Atlas Energy (ATLS) has a 120,000-acre position in northeastern Tennessee that is prospective for the Chattanooga Shale. The company has 450 producing vertical wells in Tennessee, and is the largest producer in the state. Atlas Energy believes that it has nearly 500 drilling locations into the Chattanooga Shale.
The Chattanooga Shale is a Devonian age organic, hydrocarbon rich shale found throughout Tennessee, and other neighboring states. The Chattanooga Shale is located beneath the Mississippian Fort Payne Limestone at a depth of approximately 3,000- 4,000 feet. The shale thickness varies from 80 - 200 feet.
Atlas Energy estimates that the production rates of horizontal wells drilled to the Chattanooga Shale will be 300-500 thousand cubic feet per day and cost less than $1 million to drill and complete.