has of the third quarter, already surpassed production for all of 2014 according to the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR). The ODNR issued their latest quarterly production update, for 3Q15, yesterday. During 3Q15 Ohio’s horizontal shale wells produced 5.7 million barrels of oil and 245 billion cubic feet of natural gas. Below we have the ODNR’s high level overview of the numbers, along with our own analysis showing: the top 25 producing gas wells, the top 25 producing oil wells, and then the top 25 gas and oil wells as ranked by average production per day. There is a difference! The longer an oil or gas well is online, the less it produces. Newer wells produce more. So we show you which wells are not just producing the most quantity overall, but which wells are producing at the fastest (most productive) rates–even if they haven’t yet been online a full three months (92 days). We also include a link to the complete list of 1,134 wells that had at least some Utica oil or gas production in 3Q15 in a more usable format than that provided by the ODNR…
    Read More “OH Shale Wells Already Smash 2014 Record, 3Q15 Results (Exclusive)”

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    Magnum Hunter Investor: We’ll Sue to Stop Bankruptcy Filing

    Dallas Salazar
    Dallas Salazar

    A developing situation with Magnum Hunter Resources (MHR). As you know, analysts we’ve read believe MHR is about to file for bankruptcy. In fact, MHR itself indicates bankruptcy is a very real (likely?) option, judging from comments they make in a recent filing they made with the SEC (see Dire Straits: Magnum Hunter Tells SEC Heading for Bankruptcy). However, one of MHR’s largest stockholders, Dallas Salazar, CEO of Austin, TX-­based Atlas Consulting, is telling MHR to hold on (see Activist Investor Threatens Magnum Hunter with Takeover Unless…). Salazar and a growing list of supporters will fight an MHR bankruptcy tooth and nail. Salazar has assembled a team of investors who will sue MHR should the company file for bankruptcy. Salazar’s legal team is the same team that previously (and successfully) sued Washington Mutual on behalf of shareholders. Salazar, in very frank language, has sent a letter to MHR management to let them know bankruptcy is not an option (see the letter below)…
    Read More “Magnum Hunter Investor: We’ll Sue to Stop Bankruptcy Filing”

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    Chesapeake Energy Floats Plan to Exchange $1.5B Worth of IOUs

    On Wednesday Chesapeake Energy announced a “private exchange offer for senior notes.” Disclaimer right up front: We’re not high finance people here at MDN. Some of this stuff befuddles us. However, we’ll try to make sense of what Chessy is offering. If we can boil it all down, Chesapeake is offering to exchange senior notes, or IOUs that are coming due in the next few years, with something called second lien (or secured) notes. Second lien notes are, of course, lower in priority for payback (should there be a default) than more senior notes. Chesapeake is hoping to entice current unsecured (no guarantee of a payback) noteholders with notes currently due in 2017/2018 with secured notes due in 2022 with a more favorable interest rate. The secured notes, as we noted, are second-in-line to other notes and debt obligations. Chesapeake is hoping to exchange up to $1.5 billion of new 8% senior secured second lien notes due in 2022 for certain outstanding unsecured notes. Will they be successful?…
    Read More “Chesapeake Energy Floats Plan to Exchange $1.5B Worth of IOUs”

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    Marathon/MarkWest Investor Day: 9 New Opportunities in Midstream

    Yesterday Marathon Petroleum, new owner of MarkWest Energy Partners, held an analyst and investor day at their Findlay, Ohio headquarters. During the meeting Marathon unveiled a $4.2 billion capital investment plan for 2016. Of that $4.2B, $1.2B will go to infrastructure projects for MarkWest, almost entirely in the Marcellus/Utica region. As part of the presentation Marathon/MarkWest detailed a list of nine potential investment opportunities that is pursued will cost between $6-$9 billion. Among those opportunities: building out pipeline infrastructure in the Rogersville Shale, and investing in “ethane cracker infrastructure.” Below is the press release issued by Marathon along with a copy of the investor presentation they used at the meeting (unfortunately we don’t yet have a transcript of the official presentation). We’ve indicated our favorite slides from the (extensive and long) presentation, slides we think you’ll find interesting too…
    Read More “Marathon/MarkWest Investor Day: 9 New Opportunities in Midstream”

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    EQT’s Steve Schlotterbeck Becomes President, Heir Apparent

