Out Fox The $treet

 For investors that thought the 20% sequential increase in production during the fourth quarter was substantial, Rice Energy ( NYSE: RICE     ) easily surpassed that number during the first quarter of 2014. Possibly more shocking is the possibility that the company could lapse the 36% sequential growth for the first quarter during the current quarter.  Rice Energy is turning into a prolific grower in the Marcellus Shale, and the first-quarter earnings provided some interesting insights for both the company and the region. In total, the company saw production surge to 209 MMcf/d to reach growth of 135% relative to the first quarter of 2013 with well results continuing to improve.  Read the full article here .   Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please read the disclaimer page for more details.

Based on first-quarter earnings, the surge in natural gas prices cured a lot of the ailments hurting Chesapeake Energy ( NYSE: CHK     ) over the last couple of years. According to the company, it remains the second-largest producer of natural gas and now the tenth largest producer of oil and natural gas liquids. So while the shift to liquids continues to gather steam, the company remains solidly reliant on the price of natural gas to achieve outsized returns for shareholders. With the large valuations obtained by smaller natural gas focused producers Range Resources  ( NYSE: RRC     ) and Antero Resources  ( NYSE: AR     ) , it is clear that shifting away from natural gas isn't a requirement for success. Read the full article here . Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please read disclaimer page for more details.

With natural gas inventories close to decade lows, investors would probably prefer an exploration and production firm with limited hedges to participate in the potential price appreciation of the commodity. It is a double-edged sword to risk production and long-term capital investments without knowing the future price, but in the current market it's undoubtedly disappointing to invest in a firm with extensive hedges at lower prices. Range Resources Corp ( NYSE: RRC     ) is one of the largest and fastest-growing producers in the Marcellus Shale. The company has some of the most prolific wells helping it produce growth in excess of 20%. Unfortunately, the company is heavily hedged and not fully participating in the suddenly higher natural gas prices. It also will not benefit in a meaningful way in future price spikes over the next couple of years. Read the full article here . Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more d...

About two years after announcing the surprising purchase of Gulf of Mexico producer Dynamic Offshore Resources, LLC, SandRidge ( SD ) is announcing the sell of those related assets at a fraction of the original cost. The good news is that though the deal was value destructing, the company did pay a large portion of the original deal for stock at higher prices. The deal highlights the importance of focusing on core competency and questions why the new management team is willing to dump the assets at such low prices. Reading the recent presentations from the company it is apparent that the new management team wasn't exploring the development of the Gulf of Mexico assets. Oddly, the team appeared willing to dump these assets without even attempting to spruce them up. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Anytime a legendary investor pounds the table that a stock is worth double its price, investors ought to take the time to review the prospects. In this case, Lee Cooperman of Omega Advisors continues to be bullish on the reorganization progress at SandRidge Energy  ( NYSE: SD     ) . With the stock trading in the $6 range, Cooperman recently repeated claims that his analysis values the company at over $10. SandRidge Energy is an oil and natural gas exploration and production company focused on the Mississippian formation in Oklahoma along with Gulf of Mexico and West Texas assets. The stock has long struggled due to Wall Street's lack of understanding of the deal made by the previous CEO Tom Ward. Read the full article here . Disclosure: No position mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Nearly two years after being spun off from Williams Companies ( NYSE: WMB     ) , WPX Energy ( NYSE: WPX     ) is finally seeing decent stock gains. The large natural gas producer has been pushing toward drilling for oil, but ironically a massive natural gas find places this stock on a path to huge reserve growth. Compared to other natural gas producers such as Range Resources ( NYSE: RRC     ) and Southwestern Energy ( NYSE: SWN     ) , the stock trades at sub-par multiples. Due to the massive well in the Niobrara shale called the 'beast,' it could finally be back on a growth trajectory. Read the full article here . Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

As natural gas prices soar this year, Chesapeake Energy ( CHK ) is likely the biggest beneficiary. The heavily indebted, asset rich firm will make out like a bandit if natural gas prices triple as Jeremy Grantham suggested earlier this month. As Chesapeake was its own worst enemy with an aggressive land acquisition and drilling plan over the last decade, the company might become its own best friend with a scaled back capital spending plan. After a decade of rapid growth, Chesapeake turned into the largest independent producer of natural gas and a leading landholder in the vast majority of the important shale areas. The company has a leasehold on 15M net acres and has a reserve base of nearly 20 Tcfe. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

With the surprise retiring of Chesapeake ( CHK ) CEO Aubrey McClendon a few weeks back, will investors benefit from the company shifting towards a more disciplined strategy? Or will the company remain on the same collision course with debtors? The company is the second-largest producer of natural gas, a top 15 producer of oil and natural gas liquids, and the most active driller of new wells in the United States. The company's operations are focused on discovering and developing unconventional natural gas and oil fields onshore with leading positions in the Eagle Ford, Utica, Granite Wash, and Mississippi Lime unconventional liquids plays and in the Marcellus, Haynesville, and Barnett unconventional natural gas shale plays. While most investors don't doubt that Chesapeake owns the largest domestic oil and natural gas resource base, the question exists as to whether shareholders will reap the value of those resources due to a huge debt load. Read the full...

On first thought, the announcement by TPG-Axon that SandRidge Energy (SD) should fire the CEO that founded the company and brought it to this position seemed ridiculous. After more research, the investor might just have a point. The activist investor submitted a letter last Thursday arguing that the Board of Directors should be realigned and the CEO should resign. SandRidge is an oil and natural gas exploration and production company that primarily focuses on the Mid-Continent, Permian Basin, and Gulf of Mexico. CEO Tom Ward has become a prominent leader in the oil exploration field making it further unlikely that he will be ousted. He was an original founder of Chesapeake Energy (CHK) that left to start SandRidge. The combined experience suggests that he has the knowledge to make this company successful. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned: Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Part I of this series focused on the continual reduction of rigs exploring for natural gas in the domestic U.S. lower 48. All the while, commodity prices continue to surge upward with futures prices even higher. This second part will focus on the natural gas producers that will benefit from the surging prices and the potential that a great majority of the rigs needed to increase production are tied up with oil drilling. As mentioned in Part I, the Baker Hughes (BHI) rig report on Friday showed an interesting divergence with the commodity markets. While natural gas has jumped some 60% in the past few months, the amount of rigs drilling for natural gas has plunged to lows not seen since 1999. In the last week, the natural gas rig count dropped another 15 to only 422. Last year, the count was 936. Recently Forbes released an article describing the depletion curve in the Eagle Ford as higher than expected. Not only does this change the investment thesis on some of the shale plays, but it ...

As the US shale boom produces a bounty of dry gas and now even oil, the promises of a shale gas revolution in Europe and China is fading quickly. It may still happen, but it might take a decade to develop different techniques as the methods that worked in the US clearly aren't going to work in places such as Poland where population density and harder rocks make it a more complex and costly endeavor. The shale boom had great promise in helping Poland and the rest of Europe lessen dependence on expensive Russian supplies. Instead, the Polish Geological Institute recently cut the estimated gas reserves by 85 percent. Now before even starting, major US corporations like Exxon Mobil (XOM), Chevron Corp (CVX) and ConocoPhillips (COP) are faced with doubts about whether the drilling will ever be feasible even if the gas does exist. This is a far cry from the scenario in the US where the technologies have already proven. Read full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long COP. Pleas...