Comstock

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Monday told Frisco, TX-based Comstock Resources Inc. that the company is in full compliance with continued listing standards for the exchange. The determination was based on “…consistent and positive performance with respect to the plan the company previously submitted to regain compliance and its achievement of compliance with the minimum market capitalization and shareholders’ equity requirements,” according to Comstock. The company will be subject to a 12-month follow-up period to ensure continued compliance. Last month Comstock management discussed post-recapitalization plans, which include writing off acreage in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale and focusing more intently on the Haynesville Shale.

Recently recapitalized, Frisco, TX-based Comstock Resources Inc. is relying more than ever on the Haynesville Shale. Its once-promising Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) acreage is a bust given lower-for-longer oil prices, and Eagle Ford Shale drilling is still paused.

Frisco, TX-based Comstock Resources Inc. said Monday it is selling conventional natural gas properties in South Texas for $28 million, with proceeds to fund drilling this year, while it restarts drilling in the Haynesville Shale.

Randy McMullen has been appointed CEO of C&J Energy Services Ltd. following the death of founder Joshua Comstock (see Shale Daily, March 11). McMullen also will continue as CFO. The board plans to separate the roles of chairman and CEO, which Comstock had held, and announce a chairman “in due course.” McMullen joined the oilfield services company in August 2005 as CFO and became president in October 2012. Prior to joining C&J, McMullen held various positions with Arthur Andersen, Credit Suisse First Boston and Growth Capital Partners. He graduated magna cum laude from Texas A&M University with a degree in finance.

Joshua E. Comstock, the 46-year-old founder, CEO and chairman of C&J Energy Services Ltd., has died unexpectedly. The company’s board was meeting Friday to discuss a plan for succession. He also founded Casedhole Solutions Inc. and served as its CEO and chairman. Comstock in early 1990 began working for J4 Oilfield Service, a test pump services company, where his primary responsibility was working natural gas production as a service contractor for an ExxonMobil Corp. predecessor company. He founded C&J in 1997 in Corpus Christi, TX, growing it from a small pressure pumping business with two employees to a diversified onshore completion and production provider in North America and the Middle East. Comstock led the company through its initial public offering in July 2011, which resulted in a market capitalization of $1.6 billion. In March 2015, he guided C&J through its $1.4 billion merger with Nabors Industries Ltd.’s completions arm (see Shale Daily, April 22, 2015). C&J at the time owned the 13th biggest fleet of trucks used in U.S. hydraulic fracturing operations. C&J CFO/President Randy McMullen said Comstock’s “drive to excellence, determination, can-do spirit and commitment to our company will inspire and stay with us always. On behalf of our board of directors, executive management team and employees, we mourn his loss and extend our deepest sympathies to his family.”

Comstock Resources Inc. said it has completed an acreage swap with an undisclosed operator, in an equal exchange where it traded away property in Texas for core acreage and drilling locations in the Haynesville Shale in Louisiana.

Comstock Resources Inc. is selling Texas oil and gas properties to an undisclosed buyer for about $115 million, realizing a pretax loss of $100-110 million as it works to increase liquidity in a low commodity price environment.

Comstock Resources Inc. is selling Texas oil and gas properties to an undisclosed buyer for about $115 million, realizing a pretax loss of $100-110 million as it works to increase liquidity in a low commodity price environment.

Frisco, TX-based Comstock Resources Inc. next year will turn away from the Eagle Ford Shale and Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) and spend more in the dry gas-rich Haynesville as it believes “improved completion technology, including longer laterals, will provide strong returns on drilling projects at current natural gas prices.”