Latest facts and a rumor from the Marcellus, Utica, and Permian, Eagle Ford Plays
Pioneer Denies Range Deal. Oil and gas explorer Pioneer Natural Resources Co (PXD.N) said on Friday that it was not pursuing any business combinations, after Bloomberg News reported that the oil and gas explorer was considering an acquisition of smaller U.S. rival Range Resources Corp (RRC.N).
“The Company is not contemplating a significant business combination or other acquisition transaction,” Pioneer said in a statement.
Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter, had reported that deliberations were ongoing, though there was no certainty the companies would reach an agreement. Bloomberg said that Texas-based Pioneer was seeking further consolidation in the shale industry with the deal.
Secretary of Energy Has An Epiphany on NatGas. Granholm: Gas will be part of energy mix for years. E&E News. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Thursday that natural gas will remain part of the global energy mix for the “years to come” as Europe focuses on transitioning away from Russian fuels. On a call with reporters, Granholm said the European Union is “very focused” on diversifying its energy supply away from Russia “number one” — and then transitioning away from fossil fuels. Her comments came as the U.S. exports more liquefied natural gas to meet Europe’s demand, prompting some green groups to criticize the oil and gas sector for capitalizing on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “We’re all trying to recognize first of all that we’re in a transition,” Granholm said when asked how Europe’s future gas demand affects U.S. LNG infrastructure. “We know that the build-out of LNG and LNG terminals is helping our allies, but we also know that we have got to continue to push and accelerate toward clean solutions.
U.S. Exports Rising; Production Is Not! U.S. oil exports may be rising but production isn’t. Oil & Gas 360. Exports of crude oil from the United States have surged since Russia invaded Ukraine last year, with Europe turning into the biggest buyer of U.S. crude. The story is pretty much the same as in gas. And so is the production side of this story. When gas prices plummeted in December amid milder-than-expected weather despite a couple of seasonal cold spells, U.S. gas companies began to curb production. Now, oil companies are doing the same. While this is happening, demand for U.S. crude will, in all likelihood, remain robust, especially in Europe. Whether or not this could see a surge in prices similar to that in natural gas prices that we witnessed last year is unclear. However, with global production set to tighten later in the year with no substantial production increase coming from anywhere, that lid might fall off. Yet even if it does, one thing is for sure, it seems—U.S. oil producers are not going to rush into production growth, possibly ever again.
Shell CEO Says Cutting O&G Production In Not Good. Shell CEO Says Cutting Oil and Gas Production Is Not Healthy. Bloomberg. Shell Plc’s new boss said cutting oil and gas output would be bad for consumers, echoing a pivot by other major producers toward fossil fuels and energy security. “I am of a firm view that the world will need oil and gas for a long time to come,” Shell Chief Executive Officer Wael Sawan said in an interview with Times Radio on Friday. “As such, cutting oil and gas production is not healthy.”
Gulfport Is Profitable in 2022. Thanks, MDN. Gulfport Energy, the third-largest driller in the Ohio Utica Shale (by the number of wells drilled), emerged from bankruptcy in May 2021 with a new board and new top management. In January of this year, the company appointed a new CEO, John Reinhart, the former President and CEO of M-U driller Montage Resources Corporation before that company was gobbled up by Southwestern Energy. Yesterday Gulfport issued its 4Q and full 2022 update. The company made $749 million in net income during 4Q22, versus $558 million in 4Q21 (up 34%). Gulfport’s net income for the full year was $495 million in 2022, versus losing $113 million in 2021. What about the number of wells drilled and production?
Anti’s Fighting the O&G Industry Is Worth $4.5 Billion Per Year. Thanks, MDN. Robert Bryce is a Texas-based author, journalist, film producer, and public speaker. Over the past three decades, his articles have appeared in numerous publications, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, National Review, Field & Stream, and Austin Chronicle. Bryce recently published an article on his own Substack website that exposes the $4.5 billion-per-year NGO-corporate-industrial-climate complex. You think Big Green groups like the Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund, and National Resources Defense Council are virtuous defenders of the environment? Think again. They’re in it for the money. Follow the money.