    Looks to us like we now know who is next in line to run EQT–one of the largest drillers in the Marcellus/Utica and driller of (so far) the single most productive shale well ever, the Scotts Run 591340 dry Utica well in Greene County, PA producing 72.9 million cubic feet per day initially (see EQT’s 1st Utica Well Shatters Record – 72.9 MMcf/d IP Rate!). Until now David Porges has held the office of president and CEO of EQT. Porges will retain the CEO title, but Steve Schlotterbeck, previously executive vice president and president of exploration & production will take on the role of president for the entire company. Which makes him the heir apparent when Porges decides to retire…
    Read More “EQT’s Steve Schlotterbeck Becomes President, Heir Apparent”

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    Cinci Law Firm Opens New Office/Energy Practice in Pittsburgh

    292586LOGOJust last week we told you it’s getting so bad out there because of the low price of oil and gas, that even some law firms are closing down. We told you that Burleson LLP, headquartered in Houston but with a sizable office they opened in Pittsburgh six years ago, is shutting down all of their offices, including Pittsburgh (see Prominent Energy Law Firm Closing Down – Lack of Business). That puts 31 Burleson employees (including 26 lawyers) in the unemployment line. But just like that, another law firm, this one from Cincinnati, has just announced they are OPENING a new office in Pittsburgh. And guess what? They’ve hired 10 of those Burleson lawyers for their new Pittsburgh office…
    Read More “Cinci Law Firm Opens New Office/Energy Practice in Pittsburgh”

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    PennEast: The Long, Careful, Deliberate Road to Pipeline Approval

    The latest theme/meme being pedaled by groups like THE Delaware Riverkeeper (Maya van Rossum) and other anti-fossil fuel groups is that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is just a big ole rubber stamp for Big Oil and Big Gas. FERC, they say, never met a pipeline project they didn’t approve. FERC is in the back pocket of the fossil fuel industry. Yada yada yada. Some of the crazier of the crazies took to attending open FERC meetings in Washington, DC and disrupting those meetings (see FERC Clears the Room at DC HQ After Riff Raff Start Mouthing Off). Once they were banned from attending, they began to illegally block entrance to the building (see 24 Anti-Drilling Protesters Arrested by Homeland Security in DC). FERC has been made a kindergartenish bogyman by those who oppose pipelines. To counter some of the nonsense pedaled by these groups (and their willing accomplices in the media), PennEast Pipeline recently published an article to set the record straight. FERC doesn’t simply rubber stamp a pipeline application like PennEast’s–a pipeline proposed to run from Wilkes-Barre, PA to Trenton, NJ. PennEast faces a “gauntlet of approvals”–including 11 federal, state and local agencies that must approve thousands of pages of plans, much of it stringent safety requirements. Approving a pipeline is an intense, detailed, and LONG process in which no stone is left unturned. There is no rubber stamp except in the childish minds of irrational anti-fossil fuelers…
    Read More “PennEast: The Long, Careful, Deliberate Road to Pipeline Approval”

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    Patterson-UTI Rig Count Hits New Low in November

    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). The company has just issued their report for November, and once again the rig count went down. However, the company reports idling only one more rig in November over October–operating 91 rigs in November vs 92 in October. Is the slide in rig counts finally ending? About to turn around?…
    Read More “Patterson-UTI Rig Count Hits New Low in November”

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    Seneca Res. Cuts Deal with IOG Capital to Fund Up to 80 PA Wells

    Art of the DealYesterday National Fuel Gas Company, the utility giant headquartered in Buffalo, NY and parent of Marcellus driller Seneca Resources, announced that Seneca has partnered up with energy investor IOG Capital to essentially fund Seneca’s Marcellus drilling program in Elk, McKean and Cameron counties in north-central Pennsylvania. The outlines of the deal are thus: IOG will provide the cash and Seneca will do the drilling on up to 80 Marcellus wells on 10,500 acres in the Clermont/Rich Valley area of PA. IOG will get an 80% working interest in the wells. In addition to drilling the wells, National Fuel’s midstream subsidiary will connect the wells and get the gas to market. What this deal means is that Marcellus drilling activity in the Clermont/Rich Valley area will pick up over the few years. Here’s the details of this somewhat complicated deal…
    Read More “Seneca Res. Cuts Deal with IOG Capital to Fund Up to 80 PA Wells”

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    Marcellus Driller Cabot Oil & Gas Gets 2 New Board Members

    Cabot Oil & Gas, one of the largest and one of the most important Marcellus drillers, has just added two more people to their Board of Directors. One of the two is Dorothy Ables, Chief Administrative Officer of midstream (pipeline) giant Spectra Energy. Cabot’s CEO Dan Dinges calls Dorothy a midstream expert that will help guide them as midstream becomes critical moving forward. The second new member is Robert Boswell, Chairman and CEO of Laramie Energy II, a privately held oil and gas exploration and production company headquartered in Denver. Boswell has started–and successfully sold–several previous drilling companies before starting Laramie Energy II, focused on the Piceance Basin in Colorado, in 2007. Boswell is there to replace board member Robert Keiser who is retiring from the board next year. Here’s the announcement…
    Read More “Marcellus Driller Cabot Oil & Gas Gets 2 New Board Members”

