Shale Directories Conferences
FALL 2022 Hydrogen & Carbon Capture Conference IV
November 10, 2022
Hilton Garden Inn, Southpointe
Canonsburg, PA (near Pittsburgh)
Latest facts and rumors from the Marcellus, Utica, and Permian, Eagle Ford Plays
Nearly 70% of All Voters Support Increasing NatGas Production. A nationwide poll conducted by Democratic polling firm Impact Research reveals that most Americans view natural gas as an affordable and reliable alternative to coal that will help address climate change and support increasing natural gas production. The survey was commissioned by EQT Corporation (NYSE: EQT), the largest producer of natural gas in the United States. It also found that, after hearing about natural gas’s benefits, strong majorities of both parties are in favor of building new natural gas pipeline infrastructure to support increased production.
“Americans are recognizing the tremendous impact natural gas can make in our efforts to provide the world with energy security, lower energy prices and inflation and address climate change,” said Toby Z. Rice, President and Chief Executive Officer of EQT. “These poll results demonstrate that Americans want more natural gas production and support the infrastructure needed to make it a reality.”
The nationwide poll of registered voters found that a bipartisan majority of Americans support expanding natural gas infrastructure to reduce emissions as part of a larger, steady energy transition. Additional key findings include:
American voters favor a steady energy transition
* 65% of Americans, 67% of younger Democrats and 60% of Independents favor a steady transition to cleaner energy sources using any option currently available to keep energy affordable and reliable, even if they aren’t completely renewable
* 64% of voters, including 61% of Independents and a majority of Democrats, want to see natural gas used more as a source of energy, ranking only slightly behind renewables, like solar and wind
Increased natural gas production is broadly supported by American voters
* Nearly 70% of all voters support increasing natural gas production, including 60% of Democrats and 67% of Independents
Natural gas can help reduce emissions
* 65% of Democrats and 64% of all voters believe increased production of natural gas can help the world address climate change by reducing emissions
Americans see the need for increased infrastructure
* Understanding the benefits of natural gas and that a lack of infrastructure is an obstacle to increasing natural gas production, 73% of voters, including 70% of Independents and 67% of Democrats, support building new natural gas pipelines in the United States
Voters across party lines say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports an increase in natural gas production
* By a 33-point margin, voters say they are more likely to support a political candidate who supports increasing the production of natural gas, including by a 19-point margin among Democrats and a 31-point margin among Independents.
The nationwide online poll was conducted by Impact Research of 1,057 registered voters, with an additional oversample of 578 Democrats between June 2 – June 8, 2022. The margin of error for the main sample is +/- 3 and +/- 3.4 for the overall Democratic sample.
Impact Research is the company Biden uses for polling.
Oil Beats Renewables. Oil trumps renewable power in public land leasing, report shows. Bloomberg. Despite President Joe Biden’s campaign vow to propel a “clean energy revolution,” the federal government continues to prioritize oil development over renewable projects on US public lands, a new report finds. The analysis by the left-leaning Center for American Progress shows that, in western states, significantly more public land is available for oil and gas leasing than for renewables development. That’s true even in areas that are better suited for solar, wind and geothermal projects than for drilling — a default position that gives fossil-fuel development a leg up over cleaner energy sources, according to Jenny Rowland-Shea, deputy director of the center’s public lands program. The analysis underscores the tension in managing energy development on public lands that make up about a tenth of the US — particularly amid climate goals that will require vast more territory to play host to solar arrays and wind turbines.
U.S. #1 Again. Once again, the U.S. is on track to be the world’s top natural gas producer. Here’s what we know. Houston Chronicle. The U.S. is expected to continue its reign as the world’s largest natural gas producer this year as European countries seek alternatives to Russian sources after the invasion of Ukraine. Analysts at Norwegian firm Rystad Energy predict that U.S. natural gas production will exceed 100 billion cubic feet per day by the end of the year. Driving the growth are two major gas producing basins, the Appalachian, from Alabama to New York, and the Haynesville, from east Texas into Louisiana. Gas pulled up during oil production also is expected to hit record amounts in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico. The Permian is the country’s most productive oil field. The output prediction comes as U.S. producers look to boost liquefied natural gas exports to Europe and other countries. U.S. regulators have approved expanding LNG export terminals, but construction can take years.
