M-U Producer Epsilon Energy Closes on Assets in Texas Permian
Epsilon Energy, a relatively small company, used to concentrate most of its effort on developing Marcellus Shale wells. However, over the past year and a half, the company has expanded into other plays and now owns assets in the Anadarko (Oklahoma and Texas) and the Permian (Texas and New Mexico). Epsilon typically does not do its own drilling. The company joint venture partners with (gives money to) other companies, like Chesapeake Energy (in the Marcellus), and the other company typically does the drilling. Yesterday Epsilon announced closing on another Permian Basin acquisition.
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Atlas Energy Solutions Inc. entered into a definitive agreement with Hi Crush Inc. to acquire all of Hi-Crush’s Permian Basin proppant production assets and the company’s North American logistics operations in a transaction valued at $450 million. Although Atlas focuses solely on the Permian, Hi-Crush sells proppant to multiple basins, including deals with drillers in the Marcellus/Utica. The combination of both companies into one new company will create the largest frac sand producer in the U.S.
The American Petroleum Institute (API), which is no friend of independent shale drillers, together with six other O&G groups, filed an application for rehearing on the Dept. of Energy’s (DOE) indefinite pause on new and pending liquefied natural gas (LNG) permit approvals for non-FTA countries. The application for rehearing is a legal filing, the first stop on the way to a full-blown court case. The filing asks the DOE to reconsider and stop its pause on advancing requests to export LNG. If the DOE denies the rehearing request, the Bidenistas can expect to be sued in federal court to overturn the pause.
Swampy leftists in the Democrat Party view the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as their own personal playground — a birthright. If a Republican takes the White House, as Donald Trump did in 2017, and sets about to scale back some of the extremist policies implemented by previous presidents like Lord Obama, the lefties go berserk (see 
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Despite LNG permitting risks, Cheniere expansions continue; NATIONAL: Is Chevron’s $53 billion buyout of Hess in trouble?; New poll shows “widespread” concern over Washington’s energy policy; INTERNATIONAL: Qatar’s bigger LNG expansion to squeeze US, other rivals; Enverus believes gen AI will shape O&G decision making in 2024.
Yesterday, the Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) met to award contracts to drill under (not on) several Ohio state parks, including the 20,000-acre Salt Fork State Park in Guernsey County. Anti-fossil fuel nutters didn’t disappoint. They showed up and dressed up in burlap bags and silly hats, standing along a wall to protest against the proceeding. Fortunately, the protesters didn’t disrupt or stop the proceeding (they had been threatened with arrest if they did). The big news (for us) is that Encino Energy, which has long coveted the Salt Fork State Park property, did NOT win the contract for it! At some point, Encino pulled its proposal for Salt Fork and instead concentrated on several other parcels. The contract for Salt Fork was awarded to Infinity Natural Resources. We have the complete list of who won which contracts and how much they are paying in signing bonuses and royalties.
Last June, Patterson-UTI Energy, which operates roughly half of the active rigs in the Marcellus/Utica, announced it was merging with NexTier Oilfield Solutions in a combination that would create the #1 company in fracking services in the country (see 
In December, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro issued a press release and rang the bell to announce his administration had (at that point) plugged 132 orphaned and abandoned wells in just 11 months, surpassing the total over the previous eight years combined, with big plans to expand the program (see 
The Washington County (PA) Chamber of Commerce held an event last week with a panel of experts involved with the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) to discuss the long-term impacts of the project on the local economy and job market. ARCH2 was first proposed by (mainly sponsored by) West Virginia. Ohio and Pennsylvania later joined in supporting the ARCH2 proposal, which was selected by the Bidenistas as one of seven regional hydrogen hubs to share in a $7 billion pot o’ gold (see 
“With the exception of three days in 2020 when the pandemic was ravaging energy markets, natural gas prices held above $1.59/MMbtu for the past 28 years – until last week.” So says the experts at RBN Energy, who know about these things. So far this year, natural gas has averaged $2.36/MMBtu, compared to the average price over the past 28 years of $4.12/MMBtu. Ominously, RBN asks, Can it go lower? The answer is…
Our worst fears about the merger between Cabot Oil & Gas and Cimarex Energy to form Coterra Energy have come to pass. We said from the beginning that the new company would use the Marcellus as a “cash cow” to fund more oil drilling. That’s now happening. Yes, the price of natural gas (especially in northeastern Pennsylvania, where Coterra drills) is in the basement. We understand it’s not all that profitable to sink money into more gas production right now. However, Coterra announced on Friday during its fourth quarter and full-year 2023 update that in 2024, the company will slash spending on new drilling in the Marcellus by 55% (dropping $460 million) and that production will drop by an estimated 6% in the Marcellus.
Sometimes, we get a miracle. A liberal Democrat judge from Franklin County, OH, ruled on Friday that anti-fossil fuel fanatics don’t have the right to appeal a decision by the Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) to meet and award contracts to drill under (not on) several Ohio state parks, including the 20,000-acre Salt Fork State Park in Guernsey County. The OGLMC is scheduled to meet today to make announcements awarding contracts for several tracts, including Salt Fork State Park. We expect antis will try to derail the proceedings illegally. Grab the popcorn…
Members of the Wet Virginia State Senate voted on Friday to permanently retain a flawed oil and gas well valuation formula. The Senate vote comes after the House had previously voted to do the same thing (see