Marcellus Shale Field - Natural Gas Formation Location Marcellus Shale Formation States: New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia
Marcellus Shale Play is located in the following counties: PA: Erie,
Warren, McKean, Crawford, Mercer, Vanango, Lawrence, Forest, Clarion, Butler, Beaver, Armstrong, Elk, Clearfield, Indiana,
Cambria, Somerset, Westmoreland, Fayette, Allegheny, Washington, Greene, Bedford, Potter, Tioga, Bradford, Susquehanna, Wayne,
Pike, Lycoming, Sullivan, Wyoming View Map. Looking for a Job in the Marcellus Shale? View Here
History and Facts: The Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Field Formation,
which extends through Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and West Virginia, is a part of the Devonian Black Shale Field. The Marcellus Shale play is hinted to hold a huge amount of
natural gas, causing companies to go on a gigantic mineral rights land grab! This shale rock formation was named after the town of Marcellus, New York due to the outcrop formation
in the shale. The Marcellus shale extends over 575 miles and has a thickness of up to 900 feet. Also known
as the Pennsylvania Shale ( or New York Shale, West Virginia Shale, Ohio Shale ) this geologic natural gas shale
was reported to hold more then 1.9 trillion cubic feet back in 2002. This did not cause much excitement because the
amount that could actually be extracted was low. Combined with the fact that natural gas prices were very low, drilling in
the Marcellus Shale was not economical. One company, Range Resources, showed up to Marcellus Shale
back in 2003 in hopes to extract natural gas. Range drilled a well in Washington County, PA and found that this natural
gas well was very promising. Like many companies now a days, Range Resources used techniques and experience from
the Barnett Shale in Texas for the Marcellus Shale natural gas field. The first well that produced gas in Marcellus Shale
for Range was hit in 2005. Range Resources ( RRC ) now has drilled over 100 natural gas wells on their 900,000 acres in
the Marcellus Shale play. See more about companies drilling at Marcellus Shale below.
A new survey issued
by Terry Englander, a geoscience professor at Pennsylvania State University, and Gary Lash, a geology professor at the State
University of New York at Fredonia, surprised everyone as these men think the Marcellus Natural Gas Shale Field could
hold up to 500 trillion cubic feet of Natural Gas. 50 TFC would be a realistic amount that could be recovered.
All of this is made possible by more advanced technology which includes fracturing & drilling techniques
involved with horizontal drilling, thus making the Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Field very valuable! The price
of Natural Gas has risen sharply over the years and these new techniques allow companies to drill better and faster.
A horizontal well in the Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and West Virginian Shales back in 1970 might have taken up to
3 months to drill. Now a rough estimate is 30-45 days.
The United States produces roughly 30 trillion
cubic feet ( 30 TFC ) of natural gas every year. If research reports are correct and the Marcellus Shale holds
50 TFC's of recoverable natural gas, this would put the Appalachian Basin Natural Gas Shale into a different league.
The Marcellus Shale Deposit would be dubbed a natural gas super giant and would be one of the biggest natural gas fields
in the United States. The Haynesville Shale is a similar Natural Gas Shale.
How is Natural Gas extracted from Marcellus Shale? Energy
companies use a new drilling technique called horizontal drilling. First the drilling company drills vertical, and
then drills horizontally. The problem with Horizontal Drilling is the cost. A vertical drilled well in the
Marcellus Shale Zone costs around $810,000 while a horizontal drilled well at Marcellus will cost you roughly 3-5 Million
Dollars. In the Marcellus Shale, a horizontal well is drilled using multi stage fracturing techniques ( frac jobs ).
Large amounts of water are combined with sand which are blasted at the shale in order to get a fracture. This
contaminated water is then pumped back out and stored. There have been some environmental issues with regard to the
Marcellus Shale.(See Below).
