EOG Resources is pushing boundaries in Ohio's Utica oil play and now drilling on the Sable pad, also located in Noble County. This site features the 3.7-mile lateral currently under construction. The company's first multi-well pads in the area Timberwolf and Xavier have each produced over 200,000 barrels of oil since their inception—Timberwolf in August and Xavier in October. A third site, the four-well White Rhino pad in Noble County, is also showing promising early results, according to Keith Trasko, EOG’s Senior Vice President of Exploration and Production, who noted the wells are performing as expected in their initial weeks.

New Mexico leads the Rockies region in gas production and ranks as the sixth-largest in terms of active gas wells in the U.S. Last year, the state's gas well count slightly increased by 0.2% to 30,699, with new additions in both the northwestern San Juan Basin and the southeastern Permian Basin. Meanwhile, just to the north in Colorado, gas producers grew by a modest 0.1% to 30,322, primarily due to increased drilling activity in the DJ and Piceance basins. Wyoming saw a decline in its active gas wells by 3.7%, down to 17,006, with production mainly in Sublette, Sweetwater, and Converse counties reflecting stable or slightly reduced drilling activity. Utah also experienced a slight decrease of 0.2% in its number of gas wells, totaling 6,463. In Q1 2024, oil and gas industry activity in Oklahoma, Colorado, and northern New Mexico experienced a decline. This marks the fifth consecutive quarter of contraction in drilling and business activities within these regions. According to a survey that included responses from 33 firms operating in the Rockies, this downtrend is expected to continue over the next six months.

The Williston Basin is a big area filled with layers of rock that sits next to the Rocky Mountains in western North Dakota, eastern Montana, and the southern part of Saskatchewan in Canada. This area covers roughly 110,000 square miles. Geologically, it's very similar to the Alberta Basin in Canada. People started drilling for oil in the Williston Basin back in 1936, and by 1954, most of the land where oil could likely be found was already claimed for drilling. The Bakken Formation with parts of Montana, North Dakota, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba has become one of only ten oil fields globally to yield over 1 million barrels per day (bpd) since the late 2000s. It is currently the third-largest U.S. shale oilfield, behind the Permian and Eagle Ford. The boom in the Bakken started around September 2008, coinciding with the U.S. housing market crash. The application of new technologies, such as swell packers enabling multiple-stage fracturing, significantly enhanced oil recovery, making the Bakken Formation a key player in the U.S. In 2022, the Bakken oil field saw big improvements in how much oil and gas it could produce. At the start of the year, 27 drilling rigs were working there, more than double the 11 rigs from the start of 2021. Important upgrades included making the Tioga Gas Plant able to process 150 million cubic feet more gas each day, and making the Dakota Access Pipeline bigger, increasing its oil transport capacity from 570,000 to 750,000 barrels every day.

Equinor and EQT Corporation have agreed that Equinor will exchange its operated assets in the Marcellus and Utica shale formations in Ohio for a stake in EQT’s non-operated interests in the Northern Marcellus formation.

Appalachian Basin (formerly Marcellus and Utica) covers most of New York, Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, West Virginia, and Western Maryland in the north, reaching down to parts of Northwest Georgia and Northeast Alabama in the south. The basin is massive, covering about 185,000 square miles, roughly 1,000 miles long from northeast to southwest, and in some places, it's up to 300 miles wide. In this area, some major companies are making significant investments. EQT stands out as the largest producer in the Appalachian Basin, with other key players including Chesapeake, Range Resources, Antero, Repsol, and Gulfport also actively investing.

