By Oil & Gas Financial Journal staff
Chesapeake Energy's first horizontal Utica Shale well, the Buell #8H, tested 6.5 MMcfepd (6.2 MMcfpd of natural gas and 59 bopd of condensate), noted a September 8 report by Jefferies & Co. Inc. citing the Ohio Dept of Natural Resources.
The hype surrounding the oil and natural gas producer's Utica Shale acreage jumped in July when, as part of its 2Q11 financials report, the company put a $15 to $20 billion valuation on its 1.25 million acres in Ohio.
The Buell well, in central Harrison County, Ohio, sits in the wet gas window of the emerging Utica Shale. Drilled at a vertical depth of nearly 8,400 feet with another 6,800 feet of horizontal lateral, the condensate yield was similar to the wet area of the Marcellus in southwest Pennsylvania.
Without choke size or flowing tubing/casing pressures in the completion report, “it is impossible to determine if the well was capable of flowing at a higher rate,” noted Jefferies analysts.
“Field sources had indicated the well may have flowed as high as 18 MMcfe/d, but we have no way of confirming that from the data in the completion report. Nonetheless, 6.5 MMcfe/d from the first well in a new play is very encouraging. Highly unlikely Chesapeake has found the optimal landing target or frac recipe in the first attempt.”
