By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, July 16 -- PDC Energy, Denver, formerly Petroleum Development Corp., will explore for gas and oil in Late Cambrian Rose Run sand and Early Ordovician Beekmantown carbonate remnants encased in shale in central Ohio.
The first two wells are to spud in August, with PDC Energy having 75% working interest and an undisclosed but experienced partner 25%. The pay zones are at 3,500-4,500 ft.
The partner, which has been involved in the play since the 1990s, provided 40,000 acres of the pair’s current 50,000-acre holding, mainly in Fairfield, Hocking, western Perry, and southern Licking counties (see map, OGJ, Jan. 23, 1995, p. 61).
The seismic-dependent play has produced 375 bcf of natural gas equivalent, most of it since 1993, and the US Geological Survey estimated that 750 bcfe is undiscovered and recoverable, PDC Energy said. Recovery is expected to be 60-70% gas and 30-40% oil.
PDC Energy expects to drill six proof-of-concept wells in this year’s second half and finalize a leasing program of as many as 50,000 more acres. The partners own 75 line-miles of seismic data and will firm up plans in the rest of 2010 for their first 3D seismic survey.