Investors Starting to Prefer NatGas and Oil. PwC study shows growing appetite for natural gas, oil investor deals. NGI. Higher commodity prices have whetted investors’ appetite for more natural gas and oil deals, and the pace of activity should pick up for the rest of this year, PwC predicted in a recent midyear report. “Private equity deals are on pace for another record year as traditional oil and gas investments become attractive once again,” said PwC’s principal for Energy, Resources and Utilities Deals Seenu Akunuri. A separate tally by Enverus found that private equity drove about 80% of U.S. upstream deals, heavily weighted toward the Permian Basin, during 2Q2022. They also noted that private companies are deploying capital more rapidly toward expanding drilling programs than their publicly held peers, with the latter staying focused on shareholder returns.
Halliburton 2nd Qtr. Financials. Halliburton sees years of oil drilling demand after profits jump. Reuters. Oilfield services provider Halliburton Co (HAL.N) on Tuesday posted a nearly 41% rise in second-quarter adjusted profit compared to the first quarter, and predicted multiple years of growth in demand for drilling. Driven by high oil prices, the increase was in spite of a $344 million hit from the company winding down assets in Russia in response to its invasion of neighbouring Ukraine. In North America, “pricing gains across all product service lines supported significant sequential margin expansion,” during the quarter, Chief Executive Officer Jeff Miller said in a statement. He also forecast international demand for oilfield services would “experience multiple years of growth”. Its North America revenue, which accounts for roughly half of its sales, was 26% higher, driven in part by an increase in hydraulic fracturing and other well-related services.
Halliburton “No Fracking Growth This Year” Halliburton warns significant frack growth may be impossible this year. Oilprice. Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is an oil extraction technique that involves high-pressure water blended with sand and chemicals, forced into underground rocks known as shale to capture oil and gas. The process was revolutionized by horizontal drilling in the 1980s and 2000s, transforming America into the world’s largest oil producer overnight. American shale drillers have shown how quickly they can boost oil production over the years. But after several years of divestment and decarbonization, the days of fracking roaring back to life are over. Halliburton Co.’s CEO Jeff Miller confirmed this to analysts during a conference call Tuesday. He said the oilfield equipment market is so tight that oil explorers are already discussing 2023 projects. Miller said oil companies don’t have enough fracking equipment for newly leased wells this year. He said diesel-powered and electric equipment are in short supply, “making it almost impossible to add incremental capacity this year.”
Kinder Expanding. Kinder aiming to expand natural gas transportation business for booming LNG Sector. NGI. During a Wednesday call with investors, CEO Steven Kean said Kinder has around 7 Bcf/d currently contracted on its pipelines to serve liquefied natural gas export demand. That represents about 50% of the total feed gas being delivered to U.S. terminals. The Houston-based midstream company has another 2.6 Bcf/d of “highly likely” contracts for LNG export projects that have reached a positive final investment decision (FID) but are not yet built, or that are expected to reach FID in the near future. “We’re also working on a significant amount of other potential projects and given the proximity of our assets to the planned LNG expansions, we expect to maintain or grow that market share as we pursue those opportunities,” Kean said.
Record NatGas Production High by the End of the Year. U.S. gas output to hit record high by end-2022. More growth in 2023. Rigzone. US natural gas production is forecast to hit an all-time high in the coming months, racing past 100 billion cubic feet per day (Bcfd), helping feed global demand as the world faces a severe supply shortage. Rystad Energy’s analysis shows that production growth from the major US gas-producing basins of the Haynesville and Appalachia, in addition to associated gas volumes from the Permian, will solidify the country’s position as the world’s largest gas producer, stretching its lead over Russia, and surpassing the official growth expectations of the EIA. Within shale gas plays, the Marcellus, Utica, and Haynesville are set to contribute the most. Growth in Appalachia, however, is entirely dependent on the progress of the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline, which still faces significant legal hurdles.
Permian to Hit Record Output in August. Oil output in Permian to rise in August to highest on record -EIA. Reuters. Oil output in the Permian in Texas and New Mexico, the biggest U.S. shale oil basin, is due to rise 78,000 barrels per day (bpd) to a record 5.445 million bpd in August, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its productivity report on Monday. Total output in the major U.S. shale oil basins will rise 136,000 bpd to 9.068 million bpd in August, the highest since March 2020, EIA projected. In the Eagle Ford in South Texas, output will rise 25,000 bpd to 1.205 million bpd in August, the highest since April 2020. In August, EIA expects new oil well production per rig will drop to 1,107 bpd in the Permian, the lowest since August 2020, and new gas well production per rig will drop to 27.6 mmcfd in Appalachia, the lowest since August 2020. EIA said producers drilled 938 wells, the most since March 2020, and completed 964, the most since October 2021, in the biggest shale basins in June.