Marcellus
Shale in 2010: During 2009, the Marcellus Shale fell victim to low natural gas prices due to the economic
recession. The drilling companies below really cut back on the number of active drilling rigs but we saw a noticeable
tick-up in December 2009. We also saw a major aquisition in the Oil & Gas sector with Exxon Mobil ( XOM
) buying XTO Energy ( XTO ). Cold weather and snow has been gripping the northeast which caused Natural Gas prices to hit $6.
I am expecting the Marcellus Shale to really come alive again during 2010. Natural Gas prices
have the opportunity to hit $8-9 toward the end of 2010 as the demand quickly comes back. This will spark even
more activity as far as land leases and drilling go. If you are investing in the stock market, I really like Chesapeake
Energy ( CHK ) below $30 in 2010.
The recent rise
in the price of natural gas has caused a spike in the amount of drilling in the Marcellus Shale and the other
shale formations below. Production remains steady as we head into 2010. When you see natural gas prices
move above $7 again, the drilling in the Marcellus Shale formation will really come alive! Don't
forget to check out these other shale plays just as hot as Marcellus. Haynesville Shale -Horn River Shale - Bakken Oil Shale - Fayetteville Shale - Brazil Oil Field - Woodford Shale - Barnett Shale - Chattanooga Shale - Utica Shale
Pennsylvania Warns Gas Companies to respect Natural Treasures at Marcellus
Shale:
Pennsylvania has an estimated 2.8 trillion cubic feet of proved natural gas reserves in
the ground awaiting development, according to the Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Association. Developing the Marcellus Shale
formation requires large amounts of fresh water to fracture the shale in order to extract the natural gas. Recent inspections
by DEP and its partners have uncovered violations that threaten the state's water resources and its environment. Department
of Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen McGinty had this to say:
"Over the past few weeks, DEP
inspectors have observed a number of violations at drilling sites operated by companies that were new to Pennsylvania,"
said McGinty. "In light of those discoveries, we acted quickly to stop this harmful activity and felt it was necessary
to bring all current and potential operators together to meet directly with the agencies responsible for protecting our water
and other natural resources." Full Article Here
Companies Involved in the Marcellus Shale - Marcellus
Shale Stocks
- Chesapeake Energy CHK - Marcellus Shale (West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York):With approximately 1.5 million
net acres, Chesapeake is the largest leasehold owner in the Marcellus Shale play that spans from northern West Virginia across
much of Pennsylvania into southern New York. On its Marcellus leasehold, Chesapeake estimates it has approximately 26 tcfe
of risked unproved resources and 66 tcfe of unrisked unproved resources.
During the 2010 first quarter, Chesapeake's average
daily net production of 65 mmcfe in the Marcellus increased approximately 40% over the 2009 fourth quarter and approximately
815% over the 2009 first quarter. Chesapeake is currently producing approximately 100 mmcfe net per day from the Marcellus.
Chesapeake is currently drilling with 24 operated rigs in the Marcellus and anticipates operating an average of approximately
31 rigs in 2010 to drill approximately 170 net wells. During the 2010 first quarter, approximately $90 million of Chesapeake's
drilling costs in the Marcellus were paid for by its joint venture partner Statoil (NYSE:STO, OSE:STL). From April 2010 through
2012, 75% of Chesapeake's drilling costs in the Marcellus, or approximately $1.9 billion, will be paid for by STO.
Three
notable recent wells completed by Chesapeake in the Marcellus are as follows:
The
James Barrett 2H in Bradford County, PA achieved a peak 24-hour rate of 12.7 million cubic feet of natural gas (mmcf) per
day;
The James Barrett 1H in Bradford County, PA achieved a peak 24-hour rate of 11.8 mmcf per day; and
The
Strom 1H in Bradford County, PA achieved a peak 24-hour rate of 8.2 mmcf per day.
If
you have a lot of land in the Marcellus Shale fairway and want to sell your mineral rights, give Chesapeake a call. More on CHK
.
