Marcellus Drilling News

Accidents | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

Media Continues to Demagogue PA “Water Contamination” Research
May 6, 2015May 6, 2015

Yesterday MDN alerted you to the coming buzz saw of media lies about a new study that reportedly shows three Pennsylvania water wells that may have been contaminated by nearby fracking operations (see Penn State Finds Chemical Migration in 3 PA Water Wells from 2010). As we pointed out yesterday, this is an isolated case from five years ago where a wastewater impoundment was found to be leaking–hardly a smoking gun that “fracking contaminates surface water supplies” (the lie that psychotics like Daily Kos readers chant to themselves every day). Anti-drilling reporters in mainstream media are committing malpractice in their reporting of this study. The reporting has reached a fevered pitch–almost like the reporters are experiencing an ecstatic LSD acid trip. The story has gone worldwide and the headlines (and lies) continue to pour in. We spotted a great analysis of the research and what the research says–and doesn’t say–by the always-excellent Energy in Depth. We think it’s worth repeating here for the MDN audience…
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Energy Companies | Noble Energy

Noble Energy: Lots of Marcellus Drilling in 1Q15, Scaling Back 2H15
May 6, 2015May 6, 2015

Noble Energy is a big company with drilling both onshore and offshore. One of their focus areas is the Marcellus Shale where they are spending $900 million on drilling this year (see Noble Energy 2014 in Review, Spending $900M on Marcellus in 2015). Noble released their first quarter 2015 results yesterday. Although the company experienced a $22 million net loss financially, other signs were positive, including their activity in the Marcellus. Noble drilled 15 new wells and brought 3 wells online in 1Q15 in the Marcellus. Noble is also in a joint venture with CONSOL Energy. The JV drilled 25 new wells and brought online 29 wells in the Marcellus in 1Q15. However, Noble warns they are reducing their rig count and scaling back in the Marcellus for the second half of this year…
Read More “Noble Energy: Lots of Marcellus Drilling in 1Q15, Scaling Back 2H15”
Carrizo Oil & Gas | Energy Companies | Guernsey County | Ohio | Utica Shale

Carrizo 1Q15: Drilled 2 Test Wells in OH Utica, Good Results
May 6, 2015May 6, 2015

A bit of a surprise for MDN with the release of Carrizo Oil & Gas’s first quarter 2015 update today. In January Carrizo said they would not be drilling any new wells in the Utica/Marcellus in 2015 (see Carrizo Cuts Budget 35%, No Drilling Planned in Utica/Marcellus in 2015). While the company held true to its word on the Marcellus and did not drill any new wells, they did drill two new Utica wells in 1Q15. The two wells were drilled in northeast Guernsey County, OH and are being used as tests to determine the production capability in that area. Early results, according to Carrizo, are quite good (an average 200 barrels per day of oil/condensate). They do say, however, that because of low prices, they have no plans to drill any more Utica wells for the balance of this year beyond these two test wells in Guernsey…
Read More “Carrizo 1Q15: Drilled 2 Test Wells in OH Utica, Good Results”
CNG/LNG | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Rex Energy

Rex Energy 1Q15: Production Up 61%, Revenue Down 33%, Gulf Coast Deal
May 6, 2015May 6, 2015

Rex Energy, focused on both the Marcellus/Utica and Illinois basins, released their first quarter 2015 update yesterday. Among the positive highlights: Rex’s first quarter production in 2015 grew 61% over the first quarter of 2014; the company is on track to grow production 25% in full year 2015 vs full year 2014; they recently signed two agreements to ship a total of 130 million cubic feet of gas to the Gulf Coast for the Freeport LNG plant; and they’ve increased production by using a lot more sand. On the negative side, revenue was down 33% (due to the lower price of natural gas), and after expenses the company lost $17.8 million for the quarter, vs 2014 when they gained $8.8 million. Here’s the details from Rex…
Read More “Rex Energy 1Q15: Production Up 61%, Revenue Down 33%, Gulf Coast Deal”
Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy | Utica Shale

Gulfport Energy 1Q15: Production Up 161%, Net Income Down 69%
May 6, 2015May 6, 2015

Gulfport Energy reported their first quarter 2015 results yesterday. Net production for Gulfport averaged 424.4 million cubic feet equivalent per day in 1Q15, which is a huge 161% increase from 1Q14. The company remains active in the Utica Shale, spudding (beginning to drill) 16 wells in 1Q15 and bringing online 8 wells. As MDN told you a few weeks ago, Gulfport has picked up another 24,000 acres in Belmont and Jefferson counties (OH) from Paloma Partners (see Gulfport Energy Pays $12,500 per Acre for 24K OH Utica Acres). With that new acreage, Gulfport reports they now own 212,000 acres in the Utica. On the financial side, revenue was up a big 49%, but net income (after expenses) was down 69% in 1Q15 vs 1Q14. The details…
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Energy Services | Seventy Seven Energy

