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Drilling Down
Chesapeake to Drill Fewer Wells In Utica, Marcellus
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OKLAHOMA CITY -- Chesapeake Energy Corp. said Thursday it will reduce capital expenditures in 2014 to $5.2 billion, a 20% reduction from the $5.6 billion company spent to drill for oil and gas in 2013.
After adjusting for asset sales – Chesapeake sold $3.6 billion worth of assets in the first nine months of 2013 (fourth-quarter results are not yet posted – the company projects production growth of 8% to 10%.
McClendon's AEP Buys Rights to 130K Utica Acres
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YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Aubrey McClendon’s American Energy Partners confirmed Monday that it is buying drilling rights for 130,000 acres in the southern tier of Ohio’s Utica shale play.
The transactions include 74,000 acres that Hess Corp. disclosed last week it had sold to an unnamed buyer for $924 million. Purchase agreements have also been signed with Exxon Mobile Corp. and privately-held Paloma Partners, AEP confirmed.
Exxon affiliate XTO Energy said AEP has purchased the rights to drill on 30,000 of its acres in Ohio. Additional details were not disclosed.
Blue Racer Project Awaits Results from Northern Utica
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PITTSBURGH -- An executive from one of the major midstream companies developing the Utica shale in Pennsylvania and Ohio says it still wants to develop a processing network in the northern tier of the play, but won’t move forward until producers feel more confident about oil and gas production there.
"When you look at Trumbull and other counties where there's been a lot of drilling going on, the results haven't been as good," compared to wells drilled 100 or more miles to the south, observes Jack Lafield, CEO of Caiman Energy and Blue Racer Midstream.
ODNR Issues More Well Permits for Southern Utica
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YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Oil and gas companies are keeping their focus and concentration on the central and southern tier of Ohio's Utica shale, as all 13 new horizontal well permits issued last week were for projects in this region of the shale play.