Natural gas drilling rigs are coming online and production is gaining momentum in northeast Pennsylvania, says Cabot Oil & Gas, a Houston, Texas-based energy company involved in the Marcellus Shale play.
The company is currently producing more than 13 Mmcfe per day and recently completed its first working horizontal well in the Marcellus Shale region with a depth of 8,925 feet and a horizontal leg at 2,000 feet. The average depth of a vertical well is 7,200 feet, while the average horizontal leg is approximately 2,200 feet.
Cabot has exceeded its original year-end Marcellus production target of six to nine Mmcf per day, according to President and CEO Dan Dinges. “We expect this to increase considerably over the next few weeks as we have nine additional wells ready to be completed or in the final stages of pipeline hookup,” he said.
The Company has drilled 18 wells in the field to date, four of them as horizontal tests. Five drilling rigs are currently operating, with plans to increase that number to eight in 2009.
Cabot plans to drill four more vertical wells and three more horizontal wells this year, and expects to have a total of 16 vertical and seven horizontal wells operating in the Commonwealth by the end of 2008. The vertical wells cost between $1.3 and $1.5 million, while horizontal wells cost between $2.6 and $2.9 million.
The company has also completed its first phase pipeline, with 10 miles built so far. Dinges added that Cabot is working to secure right of way and all necessary permits to expand its pipeline infrastructure in 2009.
Source: Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation
Writer: John Davidson
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