Continental Resources is actively involved in innovative energy projects to enhance oil production and environmental sustainability. The company has invested $250 million in the world's largest carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) project, a partnership with Summit Carbon Solutions. This project aims to capture CO2 from industrial sources in the Midwest and store it in North Dakota's Williston Basin, where Continental has significant experience and presence​​​​. In the Powder River Basin, Continental has expanded its operations by acquiring 400,000 acres. It is now the second-largest producer in this area, achieving high initial productivity from its Niobrara wells. The company aims to develop a competitive program across its portfolio, drawing on its successes in the Williston Basin​​. In the Williston Basin, known for its Bakken play, Continental is enhancing oil recovery through innovative well completion designs and exploring the potential of refracturing existing wells. These efforts are part of Continental's broader strategy to increase oil extraction efficiency and contribute to environmental sustainability.

In Wyoming during 2023, the oil and gas industry experienced various trends and developments. Wyoming ranked 8th nationally in both crude oil and natural gas production, significantly contributing to the economy through property and severance taxes. The state had a peak of 27,951 producing wells in 2022, including oil and gas wells, with 33 operating gas plants processing nearly 97% of the state's gas production. Notably, 21 of Wyoming's 23 counties produce oil and/or natural gas, with Converse County leading in crude oil production and Sublette County in natural gas production​​. U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicted that crude oil production across the United States would increase to 12.8 million b/d in 2024. Throughout 2023, oil production in Wyoming showed an upward trend, with more than 95 million barrels expected to be produced, an increase of about 3 million barrels from 2022. This rise in oil production was partly attributed to the completion of 110 newly drilled oil wells in the first half of the year, mainly in the Powder River Basin. However, natural gas production faced a decline due to the aging of wells and a low number of new gas wells being completed. Only 18 new gas wells were finished in the first half of 2023, with a noted interest in drilling applications, suggesting potential future developments.

The Haynesville Shale play, located in northwestern Louisiana and eastern Texas, was recognized in March 2008. Petrohawk Energy Corp. and Chesapeake Energy Corp. had leased acreages in Louisiana, bringing fame to the region. The Haynesville Shale is crucial for meeting the rising demand for LNG exports from the Gulf Coast because of its location. It's expected that Haynesville will contribute about 13 Bcf/d to the overall growth in U.S. gas demand by 2030. However, drilling in Haynesville is more expensive and challenging due to the depth of its wells, especially when compared to areas like the Marcellus Shale.

Northern Oil and Gas (NOG) has successfully completed two acquisitions, investing $162.6 million in properties within the Utica Shale and the northern Delaware Basin. In November 2023, NOG ventured into the Utica Shale by acquiring interests from a private seller, including less than one producing well and slightly over one well in development, spanning several counties in Ohio. These areas, primarily operated by Ascent Resources, focus on extracting oil and gas from the Point Pleasant Formation and the Utica Shale, with the Ohio assets being a significant part of this strategy.

The $26 billion purchase of Endeavor Energy Resources by Diamondback Energy, with its stock up 2.6%, is the newest big deal combining oil and gas production in the Permian Basin under a few big companies

Hess Corp. is in the final stages of a major sale to Chevron, with increased drilling and production in the Bakken region noted in the last quarter. Hess announced its fourth-quarter net production in the Bakken reached 194,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d), a slight increase from the third quarter's 190,000 boe/d and a significant 23% rise from the 158,000 boe/d seen in the fourth quarter of the previous year. This growth is attributed to more drilling and the impact of the previous year's severe winter weather.

Chesapeake Energy has agreed to purchase its competitor, Southwestern Energy, in a $7.4 billion all-stock deal. The acquisition anticipates a boost in natural gas demand with new U.S. LNG export terminals coming online in 2025.

Quantum Capital Group sold Rockcliff Energy II LLC, a Quantum Energy Partners' company, to TG Natural Resources LLC for $2.7 billion on December 29. TG Natural Resources is a part of Tokyo Gas, a Japanese company aiming to triple its overseas profits in North America and other regions.