Uncle Joe to Cut Permian Production. Biden crackdown on Permian pollution to trim crude output. Bloomberg. The Biden administration’s plan to crack down on smog in the oil-rich Permian Basin threatens to curb crude production while gasoline prices are near record highs and energy scarcity grips the globe, the industry warned Thursday. Oil’s lobbying heavyweights are appealing directly to top White House officials to slam the brakes on the plan, arguing that any move to redesignate drilling hotbeds in Texas and New Mexico as violating ozone air quality standards poses such high economic risks it should be subject to greater analysis and public scrutiny.
PA Counties That Ban Fracking – No Impact Fees. (Thanks, MDN) What’s fair is fair. If a county blocks drilling under county-owned land, as the Allegheny County Council recently did that county has declared it doesn’t support Marcellus Shale drilling. So that county should not be the beneficiary of revenue raised by the impact fee (PA’s equivalent of a severance tax) in other places that do support and allow drilling. That’s just fair. You don’t want drilling? Fine. Then you don’t get to benefit financially from the drilling done in other places. State Sen. Gene Yaw is introducing a new bill in the Pennsylvania legislature that would do just that–deny counties (but not individual municipalities within the county) from receiving Act 13 impact fee revenue–IF that county blocks drilling under county-owned land. Brilliant! And fair.
Midstreamers Look for Infrastructure Growth. U.S. pipeline companies’ eye nat gas infrastructure for growth. Reuters. U.S. midstream companies have set their sights on natural gas pipelines and export terminals as a key growth opportunity as investor pressures and political headwinds make new crude oil pipeline projects unpalatable. U.S. pipeline operators are expected to have benefited from high oil and gas prices and rising domestic production in the second quarter, though some analysts warn that the decline in consumer demand late in the quarter could affect results. Earnings per share for five of the top U.S. oil pipeline companies are expected to have grown about 15% from the year ago period, according to a Reuters analysis.
No Hydrogen Pipelines for FERC. Republicans cautious to place hydrogen pipeline regulation in FERC’s hands. S&P Global. Fed up with the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s recent handling of natural gas projects, Republicans of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee were reluctant to place regulatory authority over hydrogen pipelines in FERC’s hands during a July 19 hearing, fearing the consequences it could create for the natural gas industry. Register Now “The current majority of the FERC wants to make it nearly impossible to upgrade pipelines or build new ones,” said ranking Republican Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming. “I’m concerned that some on the commission may seek to make the ability to ship higher blends of hydrogen a reason to impose new conditions on newer upgraded natural gas pipelines.” Vanguard Renewables is one of several companies working to trap harmful methane emissions and turn them into renewable products, a trash-to-treasure process that is popular with some investors.
EOG Resources: Expanded Drilling Efforts in Utica Oil Window, Company Returns to Appalachia in Positive Signal for Activity in the Region
(Thank you, Daniel Sherwood, The Capitol Forum)
Marking a return to the region after its 2020 exit, oil and natural gas explorer and producer EOG Resources (EOG) is ramping its drilling program and increasing its acreage on the edge of the Utica Basin’s oil window in Ohio, according to a Capitol Forum investigation.
Companies like EOG tend to keep development activity discreet, as EOG has done in this case, so they can scale quickly and cheaply in the event initial production results are promising.
But since October 2021, the company has been slowly committing more resources to the region—permitting or drilling on at least eight sites—including some that the company appears to have recently bought from Encino Acquisition Partners, according to The Capitol Forum’s data platform Upstream.
Further, the company is doubling down at its initial drilling location which is currently producing oil and natural gas and planning a pipeline from the site to take the fossil fuels to market, according to Upstream and county easement records.
Though EOG has yet to disclose this activity in security filings or on its website, the increased development appears to represent a concerted focus that could lead to further exploration or acquisition activity in Ohio.
The company was most recently asked about possible liquid exposure in the Appalachian Basin on its February 25 earnings call and the company’s President Ezra Yacob pivoted away from the topic, pointing to the company’s divestiture of its producing assets in nearby Pennsylvania in 2020.
Yacob continued, “With respect to some of the other opportunities that we haven’t really discussed publicly, that’s really exploration … We’re always striving to be a first mover and organically improve the quality of our inventory … Our exploration program that we’ve talked about for the last year or so has been progressing,” according to the transcript from the call.
While the company was “encouraged with some of the results we had last year [in 2021],” Yacob explained that “In general … we don’t discuss the details of exploration other than just to say that the opportunities are low-cost entry, they’re oil focused. There are reservoirs that we think can exploit with our horizontal drilling and completions expertise. And this year, we look forward to doing some more delineation and appraisal drilling.”