Seventy Seven Energy 1Q15: Red Ink Continues to Flow Heavy
May 6, 2015May 6, 2015

Seventy Seven Energy, an oilfield services company with major operations in the northeast, is the old Chesapeake Oilfield Operating division of Chesapeake–spun off into its own company on July 1, 2014 (see Long Labor & Delivery: Seventy Seven Energy Born Yesterday). Yesterday the company released their first quarter 2015 results and said, in essence, “We told you it would be a bloodbath this year, and it is.” The red ink is flowing like the Mississippi at Seventy Seven. Revenues are down a slight 6% in 1Q15 from 1Q14, but down a larger 13% from 4Q14 (just last quarter). Looking at revenue and expenses, in 1Q14 Seventy Seven had a net loss of $18.6 million. In 1Q15 the net loss doubled to $37.6 million. Ouch. They plan to use a $100 million accordion line of credit to keep going. Was there any good news?…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | CNG/LNG | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Maryland | Regulation | Statewide MD

FERC Says “No” to Anti’s Request for Cove Point LNG Re-hearing
May 6, 2015May 6, 2015

In December MDN told you about the latest strategy from the anti-fossil fuel nutters at Allegheny Defense Project and Wild Virginia–an attempt to get another hearing on Dominion’s Cove Point LNG export facility (see Anti Groups Ask FERC to Stop Construction on Cove Point LNG Plant). Before the two can file yet another frivolous lawsuit with the aim of tying up progress on the plant in legal knots, they must first apply for a “rehearing.” They did so and requested the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) have Dominion stop work on the plant in the meantime. FERC said “no” to stopping construction, and “we’ll get back to you in our own good time” on the rehearing. Five plus months later (yesterday) FERC responded, and as we predicted, they handed Allegheny Defense Project and Wild Virginia a big, fat “no” to the rehearing request. You can bet the frivolous lawsuit will get filed within the next few days…
Read More “FERC Says “No” to Anti’s Request for Cove Point LNG Re-hearing”
Air Quality | Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell

Progress: DEP & Shell Hold Info Session on PA Cracker Plant
May 6, 2015May 6, 2015

Another positive sign that Shell continues to be very serious about building a multi-billion dollar ethane cracker plant in Monaca (Beaver County), PA. Yesterday representatives from Shell and the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection held a two-hour meeting (with Q&A) to discuss the air quality permit required to build the plant. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports the crowd in attendance was almost all in favor of the project. Air wasn’t the only issue discussed–some had questions about potential noise from the plant. The session began with Q&A and ended with two dozen or so speakers who had signed up to give official, on the record comments about the plant…
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Energy Services | Patterson-UTI

Patterson-UTI Active Rig Count Drops Again in April
May 6, 2015May 6, 2015

Patterson-UTI operates (leases out) drilling rigs for shale and conventional drilling. They are one of the biggest rig firms in the Marcellus/Utica. In March Patterson reported they had an average of 142 drilling rigs operating in the United States and four rigs in Canada. Patterson just released the April numbers and the bleeding continues. In April, Patterson had an average of 131 rigs operating in the U.S. and just two in Canada. Although it’s true that drillers are today more efficient than they were just a year or two ago, this continuing dramatic drop in rig counts has everyone wondering, “When will we hit the bottom?”…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

Time for Pro-Drillers to Take Action on the Penn East Pipeline
May 6, 2015May 6, 2015

A shout-out to everyone in Pennsylvania and New Jersey who wants to pay less for natural gas and electricity. Nefarious groups like THE Delaware Riverkeeper, Sierra Clubbers and others have turned the volume button all the way up on their opposition to the Penn East Pipeline–a 114-mile, 36-inch diameter natural gas pipeline that will run from Luzerne County, PA to Mercer County, NJ. There is no coherent or logical reason to oppose this pipeline, but reason and logic aren’t the stock in trade for anti-fossil fuelers. They just hate all fossil fuels and will lie about projects like the Penn East in an attempt to support their twisted philosophy of ridding the world of fossil fuels (don’t get us started!). At any rate, it’s time for those of us who support clean burning Marcellus Shale gas to step up to the plate and do two simple things: (1) send a comment to FERC supporting the pipeline, (2) send a comment to your elected officials supporting it. We have details below for how you can do it…
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Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Republican & Democrat Senators Fight Fed Takeover of Water Supplies
May 6, 2015May 6, 2015

