"Though it is very early in our exploration program, the strong initial results are encouraging," said Bob Daniels, Anadarko Sr. Vice President, Worldwide Exploration. "We expect to begin flowing back our fourth Utica exploration well in the next few days and are currently drilling our fifth exploration well in the play. We plan to continue an active drilling program throughout the year, as we evaluate the liquids-rich potential of our 390,000-acre (gross) position in the Utica Shale."

Anadarko's Brookfield A-3H well in Noble County has produced approximately 9,500 barrels of oil and approximately 12 million cubic feet (MMcf) of high-BTU (British thermal units) natural gas during its first 20 days on line. The Spencer A-1H and Spencer A-5H wells, located in Guernsey County, have cumulatively produced a combined 20,000 barrels of light-gravity crude oil and 37 MMcf of liquids-rich natural gas in just under two months on line. All three horizontal wells were drilled to a vertical depth of approximately 6,500 feet and a lateral length of about 5,000 feet with 16- to 19-stage completions.

Anadarko operates the Brookfield and Spencer wells with a 100-percent working interest (82.5-percent net revenue interest) subject to a participation agreement with Artex Energy Group LLC.

Each of the three wells targeted a different section of the Utica and they were also in three different geographic areas. We tested our three wells after pumping four stage fracs on each one. Our rates achieved were between 100 Mcf per day and 800 Mcf per day without full recovery of the load water from the fracs.

August 2009 Update:  Well, we have ten year leases up there, what we are doing there is we took all the rocks and the data, and did a frac rock mechanics work including with BJ in Houston and that was supposed to come out this summer and of course summer time is better than when we frac those wells.

Up to this point, we were the only company who had done horizontals, and I understand there have been two announcements publicly, one private firm in Cavalry, where we’ll have interest in I believe J.C. and then also Talisman has announced several horizontals, so we’d be interested in seeing how those come out on the drilling and the completion. Although, others have had trouble on the drilling, we have not. It would be the completion and basically what we are talking is about redoing it on the frac jobs and trying it again.

- Talisman Energy TLM -  Talisman Energy is very active in the Utica Shale Natural Gas Field -Talisman’s Quebec acreage is along the St. Lawrence River where the Company has currently earned or acquired a total of 310,000 net acres. The Company also has rights to earn up to an additional 460,000 net acres. In 2008, one well was drilled and another was drilling over year end. Initial tests from the Gentilly recompletion were also conducted. Talisman expects to complete the drilling component of its earning phase (two additional wells) by the end of the first quarter of 2009. The Company anticipates that testing will continue into the second and third quarters of 2009 depending on equipment availability. Talisman will continue evaluating the potential for commercial gas in Quebec throughout 2009.

2011 Utica Shale Update - In Quebec, the provincial government has announced that it will allow a limited amount of shale activity as part of a strategic environmental assessment. Production from Talisman's conventional areas was 441 mmcf/d of natural gas and 20,200 boe/d of liquids, up slightly from the comparable average for 2010. The company drilled 36 gross conventional wells (31.8 net) during the quarter.



- Equitable Resources EQT -  EQT has Utica Shale deposit exposure: CEO:  The second well at this point is a vertical into the Utica, that's where we're headed, we’ll frac and complete both of those wells. So, one will be horizontal, one will be vertical. See how it goes and produce them. If they work, we'll produce them into the pipeline at that point. Beyond that though if the Utica doesn't work we’ll just back off inside of that current vertical well and then drill out a horizontal Marcellus well through that same exact hole, that's one of the reasons we did this year as we sort of get a relatively cheap look at the Utica with this well. But if Utica works, we will produce. If it doesn't work we'll back off and drill on horizontal Marcellus. If the Utica does work, we'll go ahead and drill on the third well here. The third well will be a horizontal Marcellus well. Hope that clears that up.  Update:  We're still in that process of engineering, a bigger frac job in the Utica Shale. We're thinking about drilling another well but we don't know whether in the context of the market conditions whether we are going to do that sooner or later and when we drill later, if we drill, we liked it, frac both at the same time. So we're sort of on a little bit of hold on the Utica at this point.

