Heading into the first quarter earnings season, analysts were clear. They wanted no surprises from pure play shale gas drillers — no new spending, no new debt, no mergers and acquisitions — just cash discipline, despite the temptation of commodity prices set to rise near the end of the year. Receive daily email alerts, subscriber notes & personalize your experience. Register Now The analysts mostly got what they wanted. SunTrust Robinson Humphrey shale analyst Welles Fitzpatrick summed it up with his note on Range Resource’s results April 30: “Thankfully boring quarter.” Chesapeake Energy was an exception to the boring first-quarter reporting from the shale gas driller group. The company did not bother with an earnings release or a first-quarter conference call. It […]