Senator Jim Inhofe (from the great state of Oklahoma) and a group of bipartisan Senators recently introduced a bill that will stop the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers from a massive new power grab by redefining what are “waters of the United States,” or “WOTUS”. The EPA & Army Corps is attempting to redefine WOTUS from its traditional bodies of water you can navigate on to include just about every creek, swamp and mud puddle in existence. If WOTUS is redefined it will have major negative effects on shale drilling, including Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling. This change is yet another attempt by the federal government under Barack H. Obama to take over regulation of oil and gas drilling. It is a massive federal power grab that must be resisted and Inhofe is at the forefront, leading the charge to beat back the federal barbarians…
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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, May 6, 2015
May 6, 2015May 6, 2015

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, May 6, 2015”
Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County | WPX Energy

Mystery Buyer to Pay WPX Energy $200M for NE Marcellus Assets
May 5, 2015May 5, 2015

WPX Energy announced yesterday that they’ve sold more of (the rest of?) their northeast Marcellus Shale assets. This time it’s not leases and wells, but instead “various long-term natural gas purchase and sales agreements, along with 135 million Btu per day of firm transportation capacity on Transco’s Northeast Supply Link project.” That is, WPX was on the hook to either buy or sell natural gas along pipelines at certain locations in the northeast region, and those deals to buy and sell gas were sold, along with WPX’s contract to flow up to 135 million Btus (which equates to just 135 thousand cubic feet, or 135 Mcf) of natural gas on Transco’s Northeast Supply Link pipeline system. The combined sale was to an unnamed buyer for approximately $200 million. MDN has a guess about who the mystery buyer is…
Read More “Mystery Buyer to Pay WPX Energy $200M for NE Marcellus Assets”
Cambria County | Chevron | Clearfield County | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania

Chevron Shops Another 11,700 Marcellus Acres in Central PA
May 5, 2015May 5, 2015

Chevron continues to pare back on its Marcellus Shale acreage. With nearly 700,000 Marcellus Shale acres under lease, what’s a few thousand acres here and there? The Pittsburgh Business Times noticed that Chevron has posted 11,700 acres in central PA up for sale. You may recall Chevron previously shopped 17,000 acres in the same region in February (see Chevron Selling 17K Marcellus Shale Acres, More Sales Coming). At that time the company said more sales would be coming, and well, here we are! We might chalk it up to Chevron simply actively managing their portfolio and tweaking the locations where they intend to drill. Except. Except they’re also cutting way back on personnel too (see Chevron Laying Off 23% of their Marcellus Workforce in Pittsburgh). So this may be just tweaking the portfolio, or it may be a trickle in what will become a steady stream of divestiture. We just don’t know at this point. Here’s the details as we know them about the current 11,700 acres up for sale…
Read More “Chevron Shops Another 11,700 Marcellus Acres in Central PA”
Energy Companies | Energy Services | EQT Corp | Equitrans/EQT Midstream

EQT Floats IPO to Sell Off Some Ownership of Midstream Division
May 5, 2015May 5, 2015

Looks like the mad dash to raise cash has not yet ended. Major Marcellus driller and midstream company EQT announced yesterday they are, using a subsidiary company (EQT GP Holdings) floating an initial public offering of 20 million units (roughly equivalent to shares of stock). The new company, EQT GP, is a holding company that will invest the money it raises into EQT’s midstream operations. On paper EQT’s midstream operations are run by a different entity with the stock ticker symbol of EQM (EQT Midstream). It’s all under one roof, but split on paper for tax and high finance purposes. If you net it all out, it appears to us (warning: we are neophytes with this high finance stuff) that EQT is selling off some of the ownership of EQT Midstream without exactly saying so. How much does EQT hope to raise? They don’t say in the announcement (below). But EQM’s current stock price is running at $86.45 per share as of close of business yesterday. Let’s say EQT gets, oh, $70 per unit for this new IPO. That would be a huge $1.4 billion. What if they get just $50 per unit? That would be an even $1 billion. However you slice it, EQT is looking to raise some major cash by selling off ownership of EQM…
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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Research | Statewide OH

Spring 2015 List of Shale-Related Infrastructure Projects in OH
May 5, 2015May 5, 2015

We’re excited to share with you an update to a report we LOVE. The sharp researchers at law firm Bricker & Eckler produce a twice yearly called “Shale Economic Development Overview.” It is a list of projects details, by county in Ohio, of those projects started or planned because of shale drilling. The Spring 2015 edition is embedded below. The first edition of this list was published in October 2013 and showed projects worth $12.2 billion. Last October that number had risen to a staggering $21.5 billion. For this report, the new total rises to $28 billion–a more modest increase than before, but the fact that it’s increasing is a testament to the fact that although drilling has greatly slowed, the midstream (pipelines and processing plants) have not…
Read More “Spring 2015 List of Shale-Related Infrastructure Projects in OH”