Epsilon Energy, Ltd. Completes Horizontals and Acquires More Acreage

Epsilon Energy provided an operational update this morning. The company reported having drilled two horizontal wells in the Marcellus shale and has begun drilling a third. Two of the wells are awaiting stimulation in Pennsylvania. The company also announced an agreement with Cabot Oil and Gas for a leasehold swap of approximately 2,000 acres in Susquehanna County.

Full Story

Antero-Dominion Redux

Dominion and Antero have agreed to amend the deal they reached on June 30 by reducing the acreage involved. Originally, Antero was to acquire 205,000 acres of leasehold for $552 million. Dominion retained a 7.5% overide in the deal. Under the new arrangement, Dominion will maintain the overide but will reduce the overall acreage. The deal now will include only 114,259 acres for $347 million. As before, the rights are for the Marcellus Shale only, but the cost has increased from $2,693 to about $3,037 per acre. The parties are citing Antero's inablity to secure adequate follow on financing under current conditions in the credit market.

Full Story

Chesapeake Provides Operations Update

After the close today, Chesapeake released an operations update. The highlights:

-Company Reduces Drilling Capital Expenditure Budget through 2010 by Approximately $3 Billion and Expects Approximately $2 Billion of Excess Cash Generation in 2009 and 2010 to Be Directed Primarily to Debt Reduction

-Lower Capex and Asset and VPP Sales Lead to Lower Production Growth Forecasts for 2008 of 18% from 21% and for 2009 and 2010 of 16% from 19%

-Company Closes Fayetteville Shale Joint Venture Transaction with BP America; Discussions Progress on Marcellus Shale Joint Venture; Company Resumes Plans to Sell a $1 Billion Minority Interest in its Midstream Business Company Provides Hedging Update;

-Substantial Decline in Natural Gas and Oil Prices Has Led to an Approximate $6 Billion Favorable Mark-to-Market Change in the Company's Hedging Positions Since June 30, 2008

-Company Completes Three New Haynesville Shale Wells in September with Average per Well Initial Production Rates Exceeding 10 MMcfe per Day

A conference call to discuss this release has been scheduled for Tuesday morning, September 23, 2008, at 9:00 a.m. EDT

Full Story

Marcellus Permits in PA Increase by 73 to 257 This Year

The PA DEP announced last week that 73 drilling permits for the Marcellus Shale were approved from August 15th to September 15th. They also released this very nice graphic of the county by county count of permits issued and wells drilled in the play.

View the full image

Read the press release

SRBC Proposing New Permitting Rules

The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) today announced it is conducting public hearings on October 21 and 22 on proposed regulatory revisions that will further protect the basin’s water resources and streamline the review of consumptive water uses by the natural gas industry. SRBC’s proposed revisions are open for public comment through October 31.

Included among the proposed revisions affecting the natural gas industry, SRBC would:

- Require all requests for consumptive water use approval to go through SRBC’s approval by rule process – an administrative procedure – rather than SRBC’s standard consumptive water use application process.

- Expand the approval by rule process to allow project sponsors to utilize a broader range of water sources as part of their consumptive use approval, including public water supplies, discharges from wastewater treatment facilities and other lesser quality water sources, and withdrawals from other sources approved separately by SRBC. (The current approval by rule process applies only to water from public water suppliers, thus making project sponsors undergo the standard consumptive use application process for all other water sources.)

- Regulate projects on a drilling pad basis, versus the current process that addresses consumptive use requests on a company-lease area basis.

- Require projects to demonstrate compliance with state and/or federal law for the treatment and disposal of flowback or produced fluids, including brines.

- Incorporate the August 14, 2008 determination by the SRBC Executive Director that all quantities of water withdrawn or used for natural gas well development be reviewed effective October 15, 2008.

- Limit SRBC approval to five years.


Press Release at http://www.srbc.net/pubinfo/press/docs/ProjectReviewNaturalGasRulemaking_Sept2008_3_.pdf