A. Lee Graham Reporter
GreenHunter Resources Inc. of Grapevine has reported a 279 percent revenue surge in first-quarter 2013, with revenues totaling $8.6 million compared to $2.3 million in the same quarter last year. Driving the latest surge were increases in daily saltwater disposal volumes as a result of both organic saltwater disposal capacity growth and acquisitions that comprise a 1,455 percent increase in permitted operating injection capacity compared to last year. Operating loss for the three months ended March 31, 2013 totaled 7.2 million compared to an operating loss of $0.4 million during the same quarter last year. “Volumes in our core operating area of the Appalachia region experienced a seasonal slowdown during the first quarter primarily as a result of weather-related issues that delayed our customers’ drilling and completion efforts in this area,” said company president, interim CEO and COO Jonathan D. Hoopes, commenting in a news release. “This slowdown resulted in lowered margins and an operating loss. However, we are seeing a strong pickup in activity in Appalachia—especially around both the Marcellus and the Utica shale plays where we are strategically positioned as a dominant commercial SWD [saltwater disposal] operator,” Hoopes said. An April lightning strike at the company’s Rhodes saltwater disposal well site in Oklahoma produced an impairment of $1.9 million to ground facilities at the location. Meanwhile, the company’s total daily operating permitted saltwater disposal capacity as of March 31, 2013 exceeded 115,000 barrels, representing a 1.5 percent increase from March 31, 2012. As of March 31, 2013, GreenHunter operated two saltwater disposal wells servicing producers in Oklahoma’s horizontal Mississippian Lime play, four such facilities servicing producers in the Eagle Ford Shale play in South Texas, nine wells servicing producers in the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays in Appalachia and one bulk storage and barge transloading terminal on the Ohio River. GreenHunter Resources Inc. is a diversified renewable energy company focused primarily on water resource management in oil and shale resource plays. More information is available at www.greenhunterenergy.com.