DeSantis, Pence Pushing to Speed Energy Approvals. DeSantis, Pence allies launching campaign to speed energy approvals. Politico. Republican operatives are launching a multimillion-dollar campaign to pressure swing-state lawmakers to make it easier to build energy projects such as pipelines and power lines — with a special focus on squeezing vulnerable Senate Democrats. Leaders of the new effort include allies of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence, two potential GOP contenders in next year’s presidential race, as well as a former top aide to Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. The effort underscores the importance that Republicans and their corporate allies have placed on using their narrow House majority to fast-track energy projects — even as leading members of the party wage vocal fights on issues such as Chinese surveillance and investigations into Biden’s family. But to pass the Senate, they will need support from Democrats, including those facing tough reelection fights in 2024. The new group’s leader is Bill Koetzle, a former Chevron and American Petroleum Institute lobbyist who also worked for Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, as well as for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
Shell Moving to U.S.?? Shell explored quitting Europe and moving to the US. Financial Times. Shell’s top executives explored moving the Anglo-Dutch energy group to the US in a proposal that threatened to deliver a hammer blow to the City of London. Wael Sawan, the oil and gas group’s new chief executive, was among a group of top managers who in 2021 discussed the advantages of shifting the company’s listing and headquarters to the US, according to people familiar with the talks. The executive team — where Sawan oversaw oil, gas and renewables before his move to the top job this year — ultimately decided that Shell would leave the Netherlands but consolidate its base and stock market listing in London. “During formal discussions about the HQ relocation, Wael did not advocate for a move to the US,” Shell told the Financial Times. Although the US idea was ultimately rejected, the motivation that led to the potential move remains: Sawan is concerned about the yawning valuation gap between Shell and US-listed rivals ExxonMobil and Chevron.
January DUC Report. We will start reporting monthly DUC report from EIA. V The number of drilled, but uncompleted wells in the U.S.’s seven most important shale plays rose less than 5% in January from one year ago, the latest Energy Information Administration data shows.
The slight uptick compares to a 35% drop in DUCs from January 2021 to January 2023, EIA reports.
The total number of DUCs in January 2023, was 4,671, up 205 drilled, but uncompleted wells, from 4,466 in January 2022. From January 2021 to January 2023, the total number of DUCs fell by 2,506, or 34.9%.
Four of the seven plays, including Appalachia (the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays combined), the Bakken, Haynesville, and the Niobrara all recorded an increase in DUCS from January 2022 to January 2023.
The biggest jump was in the Haynesville, up 268 DUCs, or 72.6%, to 637, followed by the Niobrara (up 216 DUCs, or 62.6%) to 561, the Bakken (up 116 DUCs, or 26.5%) to 553, and Appalachia (up 91 DUCs, or 16.8%) to 633.
The Anadarko, Eagle Ford and Permian reported a year-over-year drop in DUCs; EIA found. The Permian Basin saw the biggest year-over-year drop in DUCs, falling 272, to 1,083 from 1,355.
By comparison the Permian Basin’s DUCs total plummeted from 3,468 in 2021.
The Eagle Ford fell by 179 DUCs, or 27.2%, to 478, while the Anadarko recorded a 35-well, 4.6%, drop, to 726 DUCs.
Repsol Does Marcellus Deal. Thanks, MDN. Spanish-owed Repsol owns 214,000 net acres of leases in the Marcellus Shale, primarily located in northeastern Pennsylvania in Bradford, Susquehanna, and Tioga counties. Early last year (in January 2022), Repsol closed on a deal to buy Rockdale Marcellus out of bankruptcy for $222 million, adding Rockdale’s acreage and wells to Repsol’s portfolio. However, Repsol is a big company with operations far beyond the Marcellus. Repsol operates around the world in 25 countries, covering upstream, midstream, and downstream. Repsol’s upstream operations are both onshore and offshore in 15 countries! Here’s some new news, at least for us…
“Clean NatGas” Energy Department exploring clean natural gas designation. Politico. The Energy Department is exploring a plan to offer a government endorsement for natural gas that meets a minimum standard for cleanliness — a move aimed at helping U.S. gas producers maintain sales even as nations ratchet down fossil fuels dependency to address climate change, two industry sources familiar with the plan said. A number of companies have sprung up to certify the carbon footprint of natural gas collected in Texas, New Mexico and other places, but there is no federal government program verifying the legitimacy of these private sector efforts. The DOE effort would set a minimum standard that has to be met to help build confidence in the marketplace, said one industry executive briefed on the plan. DOE has invited industry and environmental groups to send representatives to a roundtable the agency plans on hosting at CERAWeek, one of the biggest U.S. energy conferences, scheduled for Houston next month, the executive said.
