Chief Oil & Gas

Chief Oil and Gas

File:Chiefog logo.jpg
Industry	Petroleum industry
Founded	1994 (1994)
Founder	Trevor Rees-Jones
Defunct	Template:End date and age
Headquarters	Dallas, Texas, US

Chief Oil & Gas operated as a hydrocarbon exploration firm and ranked as the second-largest producer within the Barnett Shale. The company was purchased by Expand Energy in March 2022.

History

Established in Dallas in 1994 by Trevor Rees-Jones, Chief Oil & Gas undertook major asset sales to refine its holdings. In June 2006, it divested leasehold interests spanning 169,000 net acres with proven reserves amounting to 617 billion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent to Devon Energy for $2.2 billion in cash. Additionally, midstream assets were sold to Crosstex Energy for $480 million.

Chief Oil & Gas broadened its operations into the Marcellus Formation in 2007. By August 2008, it had sold assets to Quicksilver Resources. The following year, Chief entered into a joint venture with Enerplus to develop its Marcellus properties, having drilled 31 wells at that point.

In December 2010, the company sold 15 producing wells along with 50,000 net acres in Pennsylvania to Exco Resources for $459 million. The next year, it transferred leasehold interests covering 228,000 net acres to Chevron Corporation.

In December 2013, Chief acquired Marcellus assets from Expand Energy for $500 million. Its focused asset management strategy culminated in the acquisition by Expand Energy for $2.2 billion in March 2022.

Founder’s political donations

In October 2010, Trevor Rees-Jones made a $50,000 contribution to gubernatorial candidate and eventual victor Tom Corbett, which led to accusations that this funding influenced the repeal of severance tax and environmental regulations concerning natural gas extraction.

Environmental violations

A subsidiary of Chief Oil & Gas was penalized $34,000 by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in January 2011 for unlawfully discharging roughly 25,200 gallons of hydrostatic testing water into the Big Run watershed during pipeline construction in Pennsylvania.

In June 2011, the company incurred a $180,000 penalty due to a hydraulic oil spill and inadequate maintenance of a drill pit at a natural gas site in Somerset County.

Throughout the first half of 2010, Chief Oil & Gas recorded 78 violations issued by the Pennsylvania DEP—the highest count among Marcellus shale operators—averaging about 3.5 violations per well.

A well blowout and fire occurred in June 2010 at a site owned by Chief in West Virginia, injuring seven contractors and burning for several days; emergency personnel were reportedly untrained for such incidents and found the location unmanned upon arrival.

In 2014, the company was fined $13,000 after drilling into an existing well and attempting to hide this event from regulatory authorities.