By Anna Driver, Reuters News Servive, December 9, 2015

Houston, TX – Oilfield services company Halliburton’s proposed $35 billion acquisition of rival Baker Hughes Inc will likely close in 2016 instead of this year as talks with U.S. regulators continue, a Halliburton executive said.

The companies have already agreed to divest $5.2 billion in overlapping businesses to quell concerns the merger would lead to higher prices and less innovation.

“Currently we are having substantive discussions with the (Department of Justice),” Christian Garcia, Halliburton’s acting chief financial officer told Wells Fargo’s Energy Symposium. “Depending on the outcome of these discussions and the remedies that may be required, there is strong likelihood that the closing of the transaction will slide to 2016.”

Garcia said the companies were confident that the deal would be approved. Halliburton is “finalizing negotiations” with buyers for the drilling businesses it first announced it would divest, Garcia said.

The deal, which would create the second-largest oilfield services company behind Schlumberger Ltd has so far won regulatory approvals in South Africa, Turkey, Colombia, Canada and Kazakhstan. Approvals from antitrust officials in other countries, including Australia and Brazil, were pending.

The proposed merger, first announced in 2014, was originally expected to close in late November, but U.S. regulators requested more information from the companies. That request extended the earliest closing date to December 15.

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/DA83126.htm

In West Virginia, Gastar has developed liquids-rich natural gas in the Marcellus Shale and has drilled and completed its first two successful dry gas Utica Shale/Point Pleasant wells on its acreage.  Gastar has engaged Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. to market its Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale/Point Pleasant assets in West Virginia.  For more information, visit Gastar’s website at www.gastar.com.

The December Marcellus Monthly Newsletter, reports that Chesapeake’s Aubrey McClendon retired two years ago with a golden parachute (good retirement) when over half of the deals on the books were clear losers.  Chesapeake is now “shedding assets” trying to stay solvent.
 
Nobel Energy has announced the second round of layoffs. and has canceled stock sales.  Magnum Hunter has suspended operations and is likely to be delisted from the NY stock exchange, and has announced it may be “unable to continue as a going concern.” Range Resources posted a quarterly loss in its latest financials, and—like many Marcellus operators—has seen its share price fall 50% in just the past six months. Range is selling precious leaseholdings to raise the cash it needs to operate.
 
Service companies are not spared.  One of the regions largest law firms serving oil and gas is closing entirely.  The article concludes…”in 2015 alone, the oil and gas industry has destroyed over $20 billion in capital through just one investment vehicle: its “master limited partnerships” (MLPs).”
 
Still another source, Fuel Fix, tells us “Oil companies have canceled or delayed final investment decisions on about 150 projects that are tied to 125 billion barrels of oil equivalent, which could stay underground for several years longer than expected amid a steep drop in crude prices, energy investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. said Tuesday…’by not sanctioning projects today, you’re putting a hole in production in 2017, 2018 and 2019 — potentially a big hole,’ said David Pursell, head of macro research at Houston energy investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co..”

Further, “All told, the industry has scrapped about $125 billion in annual capital spending plans over the next five years, assuming just half of the projects would have been sanctioned if the oil market hadn’t crashed over the last 18 months. That leaves oil companies several years to catch up on building the production equipment and infrastructure they need to bring their buried oil to market.”

Article by Nick Field, Politics PA, December 1, 2015

The Marcellus Shale Coalition has been a cornerstone of the annual Pennsylvania Society gathering for several years now. This year, however, they won’t be having their usual Saturday night reception.

“As you may have heard,” MSC spokesman Amber Benzon told PoliticsPA. “Over the last year the natural gas industry has experienced a significant national downturn, exacerbated in Pennsylvania by lack of adequate pipeline infrastructure to move gas to market.”

“With the price of gas currently averaging $1.03/MCF at Pennsylvania markets, our state has experienced more than $10 billion in capital expenditure reductions and hundreds of layoffs across the Commonwealth,” she continues. “With our companies working diligently to maintain their foothold in Pennsylvania despite negative market forces, we felt that it was the right and prudent move to hit pause on our usual PA Society reception and instead focus all of our energies on creating an environment in Pennsylvania whereby our industry can continue to invest, employ and provide low-cost energy to Pennsylvania consumers.”

