Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by wyalusing jim on August 28, 2014 at 10:51am

but they would be the first to tell their investors.

they have not done so.

wj

Permalink Reply by Tug Steward on August 28, 2014 at 12:06pm

So too - discussions of fractionation plants and the other hardware associated with wet gas would be making news.  While I might prefer the potential added benefit of wet gas in our location as a royalty owner, a trade off would be further development of our landscape to handle the wet gas resource.

Permalink Reply by Frank Walker on August 28, 2014 at 12:47pm

It's difficult for me now to recall when I first was approached to lease my land.  I want to say 2003, but that would strictly be a "plus or minus" guesstimate.  I'll readily admit my head was elsewhere that long ago.  I don't recall becoming familiar with Marcellus shale until early in 2008.  More aware persons than myself knew about the Marcellus long before that.  But I don't think too many of us were aware of the Marcellus shale, or even of shale gas in general, in 2003.  I can tell you there might have been "thumper trucks" on my road in 2003.  But I was so busy with other stuff I simply ignored 'em and did not probe deeply as to what they were up to.  Those trucks were, to me way back then, scarcely more than an annoyance.  If anything, I would have thought they were searching for TBR gas.  I do recall being aware of that back then, but not Marcellus.  The TBR thing never amounted to much here.

Today I'm more aware of gas drilling, in general, and I try my best to keep up.  But I'm not aware of any Utica activity today anywhere near to where I live (western Bradford).  And that includes exploratory wells.  So if there is wet gas down there at Utica depths, near to where I live, I doubt the gas company is aware of it.  Frankly, they seem right now to have their hands full just keeping up with the Marcellus. 

Permalink Reply by justin clouse on August 28, 2014 at 9:46pm

Seneca Resources is drilling with a 1500 hp patterson rig #337 on a DCNR site in tioga county....thats an awefully big rig to be just drilling a marcellus well. to put it in perspective most of the first wave of rigs around bradford county were 750-1000hp and the 70 series Nomac rigs that can move in x and y directions(walking rigs) that chesapeake is using up here now are only 1200hp.. I believe the utica will bear fruit in alot of the areas that the marcellus is too shallow and not as profitable, but I think even the utica will be dry in eastern pa. Formations below the utica, only time with tell, thats why they drill the holes.

Permalink Reply by Frank Walker on August 29, 2014 at 3:30am

Agreed.  I should have written more carefully.  Of course there are Utica wells and drilling over in Tioga County.  These are pretty well documented, right here on this forum, on one of my own threads on the Tioga County board.  I was thinking of Utica activity here in Bradford County.

If there is Utica drilling here, either actual or even contemplated, I'm not aware of it. 

Permalink Reply by justin clouse on August 29, 2014 at 1:36pm

It would make sense if the Utica sweet spot in NE pa was just to the SW of the marcellus sweet spot in NE pa(Bradford and Susquehanna), just as the Utica sweet spot is to the SW of the Marcellus sweet spot in SW Pa( Greene and Washington county)...Truth be told there are 13,200,000 acres in the marcellus fareway, even with the most conservative estimates(20BCF per SQ mile) there is 410Trillion cubic feet of gas recoverable( roughly 1.6trillion dollars worth)in place.... in southern bradford the drillers are already tapping upper marcellus intervals with IP rates north of 10mmcf per day.   I believe in many areas the upper devonian and upper marcellus will provide additional drilling locations alone with the deeper utica where those formations are too shallow.... with 15,000 wells drilled and only about half of them producing alot of pipes need to be build to handle the onslaught of gas to come.   We are about 5 years into a 50-100 year drilling cycle in the appalacian basin... The production companies will drill no less that 150,000 wells in pa before all is said and done.

Permalink Reply by justin clouse on August 29, 2014 at 1:56pm

In some of the southern twnships in Bradford and northern twnships in Wyoming and Sullivan counties the recoverable reserves based on IP rates are pushing 200BCF per square mile from just the lower Marcellus, with the upper Marcellus about 120BCF per square mile or so.... in another words get use to 12-20 wells per pad and a pad every 2 miles or so. 

Permalink Reply by paleface on August 29, 2014 at 2:33pm

 I could be totally wrong it wouldn't be the first time,but with all the Hydrocarbons in the N.E.region I would think there has to be some wet gas sweet spots there.