Nuverra 1Q21: Revenue Down 37%, M-U Rig Count Down 26%
Nuverra Environmental Solutions (formerly Heckmann) is one of the largest companies in the United States that handles transportation and disposal of shale drilling wastewater and leftover rock and dirt from drilling. The company has major operations in the Marcellus/Utica region. We keep an eye on its performance as an indicator of whether there is more or less drilling happening in the M-U. For over a year, it’s been less. In 2020 Nuverra’s revenue sank by 34% and the rig count that it tracks fell by 27% (see Nuverra 2020: Revenue Down 34%, M-U Rig Count Down 27%). What about 1Q21? How did the company fare over the first three months of the year?
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Summit Midstream Partners, formed in 2009 and headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, operates natural gas, crude oil, and produced water gathering (pipeline) systems in several unconventional shale plays, including the Marcellus and Utica. Last week Summit issued its first-quarter 2021 update. The company’s Utica Shale segment continued to be the star performer.
Yesterday MDN reported comments by Energy Transfer (ET) that the company plans to finally (after years of delays) complete the final pieces of the Mariner East 2 pipeline project by the third quarter of this year (see 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Gov. Wolf’s severance tax proposal, seven years later still a bad idea; NATIONAL: February 2021 weather triggers largest monthly decline in U.S. natural gas production; Big Oil eyes wave of buybacks after blowout earnings; Don’t tell anybody, but frackers went on a hiring spree; Electric vehicle market growth is a blessing for some metals — and not a big worry for oil; Colonial pipeline shutdown exposes vulnerability, highlights resiliency.
Of course, there was big news to report on Friday, the day MDN took off as a brief vacation day (the graduation ceremony was great!). The big news from last Thursday afternoon and Friday was (a) EQT’s first quarter update, and (b) EQT announced it has cut a deal to buy the northeastern Pennsylvania Marcellus assets of Alta Resources for a whopping $2.9 billion–pretty close to the asking price (see 
There are still a few select pipeline projects under construction in the Marcellus/Utica, even during the anti-fossil fuel Joe Biden regime. One such project of keen interest for us is the Mariner East 2 (ME2) NGL pipeline that runs from eastern Ohio through Pennsylvania to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia. The builder and owner of ME2 project, Energy Transfer, issued its quarterly update last week. As part of that update we found a reference from top management that ME2 will be completely finished (“done done”) sometime in the third quarter of this year.
Epsilon Energy concentrates most of its effort on the Marcellus in Susquehanna County, PA. Epsilon doesn’t typically do its own drilling. The company joint venture partners with (gives money to) other companies, like Chesapeake Energy, and the other company typically does the drilling. Epsilon issued its first-quarter update last Thursday. The company’s Marcellus net gas production averaged 27.4 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) in 1Q21, compared to 30.3 MMcf/d of net gas production in 1Q20 (a 10% decrease). However, revenues were up a big 31% in 1Q21 vs. 1Q20.
Anti-fossil fuel activist Jill Antares Hunkler (whom we had never heard of before) testified before the same House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s environment subcommittee that Swedish special needs child (and minor celebrity) Greta Thunberg testified before on Earth Day. The two (plus others) peddled the same tired lies they always peddle about fossil fuels in general, and the Ohio shale industry in particular. A member of the Ohio O&G industry is standing up to challenge their lies.
The Enverus rig count added another 7 rigs for the week ending May 5 to hit a new post-pandemic high of 545 active rigs. Oil-focused rigs climbed by 10 to 417, leaving them just two rigs shy of 12-month highs seen in early April. The number of active gas-focused rigs fell back three to 128 (after hitting a 13-month high for the previous week). Both the Marcellus and the Utica maintained their numbers for the week (no change), ending the week at 36 for the Marcellus and 13 for the Utica.
MDN editor Jim Willis is taking a rare day off today, Friday, May 7, in order to travel and attend the graduation of his youngest child (a son)…from graduate school. Jim is a proud dad. He has three great kids. All three now have their master’s degree, and all three are teachers! Jim will catch you up on all the latest Marcellus/Utica news with the Monday edition. Have a great weekend.
A short 19-mile pipeline project called the Del-Mar Energy Pathway project, crossing both Delaware and Maryland, began its final phase of construction earlier this year after receiving approval from Maryland for traversing a wetland area (see 
When a pipeline company considers whether or not to build a new pipeline, the company conducts an “open season”–a time when drillers (producers), traders, buyers and others who want guaranteed capacity along that pipeline can sign long-term contracts. Such contracts guarantee pipeline companies will be able to make back the considerable amount of money they have to spend to build the pipeline. What happens when those 5-, 10-, and 20-year contracts expire?