- XTO Energy XTO XTO Energy buys Marcellus Shale stake from Linn Energy LINE - CEO in last earnings call --If you look at kind of how we looked at Linn it was 145 Bs of reserves that we
quoted. Linn had about 200 Bs on their own reserve report. And if you just look at that, that means in general, if you believed
Linn then we paid $3 in them with almost nothing for the Marcellus,
and if you look at what we did, it's something like a thousand or so dollars an acre for the Marcellus. All of those were very low cost for entry points into one of these kind
of plays. I mean so we don't need the Marcellus
to pan out to be a fantastic thing, we think it probably will and that's why we are in this early. XTO has acreage in southwest Pennsylvania and north West
Virginia which there is alot of good well data coming out. XTO Energy now has 280,000 Marcellus Shale Acres. XTO May 2009
Update: Last but not least, Marcellus Shale.
We are running one rig. We are currently completing our first horizontal and drilling our second, we’ve almost tidied
our second and they look good, shows look very good, we are excited about them. And so, we think we’ll get our 10 to
15 horizontals drilled and if we can, we will bring a second rig into the Marcellus in the back half of the year and take it up to Northeast Pennsylvania. We are excited about
what we are seeing in the Marcellus well. No
well data at this point, but you should see something in the next quarter. More on XTO
- EOG Resources EOG - Regarding the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale Play, in total, we have 220,000 net acres. On our previous quarterly
call we indicated we proven up about 40,000 acres in Bradford County by drilling two wells with two net Bcf of reserves each.
Additionally, we recently proved up additional acreage, we own via an NFG farmout by successfully testing the COP 409 #3H
well in Elk County which we believe is a 1.6 Bcf net well. We plan to operate one rig in Pennsylvania this year.
More on EOG
- Rex Energy REXX - Butler County, Pennsylvania Marcellus Project Area
Drilling
and completion activity in Rex Energy's Marcellus Shale project area in Butler County, Pennsylvania is continuing to progress
on schedule. The two 'Magill' horizontal wells completed by the company earlier this year have been flow-testing for approximately
20 days. The combined peak 24 hour rate of the two Magill wells to date has been 5.9 MMcfe per day. The company expects these
rates to continue to rise as additional water is returned to the surface. The company's refrigeration processing plant, and
therefore its gas sales in Butler County, Pennsylvania, is currently shut-in for pipeline maintenance. The company expects
the plant and sales to resume during May 2010 and to connect the Magill wells to the plant at that time.
Mr. Hulburt
remarked, "When we compare the initial flow rates of the Magill wells to our P. Knauff #1H well, our first horizontal
Marcellus Shale well completed in Butler County, Pennsylvania during 2009, we are very encouraged by the results. The P. Knauff
#1H well took approximately 90 days to achieve its peak rate, and thereafter, the rate remained relatively flat for the next
180 days. Although the results of the Magill wells are still preliminary, we are encouraged by what appears to be a similar
profile."
Mr. Hulburt further commented, "I am also very pleased to announce that the estimated cost to drill
and complete the Magill wells was approximately $3.9 million per well, which is a significant improvement over the cost of
our wells during 2009 and meets our budget expectations. For the year to date, we have finished drilling 4 horizontal wells
in Butler County in an average of 24 days with average lateral extensions of 3,600 feet. We plan to fracture stimulate two
wells in Butler County during the second quarter of 2010, and remain on track to drill and complete a total of ten wells in
the county by year-end."
The construction of the company's jointly owned cryogenic processing plant in Butler County
remains on schedule and the company expects that the plant will commence operations during the early part of the fourth quarter
of 2010. The company anticipates that the final permits and approvals for the plant will be received during the second quarter
of 2010 and believes that this will provide sufficient time to enable its partners to complete construction of the plant and
bring Rex Energy's production online during the fourth quarter of 2010.
Williams Joint Venture Marcellus Project
Areas
In Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Rex Energy has finished drilling one horizontal well in the 'Slavek
Trust' unit and is currently drilling a second well in the unit. The wells will be the last wells operated by Rex Energy in
the joint venture project area before transferring operations to Williams. Concurrently, Williams has brought in their operated
rig and is now drilling the third horizontal well in the Slavek Trust unit. Williams will serve as operator during the completion
of these wells, which will mark the complete transition in operatorship of the joint venture to Williams.