-Crescent Point Energy finalized its $1.9 billion purchase of Hammerhead Energy to expand operations in Alberta's Montney Shale -Two Canadian companies merged to increase their presence in Alberta's Kaybob Duvernay area -Ring Energy completed acquisition in the Permian Basin

WhiteHawk Energy has recently completed a significant acquisition in the Marcellus Shale, investing $54 million. This deal has effectively doubled their mineral and royalty ownership in the Marcellus Shale, particularly in Greene and Washington counties in Pennsylvania. This region is noted for its high-quality natural gas reserves. WhiteHawk’s Marcellus assets now encompass approximately 475,000 gross unit acres, featuring production from about 1,315 horizontal shale wells. In addition to this, they own interests in 72 wells-in-progress, 64 permitted wells, and nearly 900 undeveloped Marcellus locations. This acquisition is expected to double WhiteHawk's net revenue interest in each well within its Marcellus holdings​​.

Crescent Point Energy Corp has finalized a deal to acquire Hammerhead Energy Inc. for approximately $1.86 billion. This strategic acquisition significantly expands Crescent Point's drilling locations within the Montney Shale region in Alberta, Canada, positioning the company as a stronger competitor in one of North America's most resource-rich oil areas.

Chevron Corp has agreed to acquire Hess Corp in a $53 billion all-stock deal. This acquisition will not only enhance Chevron’s position in the domestic oil market but also fetch a substantial stake in Exxon Mobil's promising Guyana projects.

Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) has reached an agreement to acquire its domestic competitor, Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD.N). This all-stock transaction, which places a valuation of $59.5 billion on the deal, promises to establish Exxon as the preeminent producer in the U.S.'s most extensive oilfield. At a valuation of $253 per share, this merger brings together the prowess of Exxon, America's largest oil entity, with Pioneer, a standout performer that has risen to prominence during the shale boom.

Energy Transfer's unit prices have surged over 13% this year, bolstered by two significant acquisitions. The company spent nearly $1.5 billion on acquiring Lotus Midstream, a deal that will instantly boost its free and distributable cash flow. A recently inked $7.1 billion deal to acquire Crestwood Equity Partners is also set to immediately enhance the company's distributable cash flow per unit. Energy Transfer aims to unlock commercial opportunities and refinance Crestwood's debt, amplifying the deal's value proposition. These strategic acquisitions provide the company additional avenues for expanding its distribution, which already offers a strong yield of 9.2%. Energized by both organic growth and its midstream consolidation efforts, Energy Transfer aims to uplift its payout by 3% to 5% annually.

WhiteHawk Energy LLC completed its second Haynesville Shale mineral and royalty acquisition of the year, spanning northwestern Louisiana and eastern Texas. WhiteHawk also secured a $100 million acquisition finance facility from an undisclosed "top tier institution." The company will utilize $20 million from this facility to fund the Haynesville purchase from Mesa Minerals Partners II LLC

The Haynesville oil and gas basin is a significant shale gas-producing region located primarily in northwest Louisiana and eastern Texas in the United Statesб with some estimates suggesting it could contain up to 500 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas.

In order to sell its part of the sprawling Eagle Ford Shale acreage, Chesapeake Energy Corp. on January 18 concluded an agreement to trade its Brazos Valley region assets to WildFire Energy I LLC for $1.425 billion.

On January 5 Northern Oil & Gas (NOG) concluded a deal to acquire working interests in Midland-Petro D.C. Partners LLC (MPDC)'s Mascot Project in the Midland Basin, according to a January 9 press release. Firstly estimated at $330 million in cash, the deal was signed with an additional 3.25% working interest added to the 36.7% agreed upon when the transaction was announced on October 19. NOG paid $29 million more for the additional interests, which now totalled 39.958%. Finally, the deal closed for $320 million in cash and $43 million in debt at signing in October with the finance of Minnetonka, Minn.-based NOG with cash on hand, operating free cash flow, and assistance from its revolving credit facility.

After reaching record-high production in 2021, the Haynesville Shale seemed to have a quiet 2022, with a smattering of deal activity and attention seemingly focused more on LNG exports than production. Meanwhile, the indications are that the third-largest producing gas shale in the U.S. is growing up for a robust 2023 if commodity prices stand still. Top basin performers Chesapeake Energy, Southwestern Energy, Comstock Resources, Aethon Energy, and Rockcliff Energy II produced a combined total of 1.53 MMboe/d, 83 bbl/d of oil, and 9.2 Bcf/d of gas in the first half of 2022.

