EXCO Resources #1 Stockholder and his “Distressing” Investment
EXCO Resources, a sizable independent driller with operations in several shale plays including the Marcellus Shale, is a company in trouble. The price of EXCO’s stock has dropped 96% during the last 5 years, 71% since the beginning of this year, and 86% during the last 12 months. EXCO appeared on David Fessler’s “Death List” of oil and gas companies earlier this year (see 19 Oil/Gas Companies on “Death List” – 8 are in Marcellus/Utica). In April, EXCO experienced a major shake-up and saw the installation of new leadership managing the company and new members on the board of directors (see Bluescape Pulls Strings Installs New CEO, COO at EXCO Resources). The numbers for second quarter weren’t so hot (see EXCO 2Q15: Marcellus Production Down 23%; Net Income Down 1,991%), and the New York Stock Exchange has put the company on notice their stock is about to be de-listed (see More Trouble for EXCO Resources – NYSE Threatens to De-List Stock). We ran across an interesting reference to who owns the most stock in EXCO. Turns out the #1 stockholder is Wilbur L. Ross, Jr., founder of private equity firm WL Ross & Co.–someone known for investing in “distressed” companies. How much EXCO stock does Ross own and how much value has that stock lost for Ross?…
Read More “EXCO Resources #1 Stockholder and his “Distressing” Investment”
Everybody’s suing everybody. That about sums up the mess created (sadly) by none other than Aubrey McClendon. The subsidiary businesses that were once part of McClendon’s new company, American Energy Partners (AEP), continue to run away from Aubrey as fast as they can. On Monday, Ascent Resources, once called American Energy Appalachia Holdings but separated from the AEP mothership in June (see 
If you’re a Big Green group, like THE Delaware Riverkeeper, you have millions of dollars to a) launch lawsuits against the natural gas industry, and b) buy yourself research studies that support your twisted viewpoints. It is the latter that happened yesterday. CNA, a not-for-profit organization once called the Center for Naval Analyses, sells itself to the highest bidder (the oldest profession in the world). Most recently they sold themselves to THE Delaware Riverkeeper (we certainly hope they used protection). CNA and THE Delaware Riverkeeper held a press briefing yesterday to release a “study” by CNA titled “The Potential Environmental Impacts of Fracking in the Delaware River Basin” (full copy below). What did the “researchers” at CNA, which is based in Arlington, VA just outside the DC orbit, find? If the moratorium is lifted and shale drilling is allowed in the Delaware River Basin–essentially Wayne and Pike counties in Pennsylvania–CNA says it will lead to “land cover disturbance” in “core forest areas”, extreme water withdrawals from poor little creeks and streams, nasty wastewater polluting everything, erosion everywhere, multiple compressor stations and untold ill health impacts for 75,000 people who live close to all of this mess. See what $320,444 (the actual cost of this study) can buy you? We hope it felt good for Riverkeeper…
Ever hear the phrase, “diggin’ deep”? That’s what anti-drillers are doing in New Hampshire with their opposition to a pipeline slated to come through their area in Hillsborough County. As plans for Kinder Morgan’s $6 billion Northeast Energy Direct (NED) pipeline project that will stretch from Pennsylvania through New York into Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and back into Massachusetts near Boston progress, more and more articles appear in newspapers, like the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, attempting to convince people the pipeline is from Satan himself. In fact, according to the latest article, NED may just be from Satan! The Ledger-Transcript claims the pipeline, if it follows the same route as already-built high voltage electric lines, would cut through a hay field that (151 years ago) used to be a potato field and is the site of a miracle of importance to Seventh-Day Adventists…