In Clearfield
County, Pennsylvania, Williams is continuing the construction of the company's jointly owned gathering system, which is now
anticipated to be completed in June 2010 with first production from its two jointly owned 'Alder Run' wells expected to occur
in July 2010. Rex Energy owns a 50% working interest in the Alder Run wells. The company expects that the combined gross production
from these wells will be six to seven MMcf per day.
-
Southwest Energy SWN - Appalachia- The company began drilling operations in Bradford
County, Pennsylvania in February and is currently drilling its second well for 2010. The company expects to begin completion
operations on these wells during the second quarter and could be placed on production as early as June. At March
31, 2010, Southwestern held approximately 150,800 net undeveloped acres in Pennsylvania
under which it believes the Marcellus Shale is prospective.
Marcellus Shale Map - Marcellus Shale Fairway
Marcellus Shale
Marcellus Shale Jobs
- Anadarko Petroleum APC - - Anadarko entered into a joint venture with Mitsui E&P USA LLC. Under the
terms of the agreement, Mitsui will participate with Anadarko as a 32.5% partner in Anadarko’s Marcellus Shale assets
in exchange for providing a $1.4 billion capital carry to Anadarko that covers 100% of its capital in 2010 and 90% thereafter.
The carry is expected to be fully utilized by 2013. In addition, Mitsui committed to approximately $100 million to normalize
its position with respect to Anadarko’s historical costs. At the end of the 1st quarter, Anadarko was operating
four rigs and participating in an additional 12 non-operated rigs. The company spud ten operated wells and completed two wells during the quarter. Anadarko expects to be operating six rigs by the end of the 2nd quarter 2010. The Company completed
and tested its first Lycoming County well (Larry’s Creek 3H)
in January. The well was tested at a peak rate of approximately 6.1
MMcf/d. More on APC
- Range Resources RRC - During the quarter, the Marcellus Shale Division continued its evaluation
of Range's horizontal Upper Devonian and Utica test wells in Pennsylvania. Initial results of both wells are encouraging
and both wells are currently awaiting pipeline connection. To date, Range has drilled 120 horizontal Marcellus wells,
of which 31 are awaiting completion and eight are awaiting pipeline hook up. In the southwest portion of the play, where
we have drilled the majority of our wells and have been accumulating data for over three years, the average estimated
ultimate recovery ("EUR") for a Marcellus horizontal well with an average lateral length of 3,056 feet and completed
with 10 stages is 5.0 Bcfe gross versus our prior completion which resulted in an average estimate of 4.4 Bcfe per well.
The zero time plots for all those wells are now on our website. We are increasing our range of EURs for the entirety of our
"high-graded" acreage in Pennsylvania to 4.0 to 5.0 Bcfe up from 3.0 to 4.0 Bcfe per well. As has been demonstrated
in other shale plays, it appears that the longer laterals and additional frac stages result in higher initial production rates,
higher EURs and improved economics. Currently, we are running 13 drilling rigs in the Marcellus play. Plans are
to exit 2010 with up to 16 rigs. Range is still on track to exit 2010 at 180 to 200 Mmcfe net per day. For 2011,
we plan to increase our rig count in the Marcellus and exit the year with up to 24 rigs running. Finally, the contracted
build out of the Marcellus midstream infrastructure is progressing as scheduled. During the first quarter Range entered
into a multi-phase gathering and compression agreement with a third-party to initially build the dry gas pipeline and compression
capacity to meet our needs in the Lycoming County area. The first phase volumes are expected to come on line by year end 2010
in Lycoming County. More on RRC
St Mary Land and Exploration SM - St. Mary has drilled and completed its first two horizontal wells in
this program. The wells are the Potato Creek 1H and the Potato Creek 3H (both SM 70% WI). These wells are located in McKean
County, Pennsylvania. The Company is currently laying a temporary sales pipeline to test the first well. As a reminder, St.