Northern Oil and Gas Inc. (NOG) made a $330 million purchase in the Permian Basin, according to the release on October 19. NOG revealed an agreement to purchase a 36.7% working interest in the Mascot Project from Midland-Petro D.C. Partners LLC (MDPC). The acquisition will be funded with cash on hand, operating free cash flow, and borrowings. The Mascot Project is operated by Permian Deep Rock Oil Co., an affiliate of MPDC, which is a David H. Arrington-owned business based in Midland, Texas. NOG anticipates that the production from the acquired properties to average almost 4,400 boe/d in the first quarter of 2023 and 6,450 boe/d for the full-year 2023 (2-stream, about 80% oil).

Houston-based company Momentum Midstream LLC on September 22 purchased Midcoast Energy LLC’s East Texas business from an affiliate of Arc Light Capital Partners LLC and Align Midstream LLC from Tailwater Capital and claimed that it establishes a leading presence in the Haynesville Shale. New Generation Gas Gathering or NG3 project will collect natural gas produced in the Haynesville Shale for re-delivery to premium Gulf Coast markets, including LNG export. Moreover, the NG3 project includes a carbon capture and sequestration component that will eliminate 100% of the CO₂ and accumulate it underground for a long time, creating a net negative carbon footprint. With the combined assets of Midcoast ETX and Align Midstream, Momentum is currently delivering volumes of more than 2 Bcf/d for a diverse customer base composed of producers, utilities, end-users, and LNG exporters. Momentum’s footprint in the Haynesville includes about 3,000 miles of gathering pipelines, 1.5 Bcf/d of treating capacity, 700 MMcf/d of processing capacity, 200,000 HP of compression, and 820 miles of pipelines transporting gas to the Gulf Coast markets in southeast Texas and the Carthage and Bethel markets in East Texas.

Despite the circulating rumors concerning Colgate’s attempt to launch an IPO, on May 19 the company decided to combine with Centennial Resource Development Inc. This merger of equals is estimated at $7 billion and will found the biggest pure-play E&P company in the Delaware Basin of the Permian. The transformative combination essentially enlarges companies’ potential and hastens the growth across all financial and operating metrics. According to Centennial CEO Sean Smith, the combined company is anticipated to furnish shareholders with quickened capital return program due to a fixed dividend coupled with a share repurchase plan. Due to a recent report, the merger would increase production 7%, to 145,000 boe/d by the fourth quarter would further ratchet up next year. By third-quarter 2023, the company predicted 160,000 boe/d based on a drilling program of 140 wells per year. Colgate Energy was reported to be getting an IPO last December that sources said would value the company at approximately $4 billion. The combined company will have over 15-years of drilling inventory, assuming its current drilling pace, the companies will produce over $1 billion of free cash flow in 2023 at current strip prices.

The two Bakken shale producers announced in a joint statement on March 7 that they had reached an agreement to unite in a $6 billion "merger of equals." Combining these two companies will create a leading Williston Basin position with assets covering approximately 972,000 net acres, production of 167,800 boe/d, and an enhanced free cash flow generation that will generate capital returns to shareholders. A historic collapse in oil prices prompted both Whiting and Oasis oil companies to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2020. Thus, the merger can be viewed as a preventive measure to avoid going out of business.

As part of its effort to expand its Montney Shale play, Vermilion Energy Inc. recently acquired Leucrotta Exploration Inc. for a net cash purchase price of CA$477 million. Vermilion has identified 275 high-quality, high-return, low-risk multi-zone drilling prospects. Top management believes, these prospects represent 20 or more years of low-risk, self-funding, high-deliverability shale drilling. Assuming the anticipated May closing date, Vermilion is increasing its capital budget for E&D in 2022 to $500 million and increasing guidance for production from 86,000 to 88,000 boe/d to take into account the Leucrotta acquisition.

