Independent oil and gas company, Range Resources Corporation (RRC) was fined $4.15 million by The Department of Environmental Protection or DEP in Pennsylvania for violations at six of its Washington County impoundments. The order entails a payment of the fine, closure of five impoundments and upgrade at two more to meet the DEP standards currently under development.
Violations at the impoundments include various releases of contaminants, such as leaking flowback that affected soil and groundwater. To date, there has been no impact on drinking water from any of these impoundments.
Going by the consent order, Range Resources will immediately start working on the closure of the Hopewell Township 11 (Lowry), Cecil Township 23 (Worstell) and Kearns impoundments. Range Resources will also continue the closure of the Yeager impoundment. The company must close the Hopewell Township 12 (Bednarski) impoundment by Apr 1, 2015.
Additionally, to abide by the upgrade order, the liner systems at the Chartiers Township 16 (Carol Baker) and Amwell Township 15 (Jon Day) impoundments will be completely redesigned and rebuilt to meet the DEP benchmark.
The consent order also requires Range Resources to immediately begin soil and groundwater investigation at each of the closed impoundments to determine and rectify any possible contamination in the sites.
Range Resources is a leading independent oil and natural gas producer with operations concentrated in Appalachia and the southwest region of the U.S. The company pursues an organic growth strategy targeting high return, low-cost projects within its large inventory of low risk, development drilling opportunities.
The company has a track of double-digit production growth while reducing its finding and development costs and sustaining an industry leading low-cost structure. This can be attributed to increased production from the low-cost Marcellus region.
However, with the majority of Range Resources’ reserves tilted toward natural gas, the company’s results are vulnerable to fluctuations in the natural gas markets. Earlier, the timid gas price environment compelled the company to reduce its exposure to natural gas drilling.
Range Resources’ currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). Investors interested in the oil and gas sector could try out better-ranked stocks like Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. (PTEN), Pioneer Energy Services Corp. (PES) and Cameron International Corporation (CAM). All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Get all Zacks Research Reports and be alerted to fast-breaking buy and sell opportunities every trading day.
Be the first to comment