Mary has a total acreage position of approximately 41,000 net acres in McKean and Potter Counties in north central Pennsylvania.
- Unit Corp UNT- In the Marcellus
Shale, we have now participated in two vertical wells located in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. The Shale (inaudible) segments
in these wells came in as expected and completion work on these two wells should begin mid to late May. In addition, we'll
participate in one more vertical well and two horizontal wells during the remainder of 2009 at approximate net cost of about
$8 million. Anticipated first gas wells from these wells should occur later this year.
In
this Somerset area we own approximately 180,000 gross and 55,000 net acres.
Exxon Mobile XOM - XOM has a small position in the Marcellus Shale. Exxon has 19,400 acres in Lycoming & Tioga Counties in Pennsylvania
Exxon Mobile August 2009 Update - As you know we are active in the Marcellus
and have been acquiring some acreage in that area. We did elect to exercise our option and acquire some additional acreage.
We now got about 19 or 20,000 acres in the play and that came from the resale of '08, we're active in there evaluating some
new areas. But I really don't have any specific update other than that in terms of what's going on. And as you know that's
just one of many of our non-conventional gas plays that we are progressing around the world and that's in the U.S. of course
with the Marcellus.
Talisman Energy TLM - In Pennsylvania, our Marcellus shale program is on target for exit
volumes of 250-300 mmcf/d by year end. We brought 22 wells on-stream and, at the end of April, we have an inventory of 41
wells, which have been drilled and are waiting on completion. Production averaged 85 mmcf/d for the quarter, reaching 150
mmcf/d at the end of April.
Penn Virginia PVA - Appalachia - During the first quarter of 2010, we drilled one (0.8 net) Marcellus
Shale vertical exploratory well which was recently stimulated with approximately one million pounds of sand. The well is currently
cleaning up and being evaluated. We continue to add to our acreage position in the Marcellus Shale, increasing our acreage
position to approximately 35,000 net acres, and we expect to spend up to $48 million in 2010 to add leasehold acreage in our
existing and new prospect areas.
Ultra Petroleum UPL - UPL is very active in the Marcellus Formation - Ultra Petroleum continues to execute its planned
horizontal Marcellus Shale drilling program with successful results widely dispersed across the company's acreage holdings.
During the first quarter 2010, Ultra's production in Pennsylvania reached 64 MMcf per day gross (32 MMcf per day net) and
remains on track to achieve the company's projected 2010 net exit rate of 130 MMcf per day. In the first quarter 2010, Ultra
drilled 26 gross (16 net) wells in Pennsylvania. As of April 30, there are 22 horizontal wells producing in Pennsylvania.
The average IP rate for the wells is 7,700 Mcf per day, which exceeds the company's current type curve estimates by 38 percent.
Since commencing its horizontal drilling program in May 2009, the company has demonstrated significant improvements in
operating efficiencies. During the first quarter, the company averaged 9.5 days from spud to TD for Ultra-operated wells.
This compares to an average of 12.6 days for Ultra-operated horizontal wells drilled in 2009, or a 25 percent decrease. Total
days per well, as measured by rig-release to rig-release averaged 14.6 days for the first quarter, an improvement of 30 percent
over the Ultra-operated wells drilled during 2009.
To date, nearly fifty percent of the company's gross acreage position
in Pennsylvania is covered by 3-D seismic. The company expects this seismic data will enable Ultra and its partners to identify
future drilling prospects and improve the company's ability to position drilling units optimally, allowing for longer drilling
laterals with a higher percentage of the horizontal section remaining in the targeted zone. The company's leasehold
now consists of approximately 413,000 gross (225,000 net) acres across its core position in Tioga, Bradford, Lycoming, and
Potter counties in north-central Pennsylvania and the adjacent counties of Clinton and Centre.
