Typically, an hydraulic fracturing well is named after the owners of the property the well sits on. But as reported recently on NPR’s State Impact, one Pennsylvania energy company has decided to go against this trend, choosing to give its wells names such as “Captain Planet 1H,” “Ultimate Warrior 1,” “Batman 5H” and “Hulk 6H.”
While there is no official requirement standardizing the naming of unconventional wells, some have found Rice Energy’s choices of well names — including the names of superheroes, wrestlers and other pop culture entities — to be a bit unusual. In an industry that strives to be taken serious, this move toward the frivolous has an air of suspicion surrounding it.
This suspicion is deepened by the fact that Rice Energy has not commented on the name choices. It may be that the names came from a need to comply with Penn. 2012 Act 9 — a bill in the Pennsylvania Unconsolidated Statutes that require oil and gas pads on the Marcellus Shale to have official names and addresses and clear signage in order to simplify 911 emergency response.
Rice Energy has recently offered an initial public offering with the expectation of selling 40 million shares at $21 per share. With oil and gas drilling companies bringing in below expected totals in recent IPOs, it is not outside of reason to expect that Rice Energy could try to “game the system” by changing the names of well sites toward names that are more “user-friendly.”
However, considering that property owner-named wells are a standard in the industry, the name change is more likely to conceal the fact that Rice Energy actually controls less acreage of the gas-rich Marcellus and Utica Shales than other competitors.
“They’re in the sweet spot, and they’ve kind of shown that they’re good operators,” said Michael Wright, San Francisco-based manager of the Forward Global Infrastructure Fund. “I think the question is, what is the multiple that you pay for a quality company with good acres that doesn’t necessarily have a lot of upside from peripheral plays.”
It is safe to say, however, that the name change was not done in appeasement of anti-fracking protesters. Unlike neighboring New York — where anti-fracking activists have effectively stopped hydrofracking via a statewide moratorium — the Pennsylvania fracking industry is the most prolific in the nation, yielding more than $10 billion in shale gas per year. This has led to an energy surplus across the nation where the gas flow from the Marcellus, Utica, Bakken, Barnett and Antrim Shales — along with smaller yields from the more than 20 other shale formations in the U.S. — has dropped domestic natural gas prices to a third of global prices.
“It’s in full swing, and it’s simplistic to think you could just tell them all to stop,” said Rebecca Roter, a Pennsylvania activist.
The new dichotomy has forced Pennsylvania anti-fracking activists to change their approaches — from stopping fracking toward ensuring it is done responsibly.
“We had to work with the industry. There is no magic wand to make this go away,” said Victoria Switzer, a Dimock, Penn. anti-fracking activist who was featured in the documentary “Gasland Part II.”
In October, Switzer formed a group that seeks to work with drillers on improved air quality standards.
“Tunnel vision isn’t good. Realism is good.”