Appalachian

The Pittsburgh-based Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD) said Monday that it has issued its fourth certification to EQT Corp., confirming that the company’s Appalachian Basin operations are in compliance with its 15performance standards for oil and natural gas development in the region.

Stone Energy Corp.’s credit facility has been reduced from $500 million to $300 million, resulting in a borrowing base deficiency of $175.3 million, which could lead to a breach of its lending agreement and default, the company said.

Stone Energy Corp.’s credit facility has been reduced from $500 million to $300 million, resulting in a borrowing base deficiency of $175.3 million, which could lead to a breach of its lending agreement and default, the company said.

After nearly two years of contending with historically low commodity prices, a majority of the Appalachian Basin’s leading producers have retreated almost exclusively to their dry natural gas acreage, where low breakeven prices and prolific wells are being used to defend against the downturn.

Houston’s Gastar Exploration Inc. expects to have initial flowback within the next two weeks from its second Meramec well in Kingfisher County, OK, which it completed with 34 hydraulic fracture stages.

Days before it expects to close on a deal to sell all of its assets in the Appalachian Basin and become a pure play operator in the stacked Midcontinent, Gastar Exploration Inc. said it plans to sell about one quarter of its assets in Oklahoma and will suspend its monthly cash dividend in order to maintain liquidity.

In a win for the pipeline industry, the Supreme Court of Virginia has declined to hear an appeal challenging the constitutionality of a controversial 2004 state law allowing natural gas companies to survey on private property without the landowner’s permission.

Stone Energy Corp. said in its year-end earnings report that it would continue to shut in natural gas production from the Mary Field in West Virginia throughout 2016. The 39,200-acre field is the company’s largest in the Appalachian Basin. Low commodity prices and negative differentials forced it to shut in the assets last September and curtail 100-110 MMcfe/d of Marcellus Shale production (see Shale Daily,Sept. 25, 2015). This year’s $200 million budget would mostly go toward the company’s deepwater Gulf of Mexico assets and maintaining core leasehold interests and maintenance in Appalachia.

A CSX Corp. train carrying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) derailed early last Thursday in Wetzel County, WV, but no injuries or propane leaks were reported.