Cunningham’s WV Lions Paw Pad Roars, Produces 100K Bbl of Oil
The Big Injun is back in the news. In 2015 Cunningham Energy, a small oil driller based in West Virginia, struck oil in the Big Injun sandstone formation in Clay County, WV (see Cunningham Strikes Oil in West Virginia’s Big Injun Territory). In 2017 the company reported producing 20,000 barrels of oil from two new shallow horizontal oil wells located in Clay County, targeting the Big Injun (see Cunningham Energy Strikes More Oil in WV). Cunningham drilled two more wells on the same pad, the Lions Paw pad, and as of this week that 4-well pad has surpassed producing a total of 100,000 barrels of oil and 91 million cubic feet (MMcf) of “wet” natural gas.
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The Pittsburgh Business Times is reporting that EQT and Equitrans (formerly EQT Midstream) are “inching closer” to a renegotiated agreement for Equitrans to continue EQT’s natural gas gathering and shipping. During conference calls with analysts last week, both EQT CEO Toby Rice and Equitrans President Diana Charletta were said to be “optimistic” about the eventual outcome of those negotiations. Our interpretation is that EQT is hammering Equitrans to lower the cost of gathering and transporting their gas.
Consolidated Edison, the huge gas and electric utility that services much of New York City and its suburbs, recently said the company will cap its investment in the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project. There is an amount beyond which they will not go. Con Ed is one of five investor/owners of MVP. The primary owner and builder of MVP is Equitrans (EQM Midstream Partners), the former EQT Midstream.
This is a huge disappointment. In September, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a precedent-setting decision that disallows PennEast Pipeline from using the federally-delegated power of eminent domain to cross properties either owned by, or with easements granted to, the state of New Jersey (see 
This is a rarity here on MDN. We’re awarding an MDN “attaboy” to northeastern Pennsylvania State Sen. John Yudichak–a Democrat! Yudichak has just stuck his neck waaaaay out by (a) voicing strong support for the Marcellus Shale gas industry, and (b) bashing New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for his stance in blocking new gas pipelines.
We spotted an interesting op-ed column written by Anne Blakenship, executive director of the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association (WVONGA). The column is titled “WVONGA committed to fighting climate change.” In it, Anne not only reiterates our industry’s long-running stance of being good environmental stewards, she also stats flatly that “climate change is a real, substantial challenge,” by which she means man-caused global warming. Houston, we may have a problem.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Last-ditch effort delays EdgeMarc Ch. 7 conversion bid; ECA Marcellus Trust I announces quarterly distribution; Shale-alluia! Labor unions set for decades of work; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Mountain View City Council backs natural gas ban for all new homes; NATIONAL: House Democrats block GOP effort to prevent nationwide fracking ban; Taking “forever” to assess safety impacts of liquified natural gas by rail?; Natural gas and the electric power sector: the latest trends; INTERNATIONAL: US encourages African countries to import its LNG.
Yesterday MDN reported on Dominion Energy’s third quarter update from last Friday, a session in which CEO Tom Farrell commented the company’s commitment to building the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) is “unwavering” (see 
For some time we have criticized the 100 year-old Jones Act that prevents LNG carriers built and/or crewed by other counties from transporting LNG from one U.S. port to another U.S. port (see 
Dominion Energy has formed a joint venture partnership with Interstate Gas Supply to form Wrangler Retail Gas Holdings. Dominion will, over the next three years, contribute all of its non-regulated retail energy marketing operations to Wrangler under the terms of the agreement. Wranger will operate a non-regulated natural gas retail energy marketing business.
Thank you to MDN subscribers and readers yesterday who had to endure MDN website outages. Believe me, it was frustrating for me too! A quick update on the site moving forward, and what I’ve done to (hopefully) ensure what happened yesterday does not happen again.
Dominion Energy released their third quarter 2019 update late last week. The company reports earnings of $975 million ($1.17 per share), an increase of 14.2% from the previous year. Dominion, as you may know, is a huge company involved in not only the pipeline business, but the utility business. They generate and deliver electricity to millions of customers. They deliver natural gas to millions of customers. The key issue right now for us with regard to Dominion is the status of their Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project. CEO Tom Farrell says that ACP is still a go.
Gulfport Energy, one of the biggest drillers in the Ohio Utica Shale (210,000 acres), concentrates its drilling in the Ohio Utica and the Oklahoma SCOOP plays. Gulport’s third quarter 2019 update shows the company produced 1,527.0 million cubic feet equivalent per day (MMcfe/d) in 3Q19, up 7% from 1,427.5 MMcfe/d produced in 3Q18. The company lost $48.8 million (31 cents per share) in 3Q19. The biggest news, for us, is Gulfport’s announcement they are shopping some of their non-operated assets in the Ohio Utica.