- Equitable Resources EQT - Geologists familiar with the Appalachian Basin have known for years about
the Devonian black shale called the Marcellus. The Marcellus Shale is organically rich shale that lies nearly a mile or more
beneath the surface throughout much of Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York. The Marcellus Shale has in recent
years emerged as a potential major contributor to the natural gas supply of the United States - large enough to be spoken
of as a "super giant" gas field. With approximately 500,000 acres, more than 3.9 Tcfe 3P reserves and 11Tcfe of
unrisked reserve potential in the Marcellus Fairway, EQT is a leading player in the Marcellus Shale.
EQT drilled 21 horizontal Marcellus wells in the first quarter and is on track to drill 100 horizontal
Marcellus wells in 2010. Results are in line with the recently announced increase in estimated ultimate recoveries (EURs)
per well. An increase in the average number of hydraulic frac stages (from eight to ten) and increased steel and service costs
led to an increase in the company's direct well cost estimate to between $3.3 and $3.5 million. The increased frac stages
are part of an ongoing effort to improve future well economics.
EQT has now drilled 74 horizontal wells in the Marcellus
play since 2008, of which 28 wells have been on-line for more than 30 days. The company expects that Marcellus production
will continue to grow faster than its other plays and that sales of produced natural gas from the Marcellus play will exceed
100 MMcfe per day by the end of 2010. More on EQT
- Cabot Oil & Gas COG - Cabot COG has land in the Marcellus Shale development field particularly in West Virginia &
Pennsylvania. Operationally the North region has seven rigs drilling. Recently the Company drilled its 101st well in
the Marcellus, with 61 of those being horizontal wells. Of the 67 wells currently on line, 34 of those are horizontal and
account for the majority of the Company's current Marcellus production. The Company has over 30 wells completing or waiting
to be completed with several that include 17-to-19 stage fracs in 4,500' to 4,900' laterals.
"At this time we have
wells with over 340 stages drilled, cased and waiting on fracs or already completed and moving towards turning in line. Our
Marcellus gross production level has held steady at about 165 Mmcf per day over the last 30 days, and with a couple of new
wells turned in line over the weekend, we are producing over 180 Mmcf today," stated Dinges. "We also established
a new high watermark for ourselves in the Marcellus with a 24-hour initial production rate of 18.4 Mmcf per day on a recent
completion." More on COG
- Hess Corp - HES - Marcellus Shale Update - If I turn to the Marcellus again, we're continuing to build our position in the Marcellus.
We're at about 80,000 net acres now in the Marcellus, primarily in Wayne County, Pennsylvania. About 50,000 of that is Hess
operated and the balance is part of this joint venture we have with Newfield. Our plan this year are to drill five to 10 wells
during the second half of 2010 in order to evaluate the resource potential on the acreage..
- Atlas Energy Resources ATN - Atlas Energy ATN has drilled 98 Marcellus Shale
wells, of which 90 wells currently have normalized production approaching 25 million cubic feet ("Mmcf") per day
into a pipeline (8 wells are waiting on completion); As of September 30, 2008, Atlas Energy controlled approximately
555,000 Marcellus acres in Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia, of which approximately 271,000 of these acres are located
in the Company's current focus area of southwestern Pennsylvania; ATN continues to realize average peak production
rates (24 hours into a pipeline) of approximately 1 Mmcf per day, with its best wells having initial peak rates of approximately
3.6 Mmcf per day The Company's last 13 vertical Marcellus wells have averaged initial rates of production of 1.3 Mmcf
per day, which is 30% higher than Atlas's prior average vertical Marcellus well.
- EXCO Resources XCO - We have three teams up in the Marcellus today looking at additional leases. I would say in-house today we probably
have 300,000 or 400,000 additional acres. We completed two horizontal Marcellus wells in the quarter. Those were from 2,500 foot laterals, and they had IPs of 2.2 and 2.3. We are
preparing for the development program there and continuing to enhance our science and our understanding. These two wells
were located in Centre County & Clearfield County.