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    Rumor: NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo Will Be Indicted Jan 2 for Corruption

    New York State, when it comes to our elected officials, is a corrupt as it gets. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has been on a mission to clean up corruption in the Empire State. Bharara is making a name for himself like another former U.S. Attorney–Rudy Giuliani. Bharara has been extremely successful so far: Both former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (Democrat) and former Senate Deputy Majority Leader Tom Libous (Republican) have been convicted of corruption and removed from office. Currently the former Senate Majority Leader, Dean Skelos, is on trial in federal court in Manhattan and almost certainly will be convicted as well (see our story from yesterday, Bombshell Revelation: Cuomo was on Cusp of Lifting Frack Ban). NY State’s politics has always been known as “three men in a room” because the Governor, Assembly Speaker and Senate Majority Leader are the power brokers who cut deals that then get adopted. With two of the three men in the room either convicted (or about to be convicted) as corrupt felons, it makes you wonder about the third man–Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Another bombshell revelation: sources are telling the Buffalo Chronicle (a blog site) what has long been rumored–that Preet Bharara will go after Andrew Cuomo next. In fact, three (!) sources have told the Chronicle that Bharara will file an indictment against Cuomo on Jan. 2, 2016. So what does this have to do with shale drilling?…
    Read More “Rumor: NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo Will Be Indicted Jan 2 for Corruption”

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    Water Well Testing Near OH Injection Wells Comes Back Negative

    Athens County, OH is infested with liberal Democrats who irrationally hate fossil fuels. Let’s just get the facts out there on the table, shall we? The ninny nannies in Athens finally (after years of agitation) browbeat their neighbors into voting for a frack ban last year (see 3 of 4 Frack Ban Ballot Measures in Ohio Fail – Athens Exception). Whatever. Athens County hosts eight wastewater injection wells and that drives the crazies every crazier. They’re doing their damnedest to get all eight shut down, and to deny a permit for a ninth well (see Athens County Asks Gov Kasich & ODNR to Stop New Injection Wells). One of their strategies is to prove that the existing wastewater injection wells are causing pollution of nearby water wells and groundwater supplies. So a study was done, testing nine different water wells for the presence of volatile organic compounds–a signal that wastewater is leaking into the wells. Guess what they found? Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. The injection wells are not contaminating groundwater and water well sources. What do the crazies want? More testing! More more more more more. They want to test until they find something–or rig the tests so something gets found…
    Read More “Water Well Testing Near OH Injection Wells Comes Back Negative”

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    Top 20 NatGas Pipelines in 2015 – Ranked by Traded Volume

    The amazing thing about this wonderful industry we’re in–the fossil fuel energy industry–is that you learn something new every day. Like there’s a service called the Capacity Center (CapacityCenter.com) that tracks flows of physical natural gas in every interstate pipeline in the U.S. Each year (for the eighth year running) the Capacity Center issues a report detailing the Top 20 Traders (buyers and sellers) of natural gas along those pipelines, and the Top 20 Pipelines by volume of natural gas flowing through the pipeline. We’re intrigued–particularly by the Top 20 pipelines, because a number of them operate in the Marcellus/Utica region. Below is the full Capacity Center Top 20 Capacity Traders & Top 20 Pipelines Report for 2015. If you’re like us, you’ll dig it too…
    Read More “Top 20 NatGas Pipelines in 2015 – Ranked by Traded Volume”

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    NEPA Electric Plant Converted from Coal to NatGas a Huge Success

    As MDN has previously chronicled, Chicago-based Invenergy hopes to build what will be the largest (to date) electric generating plant in the state of Pennsylvania powered by natural gas. Invenergy hopes to build the 1300-megawatt plant in the borough of Jessup (Lackawanna County), near Scranton. But there’s been quite a bit of opposition, most of it from anti-fossil fuelers (see our Jessup power plant stories here). The folks in Jessup might want to cast their eyes on another project not far away, in Luzerne County, where a former coal-fired power plant was recently converted to burn natural gas. That plant, owned and operated by UGI, reduced sulfur dioxide emissions by 99%, and reduced nitrogen oxide emissions by 95%. That is, natgas-fired electric plants are one of the lowest polluting ways to generate electricity–and far more reliable than alternatives like solar and wind…
    Read More “NEPA Electric Plant Converted from Coal to NatGas a Huge Success”