Gulfport Reports Best Utica Shale Results to Date
OKLAHOMA CITY – Gulfport Energy Corp. may have stumbled upon the hot spot of the Utica shale, as results from a well in southeastern Ohio may prove to be the most productive yet.
Gulfport reports its Shugert 1-H well in Belmont County tested at a peak rate of 4,913 barrels of oil equivalent per day, surpassing the results of its Wagner well in Harrison County, which recently tested at a peak rate of 4,650 barrels per day.
The Wagner well was regarded as the most productive drilled thus far in the Utica, but those results were beat by the performance of the Shugert site.
The Shugert well was flow-tested for 32 hours and produced a maximum of 20 million cubic feet of natural gas, 144 barrels of condensate, and 2,002 barrels of natural gas liquids per day.
In comparison, the Wagner well tested at a peak rate of 14 million cubic feet of natural gas and 1,881 barrels of natural gas liquids per day.
Gulfport is awaiting initial test results on two other wells, the Groh well in Guernsey County and the Boy Scout well in Harrison County.
Chesapeake Energy Corp.'s Buell well, located about 15 miles from the Wagner well in Harrison County, churned out a peak production rate of 3,010 barrels of oil equivalent per day when the first results were reported late last year. That well is still producing more than 1,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
It was the Buell well that sparked aggressive oil and gas exploration in the Utica shale, driving energy companies from across the country to eastern Ohio.
Gulfport has 62,000 net acres under lease in the Utica and has secured a partnership with MarkWest Energy, Denver, as its anchor customer for a processing network under development in Cadiz, Harrison County.
MarkWest is developing a $500 million midstream project in Cadiz. The project consists of building two processing plants in southeastern Ohio – one in Cadiz and the other in Noble County. The midstream infrastructure separates wet gasses from dry gas such as methane. The wet gas is further processed and separated into different liquid gas such as propane, ethane and butane. These products are then delivered via pipelines to markets all across the country.
Most of Oklahoma City-based Gulfport's acreage rests in Belmont, Harrison and Guernsey counties.
The company plans to drill a total of 20 in the play, 10 by the end of this year.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.