Aethon Energy Management LLC overtook Ascent Resources LLC as the Lower 48’s top privately held natural gas producer in 2023, according to new research by Enverus.
Aethon’s gross operated natural gas production stood at 2.52 Bcf/d as of end-2023, up from 2.01 Bcf/d at the end of 2022. Ascent’s production held steady at 2.43 Bcf/d from 2.45 Bcf/d a year earlier.
Dallas-based Aethon’s upstream operations primarily target the Haynesville Shale of North Louisiana and East Texas. Aethon recently completed the purchase of Haynesville assets of Tellurian Inc. It also signed a 20-year offtake agreement to purchase 2 million metric tons/year of LNG from Tellurian’s proposed Driftwood liquefaction project.
Aethon also boasts a sizable midstream portfolio with some 2.9 Bcf/d of throughput capacity across Louisiana, Texas and Wyoming.
Ascent, meanwhile, is a Utica Shale pure-play, with 366,500 net leasehold acres mostly in Ohio.
Continental Resources Inc., the storied independent which was taken private in 2022 by executive chairman and primary shareholder Harold Hamm, took third place in gas and first place in oil production in 2023 among private upstream firms, Enverus data show. Continental operates in the Anadarko, Permian, Powder River and Williston basins.
Privately held exploration and production (E&P) companies accounted for an estimated 39% of total Lower 48 natural gas production in 2023, Enverus’ Justin Lepore, lead consultant, told NGI.
He said natural gas production from private E&Ps grew in the aggregate in 2023 versus 2022, despite a steep decline in prices. “That said, the rig count has been dialed back year-over-year, likely partly due to prices and partly due to inventory concerns.”
As for the top 100 E&P list, Lepore said, "Merger and acquisition activity, particularly those involving public buyers and private sellers during 2023, have reshuffled our rankings…Inventory count and quality has also significantly driven private operator valuations, and in many cases, there has been a goal of growing production to become more attractive to takeout targets."
Lepore said TG Natural Resources LLC’s $2.7 billion acquisition of fellow natural gas heavyweight Rockcliff Energy II LLC “combined their positions into one, creating space for a new entrant onto our list.”
Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s recent Eagle Ford shale divestment, meanwhile, led to Wildfire Energy LLC and INEOS Energy joining the list of top E&Ps, Lepore said.
“Overall, it might be Rockies-weighted operators that saw the biggest shift as they now make up a lesser proportion of the top 20 names on the list, with new additions from Permian and [Midcontinent] operators filling that gap,” Lepore said.
Publicly traded E&Ps still reign supreme in terms of natural gas production volumes. EQT Corp., Southwestern Energy Co. and Chesapeake took the top three spots among publicly traded firms in the first quarter, according to NGI calculations. The E&Ps produced 5.49 Bcf/d, 3.61 Bcf/d and 3.2 Bcf/d, respectively.
