vertical only wells in the utica?

Someone told me that Rice energy will drill some vertical wells into the Utica without horizontal legs in Belmont county. I don't see how they could make out at all when every other company is going horizontal for about 1-1/2 miles & fracking it. Has anyone else heard of this?

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Permalink Reply by Larry Cain on September 25, 2013 at 1:33pm

 I am a sometimes reader and first time commenter. The mention of Rice Energy in this discussion caught my attention. My experience with the ODNR website has been frustrating at times but I think that is due to my limited abilities and not the site. What I have learned is that sometimes the information reported early in the permitting process is either incomplete or some of it is on another location on the site. I am not sure where all of the information is coming from concerning this well but if you look on the well locator portion of the site you will find information about the lateral. Some of you may have the ability to calculate the exact length of this but it appears to me to be over 10,000 ft. 

 Our landowner group finalized a lease with Rice late last year. They are in the final stages of permitting their first well within our group's acres in Belmont County. The laterals from this location will also be in excess of 10,000 ft.

I hope you find this helpful.

Mike MurphyPermalink Reply by Mike Murphy on September 27, 2013 at 3:52am

more like 10,000 feet surface to TD 5000 feet down and 5000 feet horizonal   a 10000 foot lateral would take a 1280 acre unit 

IMO

Mike MurphyPermalink Reply by Mike Murphy on September 27, 2013 at 3:45am

could be alotta a clinton wells in ohio are 40 -50 years old ........and production is not economical any longer alotta a clinton wells have been kept in production to HBP THE MINERAL RIGHTS  but now with new leases written the companies dont need HBP  with those old wells the salvage off the old wells is probably worth a good bit right now to be reused in the utica ......tanks separators pipe all have to be bringing premium prices for reuse and the price of just scrapping is way up too 

IMO

Permalink Reply by James Vanderink on September 26, 2013 at 1:29pm
I found this vertical Utica well producing in Fairfield County. I would like to see what a similar well in Somerset Twsp Belmont County would look like.Starts off great but I don't like the decline curve.

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Website/Geosurvey/OILGAS/WellSummaryCard...
Permalink Reply by Ed on September 26, 2013 at 9:25pm

All of this discussion about vertical utica wells is very interesting.  If in fact someone is drilling vertical only then the question will always remain "why?"  If it were productive to do so, everyone would do it because they are certainly less expensive than a long horizontal bore. There is so much more technology in a horizontal well than a vertical.  It's the technology that is expensive not the amount of pipe etc.  Any driller can punch a hole straight down but not everyone can turn a horizontal bore. 

 

Lastly, from my understanding, the natural fissures in these shale formations are oriented in such a direction that vertical only fracking is marginal at best.   There is a small local company in western PA that drills vertical only into the marcellus because they can't afford to drill horizontal bores.  They are gobbleing up leases all over without bonus money and drilling vertical only.  Many people are signing these leases. 

 

I spoke directly to XTO landmen and ask them point blank about this and their take was if it were productive and profitable then everyone would be doing it.

 

So why would you??

Permalink Reply by Craig Cooper on September 27, 2013 at 2:34am

There are typically 3 general stages to shale play E&P: exploration, appraisal and development.

The exploration stage often consists of drilling a few vertical wells. The primary purposes of the stage are to collect data, conduct tests and gain local / regional drilling experience. The outcomes include assessment of play potential & viability and design of an appraisal drilling program.

The appraisal stage consists of drilling (a larger number of) horizontal wells. The primary purposes of the stage include collection of additional data, testing & refining drilling and completion methods and assessing production capabilities of the reservoir. The outcomes include assessment of economic viability, refinements to drilling & completion methods and design of a development drilling program.

The development stage consists of a (massive) drilling program and construction of pipelines & field facilities. The primary purpose is, obviously, the timely & economic development of the 'field'. However data is collected & analyzed during this stage too and used to further refine & improve field developments and economic results.

Go / no-go decision points exist between each stage. 

So, per the original post, it is possible that Rice is following a generally accepted process for E&P of a 'new' reservoir and the vertical wells are part of their first stage E&P. 

As for the Pa company drilling vertical only & grabbing leases, IMO that is an unsustainable business strategy. They are more likely hoping to establish a little / some / any production to sustain their company until they can flip their acreage position to another larger, more capable company.

Permalink Reply by KB on September 27, 2013 at 3:14am

Keep in mind that it might be a permitting issue.  In Ohio, I have heard it is very easy to permit a vertical well then change it to a horizontal well later as needed.  I do not believe that Rice has any interest of any kind of vertical well program other than a potential exploration well.  They have drilled almost exclusively horizontals in PA.

Mike MurphyPermalink Reply by Mike Murphy on September 27, 2013 at 3:24am

RICE  can punch a vertical for a couple million bucks and hbp all the land involved in a lease agreemnent and come back anytime in the future to contibue drilling ....once hbp that insures there locked into the lease.........so if they have a lease with one of these group involving 100s of acres all they need is one well to hbp all the acres involved it all depends on how the lease is written ....and most always it is in the drillers best interest and the landowner is the looser.......as far as attorneys representing land groups they can be bought too .....look at are politicians most of them are lawyers and most of them have been bought

 imo 

Permalink Reply by Philip Brutz on September 27, 2013 at 3:27am

Could someone post the permit for this well?  I can't find any information about it on the ODNR database.

Permalink Reply by Joseph-Ohio on September 27, 2013 at 3:36am
Seems to me if the lease terms allow it and the wells are so permitted there would be nothing wrong with both conventional vertical wells and horizontal laterals being built out on the same tract.

I think O&G will do whatever is economically feasible to recover the resources (in step with the lease terms and law).

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