Chief Oil & Gas

Chief Oil & Gas is a privately held, independent oil & gas exploration and production company that has been drilling and producing clean-burning natural gas since 1994. Chief is proud of its environmental record of responsibly protecting water and natural resources in our areas of natural gas development across the United States.

Chief Oil & Gas is engaged in the exploration, development and production of natural gas reserves in the Marcellus shale region of northeastern Pennsylvania.

Chief Oil & Gas was founded in 1994 to focus primarily on developing reserves in the Bend Conglomerate area of North Texas.

As the Barnett Shale became more promising, Chief changed its direction in 1997 to focus its attention there and became one of the early producers in the field. Chief drilled its first Barnett well in 1997. New technologies combining horizontal drilling and fracture stimulation and rising gas prices made the Barnett Shale, an unconventional resource for natural gas, economically viable. Chief rapidly expanded its leasehold position.

By early 2005, Chief Oil & Gas was the second largest producer in the Barnett Shale with over 250 wells drilled, 200,000 acres leased, and production surpassing 100 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. Many independent exploration & production companies were now moving in and establishing positions in the nation's fastest growing natural gas field in the United States.

In 2006, the midstream business and the majority of the leasehold and production businesses were sold to Devon Energy. A small position in the Barnett Shale was retained and in 2007 Chief expanded into other prospective fields.

By 2008, Chief Oil & Gas was one of the largest leaseholders in the Marcellus Shale with close to 600,000 acres of net leasehold. Chief Gathering was established as a sister company to Chief Oil & Gas to build the infrastructure to meet the demands of the northeastern markets. In 2010, Chief Oil & Gas sold its Lycoming County,Pennsylvania assets to EXCO Resources. In late 2011, Chief Oil & Gas sold all its southwestern Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland assets to Chevron. In May of 2012, Chief Gathering sold all the Marcellus pipeline and midstream assets to Penn Virginia Resource Partners (PVR). Chief Oil & Gas maintained its Marcellus assets in northeastern Pennsylvania, the most prolific producing area in the Marcellus.

After more than a decade of producing clean-burning natural gas from shale, Chief is proud of the way it has efficiently and responsibly protected water and other natural resources while maximizing the production of a valuable energy source. Chief is also committed to giving back to the communities where we operate, participating with local Chambers of Commerce and supporting public safety, environmental and educational projects.