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Permalink Reply by Aaron R on December 29, 2013 at 5:42pm

FYI - the trend in the industry is to reduce the well spacing to 500 ft, meaning that one average lateral will drain 40 acres instead of 80.  In most cases this is increasing the total yield from the overall well field.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Powers on December 31, 2013 at 11:51am

KT -

The area that the well covers is a simple calculation of borehole diameter times lateral length in any measurement unit that you chose.

From my re-read of your query, what I think you are asking is how much rock will each lateral drain? Whomever derives a simple, defensible answer to this question will be a very valuable person to the entire play development.

The Marcellus Shale , by definition, is "unconventional," meaning that the permeability is extremely low and that the gas/oil molecules have a difficult time flowing to the well bore. Flow from conventional reservoirs is much better understood ,measurable, and predictable using classical reservoir engineering calculations derived decades ago.

I spent the majority of my oil/gas career working conventional reservoirs, and I worked with and assisted/supported teams who were very successful using numeric simulators (complex mathematical models on supercomputers similar to those used for weather forecasting). These models used known and inferred rock mechanics information and flow models that helped "history match" well production, decline curve information, measured pressure data, etc., and after many iterations and when the history match was close, additional wells, laterals, or other "take points" could be added to the model and re-ran as a predictor of future production. The well construction teams would provide a drilling/completion cost estimate, the economists would do their computer magic, and a recommendation to drill or not drill more holes would be possible.

The accuracy of the models and their predictive capabilities were greatly influenced by the quality and quantity of the data. The old adage"Garbage In-Garbage Out" was often used. Given the threads on this post commenting on the quality and timeliness of the well production data reported by the state regulators, coupled with the dearth of rock data available, I could envision the modeling teams struggling mightily to develop accurate and usable models.

Happy New Year to All-

Brian

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Permalink Reply by Paul Martinelli on December 31, 2013 at 4:19pm

KT.....I think the answer you are looking for is ~150 acres....give or take 40 acres.

 

I believe the leg is suppose to cover a width of 1000'.   so a lateral of  5000' would cover

(5000x1000/43560) 114.78 acres.

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Permalink Reply by evan on December 31, 2013 at 5:18pm

KT , the unit you are in covers 137 acres in case you haven't found that out 

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