“To that end, we are encouraging our policymakers to maintain a competitive tax environment, support commonsense regulations and promote the use of this abundant, low cost resource to the benefit of Pennsylvania businesses and homeowners,” Benzon concludes. “We hope that if we are successful in that regard we will have cause to celebrate in future years, but for this year at least, our party is on hold.”

As for us, we’ll still have our regular list of events as well as reports and other stories concerning the big New York event.

Source: http://www.politicspa.com/marcellus-shale-coalition-sitting-out-pa-society-this-year/71048/

By David Conti, Pittsburgh Tribune Review, December 1, 2015

Royal Dutch Shell plans to close its Franklin Park office next summer and move most of the 180 workers involved in gas and oil drilling there to its U.S. headquarters in Houston.

The move is the latest sign of retrenching among top Marcellus shale gas producers as prices remain at three-year lows because of tepid demand and oversupply. Shell announced 6,500 layoffs worldwide this year and drilled only eight shale wells in Pennsylvania this year, compared to 17 during the same period in 2014 and 31 the year before, state records show.

“By consolidating asset support to a hub location like Houston, we can continue to enhance our competitive position while building longer-term capability for our staff and our business,” spokeswoman Kimberly Windon said Tuesday.

Producers have drilled 40 percent fewer shale wells in Pennsylvania this year compared to last year as they await higher demand and more pipelines to take gas to lucrative markets. Competitors including Consol Energy, Chevron and Noble Energy this year announced layoffs in the Marcellus.

An unspecified number of employees at Shell’s Appalachia office, which they moved into in 2011, will remain here and work from field offices such as one in Tioga County, where the company has been more active.

The move does not affect ongoing work to prepare land in Beaver County for a multibillion-dollar ethane cracker plant that Shell is considering building along the Ohio River in Potter.

“This decision and the proposed petrochemical facility are unrelated,” Windon said. “The proposed petrochemical project is independent from our Appalachia asset and the staff who support it.”

Source: http://triblive.com/business/headlines/9546799-74/shell-gas-houston#axzz3t8EaEGh2

From Adam Kemp, NewsOK Blogs, November 11, 2015

Chesapeake Energy Corp. has announced that they won’t be turning on its annual holiday lights this year.

This would have been the 15th year for the Chesapeake Holiday Light Display in which more than one million bulbs light up the energy company’s campus near Western and Classen, Oklahoma City, OK.

In the past, it has taken 30 workers about two months to install all the lights, but this year the work never began. 

Gordon Pennoyer, Director of Strategic Communications, released the following statement:

“We are refocusing our holiday plans on programs we believe make the greatest impact on Oklahoma City. In lieu of the holiday lights display, Chesapeake is pleased to partner with the Oklahoma City Thunder in delivering leadership support for the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program, which provides holiday gifts to disadvantaged children in our community. Additionally, we will continue our partnership with the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma by matching donations to the organization during the holiday season. We hope all Oklahomans will join us in lighting up the lives of those most in need during this holiday season.”

The decision comes after Chesapeake has seen profits plunge as energy prices drop and the company laid off 740 employees. 

The Holiday Lights had become a tradition in the city, even becoming listed as a “Can’t Miss” holiday attraction on the Oklahoma tourism website. 

Source: http://newsok.com/chesapeake-turns-out-their-holiday-lights/article/5459700

The term penny stock has evolved with the market. In the past, penny stocks were stocks that traded for less than a dollar per share. The SEC, however, modified the definition to include all shares trading below $5.

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. an independent oil and gas company, explores for, exploits, acquires, develops, and produces crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquid resources in the United States. MHRC worksalong with the U.S. Upstream, Midstream, and Oilfield Services segments. It operates in two of the unconventional shale resource plays in the U.S, including the Marcellus Shale and the Utica Shale plays located in the Appalachian Basin within the states of West Virginia and Ohio; and owns interests in non-operated oil and gas properties in the Williston Basin/Bakken Shale located in Divide County, North Dakota.

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. percentage change mounted  64.34% to close at $0.0682 with the total traded volume of  14.25 million shares more than average volume of 11.89 million.

Company’s year to date performance remained declining as it lost almost -97.83%. If we look at last 6 months of trade that is in the bearish zone with a drop of -96.45%.

Its beta volatility value stands at 2.58 times and earning per share was $-1.02. 52-week price range of the stock remained $0.02- $5.23, while during the last trade its minimum price was $0.04 and it gained a highest price of $0.07.