There’s gas in them hills
With Shell being the latest multinational to lay a big bet on the shale table, Michael Corkey of the Wall Street Journal wondered Who Is Next to Sell Out of the Marcellus Shale?
Evidently there are at least 15 other such deals being discussed related to the Marcellus Shale. With Exxon, Shell and Total having made a move, can Chevron and ConocoPhillips be far behind?
The WSJ lists five of the big, publicly-traded players that may be in the sites of potential acquirers:
Cabot Oil & Gas operates 200,000 acres in the Marcellus Shale and has an active drilling program in the area, installing 12 wells in the first quarter. The company plans to drill a total of 81 wells in the Marcellus in 2010.
Chesapeake Energy leases 1.5 million acres, making it the largest leaseholder in the Marcellus. In the first quarter, its net gas production in the area increased 40% from the previous quarter. Chesapeake expects to operate a total of 170 wells in 2010.
Range Resources operates 1.3 million acres, with 900,000 of them located in what Marcellus buffs call the “Fairway,” or most productive area, of the shale in Pennsylvania. The company is predicting aggressive production growth to increase 19% this year form 2009 and increase 25% in 2011.
Rex Energy: In the first quarter, the company increased its holdings in Marcellus 21% from the third quarter to 60,000 acres. RBC Capital Markets analyst Leo Mariani wrote on May 6 that Rex had ramped up two Marcellus wells, and one was a “clear outperformer.”
Exco Resource Inc. The company has pemits to drill 60 wells in the shale this year. On May 10, Exco entered a JV with BG Group that will own 186,000 acres in the Marcellus. BG Group, a U.K-based energy company, paid Exco $950 million for a 50% stake in the JV
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Posted by admin
on May 29th, 2010. Filed under Marcellus Shale, Shale Basins.
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