The company declined to comment in response to The Capitol Forum’s request regarding the company’s plans in Ohio.
Looking for oil in new and old places with more modern fracking techniques. To date, EOG has focused its drilling efforts in Carroll and Stark Counties in the center of Ohio’s western oil and wet gas windows.
Since the advent of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, operators’ oil production in Carroll and Stark Counties peaked in 2015 and 2014 respectively, according to Upstream. After attempts to develop the oil-rich portion of the otherwise natural gas-dominant Utica Basin were largely unsuccessful, major companies divested their assets there.
With higher oil prices in 2022, EOG’s exploration activity reflects the most recent attempt by a large company to increase oil production in the area.
Beyond EOG’s drilling at three undeveloped locations, EOG appears to have recently acquired developed assets from an Encino Acquisition Partners subsidiary, according to transfer records and historical records reflected in Upstream.
EOG’s exposure to assets where predecessor operators like Chesapeake Energy (CHK) and EnerVest were unable to produce oil at economic levels can be explained by EOG’s interest in the drilling potential at the locations. For instance, relying on its own drilling program with higher-tech equipment at its disposal, the company is trying different areas with different depths at the same sites, according to Upstream.
Encino did not return requests for comment on whether the transfers are a part of a larger transaction that has yet to be reflected in state records or public disclosures.
Below is a table of the transfers exported from Upstream.
First drill site producing oil and gas as company plans appear bullish for development potential. Following the drilling at the otherwise undeveloped Rose 0801 site in 2021, EOG filed another permit to drill a separate well nearby on February 11, according to Upstream.
While it is too early in the production lifecycle of the initial Rose well to determine how successful EOG’s efforts there are, the company reported 10,275 barrels of oil were produced at the location in the first quarter of 2022. That is a higher quarterly output than any of the already produced sites that the company received from Encino Acquisition, according to Upstream.
The company has also filed pipeline easements for the “Rose Pipeline” with a route about a mile long from Rose to Harrison Townships, according to county records.
Producers oftentimes need this type of infrastructure in order to move commercial quantities of hydrocarbons to market, except for certain oil locations that contract truckers to haul oil offsite. As EOG prepares to develop a pipeline from the Rose well site, it appears to suggest that the company anticipates more production from the site in the future and possible even more development beyond the second location.
PA Permit July 11, to July 21, 2022
County Township E&P Companies
1. Armstrong North Buffalo PennEnergy
2. Bradford Herrick SWN
3. Bradford Herrick SWN
4. Butler Allegheny Lola Energy
5. Clarion Licking Laurel Mtn.
6. Clarion Licking Laurel Mtn.
7. Clarion Licking Laurel Mtn.
8. Clarion Licking Laurel Mtn.
9. Lycoming Mill Creek Inflection
10. Susquehanna Auburn Chesapeake
11. Susquehanna Auburn Chesapeake
12. Susquehanna Brooklyn Coterra
13. Susquehanna Brooklyn Coterra
14. Susquehanna Brooklyn Coterra
15. Washington Buffalo Range
16. Washington Buffalo Range
17. Washington Buffalo Range
18. Washington East Finley CNX
19. Washington East Finley CNX
20. Washington East Finley CNX
21. Washington East Finley CNX
22. Washington East Finley CNX
23. Washington East Finley CNX
24. Washington East Finley CNX
25. Westmoreland Penn Olympus
26. Westmoreland Penn Olympus
27. Westmoreland Penn Olympus
28. Westmoreland Penn Olympus
29. Westmoreland Penn Olympus
30. Westmoreland Penn Olympus
31. Westmoreland Salem Apex
32. Westmoreland Salem Apex
33. Westmoreland Salem Apex
34. Wyoming Meshoppen Chesapeake
35. Wyoming Meshoppen Chesapeake
OH Permits July 10, to July 16, 2022
County Township E&P Companies
1. Carroll Brown EOG
2. Columbiana Elkrun Hilcorp
3. Columbiana Elkrun Hilcorp
4. Columbiana Elkrun Hilcorp
5. Columbiana Elkrun Hilcorp
6. Jefferson Salem EAP OHIO
7. Jefferson Salem EAP OHIO
8. Jefferson Cross Creek Ascent
9. Jefferson Cross Creek Ascent
10. Jefferson Cross Creek Ascent
11. Jefferson Cross Creek Ascent
WV Permits July 11, to July 15, 2022
1. Marshall Tug Hill
2. Marshall High Road
3. Ohio SWN
4. Ohio SWN
5. Ohio SWN
6. Ohio SWN
Joe Barone 610.764.1232.