Dominion Resources (D) - Dominion Resources (D) offers services in the Utica Shale Play - Our next major project in the Marcellus and Utica regions has been finalized. We have acquired a site on the Ohio River in Natrium, West Virginia to construct a large gas processing and fractionation plant. With the rising price of oil and the depressed price of natural gas, drilling activity in the region has shifted from a dry gas to wet gas areas of the formation as producers look to capture the economic value of the natural gas liquids. As a result, the region has a significant need for additional processing and fractionation capacity. The Natrium site can access production in both the Marcellus and Utica Shale regions and is able to ship products via barge, rail, truck and pipe, offering significant value to producers..

As previously announced, Rex Energy recently spud its first horizontal Utica Shale well, the Brace 1H, in April. The well is currently approaching vertical TD, at which time it will be logged and side-wall cores taken. The well will have a 4,500' lateral drilled and the fracture stimulation treatment is scheduled for the middle of June. The company anticipates providing an update on the well status during the second quarter conference call in August. The company plans to drill two additional horizontal Utica Shale wells in its Warrior Prospects in 2012.

The company has closed on the previously announced 15,000 acres in the Warrior Prospect. Approximately $6.2 million was spent during the first quarter on leasing efforts in the region. The Warrior Prospect acreage cost an average of approximately $3,900 per acre. The company is continuing to pursue additional leases in the area that will be accretive to its operational development.

Warrior South Prospect — Guernsey, Noble & Belmont Counties, Ohio

The company entered into a new Joint Development Agreement with MFC Drilling, Inc. ("MFC") and ABARTA Oil & Gas Co., Inc. The new AMI is located in the tri-county area of Guernsey, Noble and Belmont Counties, Ohio and is being referred to as the Warrior South Prospect. The initial acreage contribution encompasses approximately 4,500 gross (2,800 net) acres and is being obtained on a "drill-to-earn" basis. The initial commitments are to drill and complete one well and commence the drilling of two others by November 15, 2012. In order to maintain its rights, the company would be required to drill and complete three additional wells each year until it has satisfied the carry obligation. The company is continuing to actively lease in the area.

The leases, in which Hess will have a 100 percent working interest, are in Jefferson, Harrison and Belmont counties. Appraisal activities on this acreage are planned to commence in the fourth quarter. Together with the previously announced joint venture with CONSOL Energy, the transactions provide Hess with approximately 185,000 net acres in the Utica Shale play.

"With these transactions, we have built a strategic acreage position in the Utica Shale, allowing us to strengthen our portfolio of unconventional resources in high quality assets, leverage our operating expertise and create significant potential for future growth in reserves and production," said John Hess, Chairman and CEO of Hess Corporation.

February 2012 Update - Regarding the Utica Shale, our appraisal drilling program will be designed to delineate the oil-, liquids- and gas-rich areas on both our 100%-owned acreage and that owned by our 50-50 joint venture with CONSOL Energy. On our 100%-owned acreage, we plan to acquire 200 square miles of seismic and drill approximately 7 wells. The joint venture will also acquire approximately 200 square miles of seismic and plans to drill 22 wells. We will also continue to pursue and delineate unconventional opportunities globally.

We're up to about 198,000 acres now in the Utica Shale. So we're very pleased with our early entry into that position and feel like it's a strategic acreage position, an emerging unconventional play. Remind everybody most of the land's either owned in fee or held by production, with the balance being under long-term leases. And, finally, the acreage has very high net revenue interest. So, again, a very nice position in an emerging play. Regarding the well, we recently completed that well in December that was drilled by Marquette prior to the acquisition. The well was drilled in a dry gas location, we knew that. But it was ready to complete, so we went ahead and completed it. And while we're still testing the well, we can report that the initial rate from the well was 11 million cubic feet per day on a 24/64 choke. So that's a very good result. We're very pleased with that result. It's very encouraging, but, obviously, there's a lot more appraisal drilling necessary to delineate our acreage position and, in particular, figure out where the oil condensate and dry gas windows are.