- Carrizo Oil & Gas CRZO - The Carrizo/Avista JV continues to ramp its drilling activity in the Marcellus
Shale. Since the end of the second quarter of 2009, the JV participated with Stone Energy to drill and case the Stang #1 (12%
CRZO WI) and initiated drilling the Loomis #1 (12% CRZO WI), both in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. After the interpretation
of newly acquired seismic data, the JV anticipates participating in its first horizontal Marcellus well when Stone spuds the
Loomis #4H (12% CRZO WI). On the JV's northern West Virginia leasehold, Carrizo is in the process of drilling the Geary #1
and has a second rig on location to spud the Lee #1.
- Dominion Resources D - Dominion Resources D has many Marcellus Shale acres. Dominion still holds
between 450,000 + acres after selling some to Antero for $3037 per acre. They are continuing to pursue other
transaction. January 2010 Update - Early indications from potential purchasers of our Marcellus
acreage show a very strong interest in our properties. Since we expect to begin to monetize the Marcellus acreage this year we expect to reach sufficient after-tax proceeds to offset
the need for all 400 million and plan to use market purchases to satisfy our dividend reinvestment in other automatic issuance
plans. This improves our ability to achieve our 2010 operating earnings guidance as our original outlook did not include the
Marcellus sale and assume the 400 million would
be met with new shares.
November 2009 Update - "With respect to Dominion's Marcellus shale acreage, we do not plan to develop this property ourselves, but rather
capture its value for our shareholders through an outright sale, a farm-out, or a similar transaction over the next two years,
depending on market conditions.
- Continental Resources CLR - Continental Resources ( CLR ) now has exposure to the Marcellus Shale. We now own 88,000 net acres in the Lower Huron, Rhinestreet Marcellus plays and continue to build on our position. The bulk for this acreage is
located West Virginia, Ohio, and New York where the shales have at found debts of 1000 to 5400 feet. We're currently drilling
our first-four wells targeting Rhinestreet, then Lower Huron shales in Southeast, Ohio.
.
-
Marathon Oil MRO - Marathon Oil ( MRO ) is building a position in the Marcellus Shale ( Seeking Alpha ) - And
we’ve got four wells down in the Marcellus.
We’ll drill probably a dozen more this year. We got our first crack away. And we’re looking at well casts. And
I think you’ll see us pursue that play very similar to how we did the Bach, in terms of being measured, getting our
technical data before we get serious about it. But early indications are in terms of what we’ve seen from the
jobs, we like it. We have 70,000 acres there and I think we’ll continue to play against that. So we feel very good about
where we are.
Newfield Exploration NFX - Newfield Enters the Marcellus Shale - On October 14, 2009, Newfield announced the signing of a joint exploration
agreement with Hess Corporation in the Marcellus Shale play. The agreement covers up to 140,000 gross acres primarily in Susquehanna
and Wayne Counties, Pennsylvania. Newfield will operate the new venture with each company having a 50 percent interest. The
2009 portion of Newfield's Marcellus Shale activities will be funded within the Company's existing $1.45 billion capital budget.
Drilling operations are not expected to commence until 2010.
- CNX Gas CXG - CNX Gas is active in the Marcellus Shale, particularly in Southwest, PA. For the entire horizontal Marcellus
Shale program to date, 18 horizontal wells have been drilled. The reserves associated with the first 11 wells total 35.6 Bcf,
or about 3.3 Bcf per well. The laterals on these wells averaged less than 2,000 feet. Upcoming drilling in the Marcellus Shale
is expected to be predominantly horizontal and on multiple-well pads, with laterals closer to 3,000-3,500 feet. For 2010,
the company expects to drill approximately two dozen horizontal wells, with a drilling budget of about $110 million. CNX Gas
successfully increased its acreage with Marcellus Shale potential by 10,000 in the quarter, to a total of 260,000. Of this,
approximately 180,000 acres is considered to be Tier 1. .
CNX Gas has drilled its best ever horizontal Marcellus Shale wells during the
first quarter," said J. Brett Harvey, chairman and chief executive officer. "One well, GH 2B CV, has averaged 5.0
MMcf per day for the first 47 days of production. It peaked at 5.7 MMcf per day. This production is remarkable when one considers
that the lateral is only 2,300 feet. Based on this early production, we think it is reasonable to assume reserves for this
well in excess of 5 Bcf.
