Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. will open local office
Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. plans to create a new northern regional office in the Pittsburgh area as it closes offices in Charleston, W.Va., and Denver.
The natural gas producer is basing the move in large part on its intent to expand well-drilling and production in Susquehanna County, part of the gas-rich Marcellus Shale field that underlies much of Pennsylvania and parts of New York and West Virginia.
Scott Schroeder, a spokesman for the Houston-based company, said Cabot is looking for office space in the Pittsburgh region and expects to choose a location by late June. About 25 employees in the Charleston office and 10 to 15 from Denver have been asked to move to Pittsburgh, and those offices will close by the end of summer.
The new North Region office, to open in early September, will manage the company's assets in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, the company said, while also overseeing Rocky Mountain operations. Phil Stalnaker, who supervised the western office, will head the Pittsburgh office.
Cabot's reorganization, announced this week, also will create a southern office to run its Gulf Coast and mid-continent operations.
In Susquehanna County, Cabot has amassed 160,000 acres in land leases and has 30 wells producing gas so far, with plans to drill 60 more this year.
"Cabot has 120 years of history in the Appalachian region," Schroeder said, including a previous office move from Charleston to Pittsburgh in 1992.
The company at the time considered Pittsburgh a midpoint between its Meadville area assets and West Virginia operations, but Cabot sold its Pennsylvania operations in 1997 to Lomak Petroleum Inc., which through an acquisition the following year became Range Resources Corp.
Fort Worth-based Range has an office in Cecil, Washington County, and is a major local gas producer.
Schroeder said Cabot still will have 150 employees in West Virginia. It's uncertain whether jobs will be added in Pittsburgh, he said, but employees may be hired in Susquehanna County.
