Ultra Petroleum (UPL) reported earnings for the first quarter of 2010, and held a conference call to discuss the results. During the call, the company made comments on its activities in the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania.
Ultra Petroleum is continuing to build its acreage position in the Marcellus Shale, and recently closed on an acquisition of 78,000 net acres.
“Looking at Pennsylvania, we entered 2009 with an expanded acreage position of 326,000 gross, 169,000 net acres in our focus area of North Central Pennsylvania, based on the encouraging results that we were experiencing. In the first quarter of 2010, as Mark indicated in his comments, we continue to consolidate our leaseholds in this core area, focusing on proximity to infrastructure, logistical issues like terrain and access, lease term and the ability to amalgamate units for extended lateral links.”
“We closed on the strategic lease acquisition of over 78,000 net acres centered in Clinton County, which we described in the last call. This is a large contiguous acreage block, predominantly held by production, with water access, pipeline tabs, road and rights-of-way in place. More importantly, the geologic characteristics are strong, with twice the Marcellus' thickness of our other area, higher organic content, excellent maturation profile and added over pressure to enhance recovery.”
“With this consolidation and addition, our leasehold in Potter, Tioga, Bradford, Lycoming, Centre and Clinton County, at the end of Q1 2010, is approximately 413,000 gross, 225,000 net acres. Proprietary 3-D seismic data has been acquired over 50% of this acreage position, bringing our total coverage to over 300 square mile. We feel strongly that the seismic data provides valuable information for optimizing the design of drilling unit and the steering of lateral well bores.”
Source: Seeking Alpha