"A second well, GH 10 CV, has only 1,500 feet of lateral, but has a current daily production
rate of 4.3 MMcf. This well is still inclining after being on line for 17 days, with an average production rate of 4.1 MMcf
per day.
"A third well, GH 11B CV, had its last three stages fraced, as had been anticipated in the prior earnings
release," continued Mr. Harvey. "This well, with only 1,800 feet of lateral, is now producing 2.2 MMcf per day from
only those three stages. As we move to our new drilling area on June 1," continued Mr. Harvey, "we expect to see
proportionate increases in production and reserves as we increase our laterals to 3,000 feet and beyond."
- Petroleum Development Corp PETD - The
Appalachian Basin includes our West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and Tennessee operations, in which we own an interest
in approximately 2,090 gross, 1,566.4 net oil and natural gas wells. Our leasehold position encompasses approximately 140,300
gross acres with approximately 19,400 net undeveloped acres remaining for development as of December 31, 2008. We drilled
63 gross/net wells in the area in 2008 and produced approximately 3.9 Bcfe net to our interests. The majority of our Appalachian
leasehold is Devonian and Mississippian aged tight sandstone reservoirs. We are currently evaluating the potential of the
Marcellus Formation in West Virginia and Pennsylvania and have drilled three tests to date in West Virginia.
- Trans Energy TENG - Trans Energy is very active in the Marcellus Shale and has announced in Jan 2009 a Marion County, WV well. TENG announced
that its Blackshere #101 well in Marion County, West Virginia was successfully fraced on December 29th and is currently
awaiting connection to a sales line. The Blackshere #101 is completed in the Marcellus shale, a prolific new “resource
play” in Appalachia, similar to the Barnett, Fayetteville and Haynesville shales which have grown to become a significant base of hydrocarbon reserves in the United States. James K. Abcouwer,
President and CEO of Trans Energy, said “This fourth Marcellus well is located in Marion County which is the county
to the east of our existing Marcellus wells and is a step out of what we consider our proven area. We are delighted
with its initial indications. We are optimistic that the positive results from our three vertical wells in Wetzel
County and now with our most recent completion in Marion County can be replicated throughout our acreage position in northern
West Virginia. We’re now beginning a horizontal well program in yet another significant step forward for Trans
Energy to properly develop its acreage position. We’re pleased to have achieved this sizeable acreage position
centered on the Wetzel-Marion-Doddridge Counties area, which looks to be one of the most – if not the most
– prolific part of the Marcellus resource in Appalachia.”
Encana ECA - Encana has recently entered the Marcellus Shale
- More to come in the following months ahead.
Stone Energy SGY - Appalachian Basin (Marcellus Shale Play). Stone currently has more than 30,000 net acres leased in the
Marcellus Shale Play. Stone is producing from three vertical Marcellus wells in West Virginia and three additional vertical
development wells in West Virginia have been drilled and expect to be completed, hydraulically fractured, and tested through
existing gathering systems within the next few months. Stone expects to drill another 4 or 5 wells in West Virginia during
the remainder of this year as well as 2 or 3 wells in Pennsylvania. Stone is permitting a number of additional wells in the
Marcellus Shale Play and expects to ramp up drilling activity in 2010. The Company is also engaged in activities to enhance
its current leasehold. Stone is designated operator on most of its leasehold and currently owns at least a 50% working interest
in all leases.
Pioneer Drilling PDL - During the second quarter, we established an Appalachian
drilling division to focus on operations in the Marcellus Shale. We currently have one drilling rig
operating in our Appalachian division, with a second rig expected to begin operating by late August
2009. In addition, we launched wireline operations in the Marcellus Shale play.
StatOil STO - On 26 March Statoil signed an agreement with Chesapeake which added approximately 59 thousand net acres to Statoil's current
600 thousand net acre position in the Marcellus shale gas play.