“Drill Baby Drill for CCS.” ‘Drill Baby Drill’ 2.0: The EPA needs to start permitting wells for carbon dioxide sequestration. Forbes. Everyone loves the idea of capturing carbon dioxide and injecting it in the ground. But the nascent industry known as CCS (carbon capture and sequestration) won’t go anywhere without government permits to drill the wells needed to do so. The Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, has approved zero permits for carbon dioxide sequestration wells over the past several years even though the Energy Act of 2020, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act give great incentives for CCS. Industry, landowners, and Congress are questioning EPA’s leadership. Long-delayed permits are currently pending for 41 CCS wells, Class VI wells as codified by EPA. The delay in approvals is puzzling to oil and gas companies that are sponsoring some of these wells. The overseer of oil and gas development on federal lands, the Bureau of Land Management, BLM, approved thousands of oil and gas wells last year. It begs the question of why doesn’t someone at the EPA call up the BLM to borrow a couple of geologists and subsurface specialists to get the job done.
Adios Record Profits! Record profit season is over for U.S. shale. Oil Price. Record profits – that would be the best summary of the state of the global oil industry last year. From Big Oil majors to U.S. shale independents, everyone made money from the oil and gas price rally sparked by the war in Ukraine. But the party seems to be over, at least for shale drillers. The Energy Information Administration said earlier this month it expected U.S. oil and gas production to hit a record next month. Oil output in the shale patch, the EIA said, would rise by 75,000 barrels daily, and the Permian would contribute 30,000 bpd of that, for a record total of 9.36 million barrels daily. Gas output would gain 400 million cu ft daily to a record 96.6 billion cu ft. Yet meanwhile, Baker Hughes has reported that drilling rigs are on the decline, with the February rig count revealing the largest cut in activity since June 2020. The total count as of last week was still 15.8 percent higher than it was a year ago, but any comparison with 2020—a year devastating for the U.S. oil industry—should sound an alarm bell.
Study Debunks Gas Stoves for Respiratory Illness. New sweeping analysis debunks reports blaming gas stoves for respiratory illness. FOX. A new independent analysis published Thursday morning concluded that natural gas-powered stoves are “not a significant determinant of residential indoor air quality.” The analysis — conducted by the California-based Catalyst Environmental Solutions and commissioned by the California Restaurant Association and the California Building Industry Association (CBIA) — examined dozens of existing studies and government reports. It concluded that existing research doesn’t establish a significant connection between respiratory illness and gas stove usage despite recent media reports. “When it comes to indoor air quality of cooking, the main driver of health risk is what you are cooking, not the fuel that you use to cook it,” Dan Tormey, president of Catalyst Environmental Solutions and chief author of the report, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “A secondary finding is that the most effective way to protect your health during indoor cooking is to have proper ventilation.”
PA February 20, to March 2, 2023
County Township E&P Companies
1. Armstrong Boggs Snyder
2. Beaver Economy Boro PennEnergy
3. Greene Aleppo EQT
4. Greene Aleppo EQT
5. Greene Aleppo EQT
6. Greene Aleppo EQT
7. Greene Aleppo EQT
8. Greene Franklin EQT
9. Greene Gilmore EQT
10. Greene Perry EQT
11. Greene Springfield EQT
12. Greene Springfield EQT
13. Greene Springfield EQT
14. Greene Springfield EQT
15. Greene Springfield EQT
16. Greene Springfield EQT
17. Lycoming Plunketts EQT
18. Washington Amwell EQT
19. Washington East Finley EQT
20. Washington East Finley EQT
21. Washington East Finley EQT
22. Washington Union EQT
23. Washington Unio EQT
24. Westmoreland Bell EQT
OH Permits February 12, to February 19, 2023
County Township E&P Companies
1. No New Permits
WV Permits February 13, to February 17, 2023
1. Doddridge Antero
2. Harrison HG Services
3. Lewis HG services
4. Marshall SWN
5. Marshall SWN
6. Marshall SWN
