Southwestern Hits “Grand Slam” with Purchase of Montage Resources
Last week, in one of the biggest news stories (for us) so far this year, Southwestern Energy announced it is buying out and merging in Montage Resources (see Stop Press! Southwestern Energy Buying Montage Resources for $857M). The combined companies will create the third-largest (by acreage) Marcellus/Utica driller. Yet investors have pretty much yawned. The company’s stock went down after the announcement. According to one analyst, Southwestern’s purchase is a “grand slam” home run and investors should sit up and take notice.
Read More “Southwestern Hits “Grand Slam” with Purchase of Montage Resources”

Please don’t come to Boston. If you do, you may experience blackouts from an unreliable electricity grid powered by so-called (very unreliable) renewables. That’s our takeaway on the obtuse attitudes that pervade New England and the Communist politicians that run that section of the country.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: PA DEP local climate action program helps community leaders address climate change in 139 municipalities; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Trump administration readies Alaska’s ANWR for oil, gas drilling; California’s shift from natural gas to solar is playing a role in rolling blackouts; NATIONAL: New lyrics, same tune for US shale producers; Most U.S. shale companies to restore production by end of 3rd quarter; Texas Democrat: US natural gas vital in transition to renewables; Let’s be serious, more CO2 isn’t making the earth ‘uninhabitable’; Democrats say California is model for climate action but its blackouts say otherwise; INTERNATIONAL: Is Japan the next major market for Russian LNG?; Mexican discrimination against US energy firms underscores importance of USMCA.
Why is the Chester County, PA District Attorney hell-bent on persecuting (i.e. prosecuting) security guards who have done nothing more than protect nutty environmentalists from hurting themselves at Mariner East 2 pipeline construction sites? Former Chester County, PA District Attorney Tom Hogan (RINO), and his successor Deb Ryan (Democrat) were 100% humiliated after a Chester County Magisterial District Judge in June dismissed the entire case against the local head of security for Energy Transfer in what the DA’s office lyingly calls a “buy a badge scheme” (see
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. In April the company laid off roughly 100 employees (see
Epsilon Energy concentrates most of its effort on the Marcellus in Susquehanna County, PA. Epsilon doesn’t actually do any of its own drilling. The company partners with (gives money to) other companies, like Chesapeake Energy, and the other company does the actual drilling. Epsilon, according to its website, owns ~4,000 net acres in the PA Marcellus. They also own assets in Oklahoma’s Anadarko Basin. Last week the company issued its second-quarter 2020 update.
Last week Energy Transfer’s Mariner East 2X pipeline experienced an “inadvertent return”–nontoxic drilling mud coming up out of the ground where it’s not supposed to–in Chester County, PA (see
In July 2018 Eagle LNG officially opened its Maxville, Florida (suburb of Jacksonville) liquefaction facility to first liquefy then transport LNG to Crowley’s new LNG bunkering facility at the Port of Jacksonville (Jaxport) where the LNG is used to fuel two Crowley LNG-powered ships designed to carry both containerized and roll-on/roll-off cargo (see
While drilling in Chester County earlier this week in the Marsh Creek State Park, Energy Transfer’s Mariner East 2X pipeline experienced an “inadvertent return”–nontoxic drilling mud coming up out of the ground where it’s not supposed to (see
At a ceremony in Pittsburgh yesterday, federal EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) Administrator Andrew Wheeler unveiled two new rules for the oil and natural gas industry that removes ineffective and duplicative methane detection requirements while streamlining others. Just before the Obamadroids left office, the Obama EPA slapped onerous and costly new regulations on methane emissions that don’t do anything but cost companies money. They certainly didn’t do anything to help the precious environment. Yesterday, after several years in the making, the EPA fixed the Obama overregulation issue with respect to methane emissions.
In June MDN told you that a New York City law firm was “investigating” Cabot Oil & Gas with an eye to filing a class action lawsuit, on behalf of investors, over false allegations made by the Pennsylvania Attorney General who had filed felony charges against Cabot regarding a long-closed regulatory issue in Dimock, PA (see
Another week, another look at the rig count. The onshore rig count continues to bump along near the bottom of historic lows. It’s not AT the bottom (thank God), but it does continue to flirt with low numbers. According to Enverus, which tracks rigs using GPS units, the count bottomed at the beginning of July with 264 active rigs. Since then it’s risen and currently stands around 280 rigs. Week to week it goes up and it goes down, but not down significantly. According to Enverus, the count lost a rig last week.
Looks like top management at Chesapeake Energy getting millions in bonuses just before declaring bankruptcy isn’t the only company to engage in this disgusting practice (see