Consol Sells Marcellus Holdings

A major energy player here in Penn­syl­va­nia, Con­sol, is get­ting out of the Mar­cel­lus Shale game, accord­ing to the Asso­ci­ated Press:

Con­sol Energy Inc. says it has sold a $193 mil­lion stake in its Mar­cel­lus Shale hold­ings in south­west­ern Penn­syl­va­nia and West Virginia.

Con­sol, based in Canons­burg, announced the deal with Antero Resources Appalachian Corp. of Den­ver on Mon­day. Antero will receive roy­alty inter­ests of approx­i­mately 7% in 115,647 acres located in nine counties.

Con­sol says the cash trans­ac­tion has an effec­tive date of July 1, 2011.

Con­sol will retain exist­ing shal­low wells and all other lease­hold inter­ests on the acreage, includ­ing geo­log­i­cal for­ma­tions gen­er­ally above and below the Mar­cel­lus Shale.

The arti­cle doesn’t pro­vide a moti­va­tion for the sale, or explain whether it’s part of a strate­gic shift for Con­sol, who made waves ear­lier this year by foot­ing the bill for sev­eral law­mak­ers’ trips to the Super Bowl. (Con­sol also, of course, owns the nam­ing rights for the Pitts­burgh Pen­guins’ home arena.)