Ascent Resources: Prod. Up 45% in ’19, Spending Down 42% in ’20
Ascent Resources, originally founded as American Energy Partners by gas legend Aubrey McClendon, is a privately-held company that focuses 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. The company recently issued its full-year 2019 update with a look at what it plans for 2020. Ascent is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer, and 2019 was a VERY good year for the company’s production. Average daily production zoomed up 45% from 2018, to 1.97 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d). Of that number, some 1.8 Bcf/d was natural gas, and oil production was 13,000 barrels/d. Most importantly, Ascent made a profit of $466 million in 2019, compared to losing $4 million in 2018. Way to go!
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The value of a company’s stock price is important, for a variety of reasons. The stock price reflects investor confidence in whether the company can earn its keep and grow profits in the future. A higher stock price wards off takeovers. Upper management gets a raise. And the company can borrow money when it needs to at reasonable interest rates. All sorts of reasons why the stock price is important. Unfortunately for top drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, their stock prices have tanked. As a group, and individually, the stock price is either near or even at the lowest it’s *ever been.* Let that sink in.
Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection Secretary Patrick McDonnell gave an embarrassing performance on Monday before the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee (ERE). He was there to answer questions about his agency’s annual budget request. As the discussion turned to Gov. Tom Wolf’s attempt to force PA to join the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), McDonnell equivocated and danced around questions about this tragedy-in-the-making. We understand…he has to support his boss. Like we said, embarrassing.
Last week MDN told you about a U.S.-based compressor station facility that had to shut down operations for two days after sustaining a cyber attack that prevented personnel from receiving crucial real-time operational data from control and communication equipment (see 
It doesn’t happen often, so when it does, it’s worth noting. Both business (Chamber of Commerce) groups from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, along with labor union groups from both cities, have reached across the aisle to work together in an effort to try and convince Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf to sign House Bill (HB) 1100–a bill that would attract new petrochemical investment (and jobs) to the state. Inexplicably Wolf has pledged to veto the bill when it hits his desk (see 
We can’t tell you how many stories and headlines we’ve seen over the past few weeks that proclaim the coronavirus is killing the oil and natural gas markets (not to mention the stock market). The theory goes that China is scaling back the production of consumer crap that Americans buy because Chinese workers are dropping like flies. Less production equals less need to import oil and gas, resulting in, what? A worldwide economic recession? Depression? End of Days? Run for the hills! U.S. LNG exports are frequently mentioned as being negatively impacted by the coronavirus. Except…they aren’t. Here’s a contrarian view.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Pa. House Speaker Mike Turzai: Banning fracking would destroy Pennsylvania’s economy; NATIONAL: U.S. crude oil production increases; imports remain strong to support refinery operations; Michael Bloomberg’s climate change plan would wreak economic mayhem; INTERNATIONAL: Russia’s Novatek celebrates another Yamal LNG milestone.
Yesterday the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) had its day in U.S. Supreme Court–and by all appearances, it was a very good day indeed. The right of the pipeline to cross the Appalachian Trail is the issue under consideration. In a case brought by environmentalist wackos, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled a permit granted by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is invalid because the U.S. Park Service manages the trail and according to law, USFS does not have jurisdiction over “lands” owned/managed by the Park Service. In practice such a ruling, if upheld, creates a thousand-mile long barrier across which no pipeline can cross. All of the articles we read about yesterday’s oral arguments before the Supremes indicate a likely decision in favor of the pipeline and against the wackos.
National Grid yesterday released a report outlining how the utility is going to run out of natural gas for its customers within the next decade (maybe sooner) if new supplies of natgas are not made available to it. The company has scheduled public town hall meetings in NYC and Long Island to discuss the report and elicit feedback from the public. In the report, National Grid outlines three solutions to the problem. Guess which solution is the cheapest, quickest and best? That’s right–the Williams Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline.
University of Texas at Austin researchers have just published two new wastewater studies in two different peer-reviewed journals. One study quantifies, for the first time, how much water is produced from oil and natural gas operations in major shale plays (including the Marcellus) compared with how much is needed for fracking. In some plays, there is so much water coming out of the ground from oil and gas wells (after fracking, called produced water) that the volume coming out is more than enough to drill and frack all of the new wells in those plays. No freshwater sources required. In the Marcellus, we use more water than could be provided by recycling produced water from our wells. The second study looks at the potential for using produced water in other sectors, like agriculture, for those plays where there is an abundance of extra produced water.
Last week MDN told you that our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, predicts natural gas production from the country’s seven largest shale plays will decrease in March (see 
There’s been a lot of hot air around the issue of fossil fuels in the current presidential campaign. Democrat candidates seem to be in a race to say the more outrageous thing about fossil fuels and the companies that extract and transport them. For example, Sen. “crazy” Bernie Sanders has called oil and natural gas executives criminals. Yeah, that’s right. Vice President “sleepy/creepy Uncle” Joe Biden wants to put oil and gas execs in jail! And Sen. Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren calls oil and gas execs corrupt. Really? This kind of trash talk comes from so-called leaders–people actively being considered to run the country? No thanks. The Western Energy Alliance took out a full-page ad in the New York Times yesterday to fight back. You just HAVE to see it…
By the end of this year, Chevron will have eliminated 320 jobs in its Marcellus/Utica operation. Some 288 of those positions will be gone from the company’s regional headquarters in Moon Township (Allegheny County, PA), and another 32 will be gone from the company’s Mount Braddock location (Fayette County, PA). The company says it will try to find new assignments for as many people as possible. The layoffs begin on April 6.
Last Friday Cabot Oil & Gas, one of the most prolific Marcellus drillers, released its fourth-quarter and full-year 2019 update, with a look ahead at 2020. During the conference call with analysts, Cabot CEO Dan Dinges began his prepared remarks talking about tests the company has done in the Upper Marcellus. Very exciting results. He also said, near the end of the call, that Cabot has positioned itself to be “the last man standing” in the Marcellus. Hmmm, that’s an intriguing comment! What does he mean?
Last week we told you the good news that Williams recently re-filed an application with the New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection to build one of two critical northeastern pipeline projects–called the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) project (see