trending Market Intelligence /marketintelligence/en/news-insights/trending/rhoyqnyndgc4c9q5mbmika2 content esgSubNav
In This List

Pa. shale gas production growth slowed to near stop in March

Podcast

Next in Tech | Episode 49: Carbon reduction in cloud

Blog

Using ESG Analysis to Support a Sustainable Future

Research

US utility commissioners: Who they are and how they impact regulation

Blog

Q&A: Datacenters: Energy Hogs or Sustainability Helpers?


Pa. shale gas production growth slowed to near stop in March

Shale gas production growth in Pennsylvania slowed almost to a halt in March despite increasing 10% year over year, the latest state data shows.

Five counties in two opposite corners of the state continued to account for the bulk of Pennsylvania's gas production, according to data from the state Department of Environmental Protection. Susquehanna County in the northeast corner of the state led in gas production despite a 33% year-over-year increase in March in the southwest's Washington County driven by EQT Corp.

The state's top five drillers accounted for 65% of Pennsylvania's 16 Bcf/d of shale gas production, a total that was 10% higher than in March 2017 and less than 1% higher than in February. The five top counties — Susquehanna, Bradford and Wyoming in the northeast and Greene and Washington in the southwest — account for 74% of the state's total production.

SNL Image

Susquehanna County, dominated by Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Southwestern Energy Co., continued to lead the state in total production, despite mild year-over-year declines in production volumes for Chesapeake and Cabot. Southwestern's March production grew 21% over the last year as the company began to fill pipeline capacity it reserved out of the basin.

"Our strategy into Pennsylvania when we first moved in there was to lock up firm transportation for our future development in the area," CEO William Way told analysts on Southwestern's April 27 earnings call. "We entered at a time when transportation costs were low and the ability to lock those up, including a significant amount of flexibility in those commitments, was present, and we took advantage of it."

Southwestern's 1.46 Bcf/d of March gas production was split between operations in the dry gas northeast and the wetter, NGL-rich southwestern corner of the state. Chesapeake and Cabot, the second- and third-largest producers in the state, respectively, operate exclusively in the northeast. Both companies watched their production flatten and then fall in March as pipeline projects such as Constitution Pipeline Co. LLC to New York and PennEast Pipeline Co. LLC to New Jersey continue to be delayed.

SNL Image

EQT, the nation's top gas producer, saw its production jump 59%, including the effects of its November 2017 merger with neighbor Rice Energy. EQT pulled back from Rice's efforts in Ohio's Utica Shale to focus its efforts on the Marcellus Shale in the counties south of Pittsburgh and in northern West Virginia. EQT was the only Pennsylvania driller among the top five that saw production increase compared to February as pipeline capacity increased, largely due to the partial opening of Energy Transfer Partners LP's 3.25-Bcf/d Rover Pipeline LLC bringing gas across the border in eastern Ohio.