American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2016 - 88

SpecialReport: Marcellus/Utica Activity
laterals, according to Walker.
If prices continue climbing, Walker
contends that Range is in a unique position
to ramp up its operations quickly.
"We have more than 230 pads, and
150 of them have five wells or fewer," he
counts. "We have the ability to go back
to existing pads without much permitting
required. We can push the throttle forward.
Combined with the new assets in northern
Louisiana, we have a lot of flexibility
and a lot of upside. We are a much better,
stronger company than we were a year
ago."
Lots Of Options
CONSOL Energy has 1.4 million acres
across three states in the Appalachian
Basin, including 503,000 acres in Pennsylvania and West Virginia that are
prospective to both the Marcellus and
the deeper Utica, according to Vice President of Operations Craig Neal.
CONSOL was running two horizontal
rigs in October, both drilling offsets adjacent to the four-well Switz 6 pad in
Monroe County, Oh. But Neal cautions
not to read too much into that.
"We are focused on the highest rate
of return," he states. "These were ready
to go. We haven't pivoted; we still have a
Marcellus program. We have looked hard
at eliminating steps that aren't adding
value. We track performance on every

Apex Energy has staked a position in Westmoreland and Armstrong counties, Pa., where
it has 40,000 mostly contiguous acres. The company's Marcellus wells have been completed with laterals everywhere from 6,000 to 13,000 feet, but Chief Executive Officer
Mark Rothenberg says Apex anticipates drilling 8,000-12,000 foot laterals going forward.

well. Our number of drilling days is
down, and we continue to see further
progress on lifting costs. We are reducing
costs, but we are doing everything safely
while adding value."
Although the company has wet gas
production in its Ohio joint venture with
Hess Corporation as well as wet gas in
the West Virginia Panhandle and southwestern Pennsylvania, Neal says CONSOL
is drilling exclusively in the dry gas

regions at the moment.
"We do have some wet-gas drilled
uncompleted wells that should come into
play shortly," he adds.
Neal points out that CONSOL has
drilled a 14,000-foot lateral in the Marcellus, but its Utica wells in Monroe
County are 10,000-11,000 feet.
"We continue to press the limit," he
offers. "At some point, torque becomes
an issue."
Impressive Production

CONSOL Energy was running
two horizontal rigs in Monroe
County, Oh., in October, where
Vice President of Operations
Craig Neal says the company
was drilling Utica Shale wells
with 10,000- to 11,000-foot laterals. The company has 1.4 million
acres prospective to both the
Marcellus and deeper Utica
across three Appalachian Basin
states.

88 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

During the second quarter, CONSOL
began completion operations on a sixwell pad in Greene County, Pa. It also
turned 16 Marcellus Shale wells on line
in Greene, Washington and Allegheny
counties, Pa., including the first pad in
the company's Pittsburgh International
Airport project.
Neal says the company's Green Hill
Marcellus wells in Greene County continue
to outperform, with EURs now at 3.0
Bcfe-3.5 Bcfe per 1,000 lateral feet.
CONSOL's joint venture partner completed
two wells and turned on five wells in
Harrison County, Oh., in the second quarter.
The 10-well GH53 pad, which CON-

American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2016

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