Even before Coronavirus and the oil price collapse, shale drilling was slowing down, and the industry as a whole was entering a dry season. But why? After ten years of seemingly successful shale drilling and achieving energy independence, why are oil and gas companies struggling?  This is a brief summary of the analysis by Blue Mesa Minerals.…

There are many reasons that you may want to sell your oil and gas royalty interest, but a lack of knowledge regarding the worth of your royalty interest could be very costly.  Whether an inflow of cash would help you make ends meet or finance a large purchase; you no longer want to deal with the administrative paperwork or accounting cost of reconciling monthly…

Natural gas development isn’t easy. Politicians want to tax it and regulate it. The pols are now in a bind, though, and offering to trade one for the other.

Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives continues to struggle with the funding plan needed to balance the $32,000,000,000 state budget allowed last month by Governor Wolf to come into law. To pay for it, the Senate agreed for the first time to impose a mineral extraction tax. In return the Senate gave…

Shaler,

Now that we are back on the old platform, there are a couple things I'd like to bring to your attention to get back in the groove.

County Groups…

My family has a 200 acre interest in a 2000+ acre pooled venture that has been on hold because the largest property holder within the group is in a dispute with a small area mineral rights holder. This property holder is basically trying to use the law take the mineral rights from this small holder. So far the mineral rights holder has held on in court, but the property holder refuses to deal and has a "all or nothing" stance. It looks like the mineral rights holder can’t or won’t sign on to…

FYI>>VERY IMPORTANT TO READ>>>I have been watching all the discussions about the deductions for the checks and have some IMPORTANT info to contribute...we live in Bradford county in the Towanda, Dushore area and in July we organized a meeting of about 100 Neighbors and our Commissioners Doug Mclinko,Daryl Miller and Ed Bustin and Sen Scott Wagner (28th Dist ..York) Landed his helicopter in our front yard…

“Five brothers” versus “seven sisters”

More than half a century ago, five major oil producing countries – Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia – agreed to work together to deprive seven transnational companies – Exxon, RD / Shell, Texaco, Chevron, Mobil, Gulf Oil and BP – of unlimited influence on the oil…

I began getting offers for my land a few years back. I had spoken with friends of mine who had also received offers and decided to lease their property out well "the getting was good". I wanted to take a different approach. I wanted to hold out as long as possible (after all the price can only go up right?). 

To make a long story short, the well that was in my area turned out to be a fluke and my mineral rights are worthless now. I could have been a couple hundred grand richer, but I…

By Keith Mauck

Today's headlines are fearsome. Yet amid the bad news, there is hope for greater U.S. security through energy. 

Gone are the days of stressing over OPEC and oil-supply disruptions; that 40-year nightmare is over. Today, we're experiencing an oil and natural gas boom that promises to strengthen the country. 

Rising U.S. crude production generates huge economic benefits. Oil…

'What is the difference between upstream and downstream in oil and gas?'

https://youtu.be/SsgIaPJ0Cl0

As upstream continues to face a challenging operating environment and opportunities open up in other segments of the industry, we've seen this question asked over again - whether on Linkedin or within our…

We own a tract of land that has had a gas lease since the middle 70's.  It was renewed and had a Coal Bed Methane Lease added to the original along with modifications to the original gas lease in 2008.  We conducted an audit in 2014 that actually did not start until 2015.   Much to our surprise we found the lease had been totally mismanaged, and the terms of the lease were not being followed.  Things such as royalties were being paid to the wrong person,  Deductions were being taken that…

By Justin Spittler

Oil companies are hemorrhaging money. The oil market is in its worst downturn in decades. The price of oil has plummeted 72% since June 2014. Oil is trading below $30 a barrel for the first time since 2003.

If you’ve been reading the Dispatch, you know the world…

New Feature: Compare your prices!…

According to Marcellus Drilling News, Noble Energy - a major player in the Marcellus/Utica, has announced plans to cut dividend payments for its common stock by 44%. In addition, they will also be lowering their 2016 Capex by 50%, meaning less drilling and completion activity will take place in 2016 than we saw in 2015.  

This move, however, is not unique to Noble Energy. Over the last several weeks we have seen many operators such as Chesapeake and Rex Energy suspending stock…

This OpEd originally appeared in the QCtimes.com

By Keith Mauck…

"So, when drillers elsewhere were getting maybe $2.75 per mcf for their gas, in Ohio: “On July 4, I saw Utica gas sell for 64 cents,” said Ohio Oil and Gas Association executive vice president Shawn Bennett in a recent interview.

To be fair, that’s a strikingly painful price, even for the Utica. But that same day in mid-July, Bennett looked up the price of Utica gas while the Henry Hub price was $2.80, and found that Ohio drillers were only getting about $1.12 for their gas. That’s…

For the last 10 years, the oil industry in Iraq has been under intense pressure from jihadist insurgents and many leading oil producers were force to pull out of the region because of fears of safety for their workers, and the locals that lived in the areas according to Energy in Asia.

However, things have begun to change in the South of Iraq, especially in the oil-rich fields of North Rumaila which,…

In researching this subject, I discovered a January 16, 2011 article featured in OilOnLine which provides an interesting alternative to conventional fracking techniques.  Virginia based PDN Mountaineer, LLC announded that they have partnered with Utah based Purestream Technology in incorporating their Trilogy system to treat and purify wastewater from their Marcellus operations.  Purestream claims to be able to alleviate the environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing by…