East Resources

From Wikimarcellus

Warrendale, Pennsylvania-based East Resources is a privately-held oil and gas exploration and production company. It has a Marcellus shale leasehold in excess of 650,000 net acres in the key southwestern and northeastern Pennsylvania areas of the trend. The company is focusing on northeastern Pennsylvania especially in Potter and Tioga Counties. It's total Appalachian Basin holdings amounts to roughly 1,000,000 acres of oil and gas drilling rights.

In September, 2008, it was reported as a joint venture partner with Ultra Petroleum Corp. in a Potter County, Pennsylvania exploration program. East has a 50% working interest and is the well operator. So far, there are two two Oriskany exploratory wells. One of these has potential production of 5 Mmcf/d. Other wells there are targeting the Marcellus shale.

An October, 2008 report noted that East was buying about 60,000 gallons of water per day from the Borough of Coudersport in Potter County for fracking a well in North Coudersport.

Another October report indicated that East has recorded 162 leases during 2008 with the Bradford County, Pennsylvania Registrar of Deeds.

A November, 2008 report noted that East Resources had leased acreage in Tioga County, the next county east of Potter County. Update: A January, 2010 news account mentioned that East was drilling on the Fitch farm in Roaring Branch, a small village in Union Township, located in the southeast corner of Tioga County, PA. It was mentioned that the Marcellus shale is approximately 200 feet thick here and found at a depth of around 6,500 feet. It is considered to be a "sweet spot" in the formation. The company planned to drill six wells on the pad and were in the process of fracing the first one, the Fitch # 1H. It had been drilled in August, 2009. The well had a depth of 6,500 feet and a horizontal lateral of 4,500 feet. The plan was to use up to 5 million gallons of fracing fluid in the operation. 50 trailers containing 3 million gallons of fluid had been assembled on the site, and 24 truck-mounted pumps were to pump the fluid and approximately 5 million pounds of sand down the well. The estimated cost of the well and its completion were $4 million. At the time of the report the well had been temporarily clogged, but had been cleared by snaking a 2 mile pipe down the well and blowing nitrogen into the clog. The well was to have a slickwater frac.

A second November report noted that East was in the process of drilling on the Hickok farm in Bradford County.

In June, 2009, East Resources announced that the global investment firm, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. (aka KKR), had made a significant investment (reportedly, $350 million) in the company in the form of debt which can be converted into a minority equity interest in East. The funds will be used for several purposes including expanding and developing its Marcellus leasehold and building pipeline infrastructure.

A December, 2009 news account stated that East was cooperating with the Susquehanna River Basin Commission to help fund a network of 30 water quality monitors to measure stream pollution in Tioga County's drilling areas. The monitors were to act as an early warning system in case of chemical leak or spill to avert fish kills from water pollution and also provide baseline information as to water quality in the Susquehanna River's tributaries. These electronic devices have the capability to continuously monitor and report acidity, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, turbidity, and water temperature. A change in the ability to conduct electricity would be an early marker in case of serious pollution taking place from drilling activities. The monitors also record and measure water depth indicating any rapid changes in the volume of water in the tributaries.

A news account appeared in April, 2010 regarding the hydro-fracturing an East Resources well off Mack Road (Cherry Flat Rd.) in Charleston Township located approximately in the center of Tioga County, PA. Contractor for the frac was Universal Well Services.

East has also been an active driller in the Trenton-Black Rver Play (TBR) in New York State. It sold off its very productive holdings of approximately 250,000 acres in the Watkins Glen area in 2002, but retained some acreage in the Elmira area and has continued to build its leasehold back up to around 75,000 acres that are prospective for TBR. The company plans to continue developing this leasehold and has met with drilling success on it.

Northern Pipeline Company, LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of East Resources that owns gathering pipelines extending north from Butler and Clarion Counties in Pennsylvania across Forest, McKean, Venango and Warren counties to the New York State border. It also owns second pipeline stretching south from Butler and Clarion counties to the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border. Northern owns 60 miles of gathering pipelines in Chester, Delaware and Lancaster counties. This East subsidiary owns two gas processing plants in northern Pennsylvania with a total capacity of 20 Mmcf/d.

• Terrence M. Pegula is Founder, President and CEO of East Resources.
• John Sieminski is East’s chief legal counsel.
• Scott Blauvelt is East's Regulatory Compliance Coordinator.
• Paul Dudenas is the company's Manager of Engineering.
• Dale Fidurko is an East petroleum engineer.
• Rick Ford is an East Project Manager.
• Doug Mehan is Assistant Manager of Environmental, Health and Safety.
• Jack Showers is a Community Relations Liaison in northeast Pennsylvania.