Crescent Energy closed the acquisition of Uinta Basin assets in Utah that were previously owned by EP Energy for $690 million, a few hundred million dollars below the original price. The accretive deal increases Crescent's Rockies position and adds significant cash flow and a portfolio of high-quality oil-weighted undeveloped sites. In addition to its acquired Uinta assets, Crescent's pro forma year-end 2021 provided reserves totaled 598 million boe, of which 83% was developed, 55% was liquid, and its provided PV-10 was $6.2 billion.

Exxon Mobil Corp. is weighing prospects of selling its assets in North Dakota’s Bakken, after gauging interest from potential buyers — 5 billion is the issue price, at least according to rumors. The price point came about after the news that the oilgiant is in the final round of hiring bankers to help launch the sale. Yet Exxon Mobil itself stays tight-lipped regarding the situation.

In light of the conflict in Ukraine, buyout firms are currently scurrying to make cash from the U.S. crudeprices reaching their highest level since 2008. And one of the largest privately-owned US-based oilproducers may be up for sale. EnCap Investments looks to sell its portfolio company Ameredev II for over $4 billion including debt. It’s important to note, however, that both EnCap and Ameredev II alike are staying tight-lipped on the matter.

Looks like Pine pulled the plug on its properties in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, and Harrison and Panola counties, Texas. Which includes a total of 12,500 acres and ownership interests in 10 operated wells with a production capacity of 100 million cubic feet per day along with 18 miles of naturalgas gathering pipelines. Did Pine just give up on Haynesville?

The ever-increasing demand for natural gas exports from the Gulf Coast started a race to further develop Permian Basin. Various companies, including Kinder Morgan and MPLX, are among those looking at building new pipelines in the region due to the demand spike. But Energy Transfer seems to edge past them into the lead since its project strikes as the most economical option for the basin outside of capacity expansions on existing pipelines and could essentially add 1.5-2 Bcf/d of transport capacity with just 260 miles of new pipe.

The future of shale is looking bright: economic recovery and a spike in travel lifted oil prices to multi-year highs, helping Continental Resources to a fourth-quarter profit that exceeded Wall Street expectations. Coming off such a high note, the company plans to increase its dividend rates by 15% to 23 cents per share!

Colgate Energy is planning to float its shale oil producer in the Permian's Delaware Basin on the stock market. If successful, this IPO would be the first major U.S. oil producer offering since Jagged Peak Energy's IPO in January 2017. Looks like investors’ confidence in the sector is returning as U.S. crude prices hit their highest in seven years late last year S&P energy index delivered roughly twice the return of the S&P 500 in 2021.

Uncertainty grows: as New Fortresses permit to ship LNG by rail expires, PHSMA explores temporal pausing of the method to provide more time to study safety-related issues. The news prompts one to wonder whether Fortress will proceed with its Pennsylvanian LNG project, in which it has already sunk about $159 million in development.

Ironwood Midstream expanded its operations in the Eagle Ford region through its merger with Nuevo Midstream. Thanks to this, Ironwood II has increased its crude oil and natural gas throughput capacities in the famous shale to approximately 400,000 bbl/d and 410 MMcf/d, respectively. With 390 miles of pipelines, the company manages 245,000 acres of dedicated land.

Crestwood & Oasis Midstream merge to create a top Williston #basin player. $1.8 billion deal is expected to close during the Q1 of 2022. The transaction will result in a 21.7% ownership stake for Oasis in Crestwood common units. The remaining ownership of Oasis in Crestwood will also be of benefit to the company since it will create a diversified midstream operator with a strong balance sheet and a bullish outlook after this accretive merger.

Exxon Mobil is said to have started marketing some United States shale gas properties as it looks to cut debt by selling some of the non-core assets.

Mancos Shale in Rockies: Natural Gas Reservoir with High Potential