Utica Shale

Hess Corporation - Utica Shale Comments - Q4 2011 Conference Call

Hess Corporation (HES) held an earnings conference call on January 25, 2012, in connection with the company’s fourth quarter of 2011 and full year earnings releases.  The company discussed its operations in the Utica Shale in 2011 and plans for 2012.

“Regarding the Utica Shale, our appraisal drilling program will be designed to delineate the oil-, liquids- and gas-rich areas on both our 100%-owned acreage and that owned by our 50-50 joint venture with CONSOL Energy.”

“On our 100%-owned acreage, we plan to acquire 200 square miles of seismic and drill approximately 7 wells. The joint venture will also acquire approximately 200 square miles of seismic and plans to drill 22 wells. We will also continue to pursue and delineate unconventional opportunities globally.”

“Regarding the Marquette well, we recently completed that well in December that was drilled by Marquette prior to the acquisition. The well was drilled in a dry gas location, we knew that. But it was ready to complete, so we went ahead and completed it. And while we're still testing the well, we can report that the initial rate from the well was 11 million cubic feet per day on a 24/64 choke. So that's a very good result. We're very pleased with that result. It's very encouraging, but, obviously, there's a lot more appraisal drilling necessary to delineate our acreage position and, in particular, figure out where the oil condensate and dry gas windows are.”

Source

Exxon Mobil Plans First Utica Shale Well in 2012

Exxon Mobil (XOM) commented on the company’s development plans in the Utica Shale in 2012.  The company picked up acreage here through the acquisition of Phillips Resources in June 2011, and has also been leasing acreage on its own.

Utica Shale

“Exxon Mobil is also actively exploring several other early stage liquids-rich play in the United States, including the Utica Shale play in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Our position in the Utica stems from our recently completed acquisition of the Phillips companies and represents incremental upside to the Phillips acquisition, which was focused on the Marcellus. The Phillips acquisition included 45,000 net acres prospective for the Utica in Ohio, and we have increased our position now to over 75,000 net acres. We anticipate drilling our first Utica well in early 2012.”

Source

Devon Energy - Utica Shale Summary

Devon Energy (DVN) is also active in the Utica Shale and has disclosed a 110,000 net acre position in Ohio.  The company has a target of reaching 150,000 net acres of leasehold.  Other details on the Devon Energy Utica Shale position in Ohio:

• Average royalty of 12%.
• Play type is oil in a carbonate rich shale zone.
• Shale depth is 3,000 to 6,000 feet.
• Plans to drill four wells in 2011.

Devon Energy was positive on the company’s first well into the Utica Shale in Ohio.  During the second quarter of 2011 conference call the company made the following comments:

“We have now analyzed the core from our first Utica well and are highly encouraged by the positive permeability indications seen in our first well. Based on these early results, we believe the oil window could offer some of the best economics in the play. We plan to drill 3 additional Ohio Utica wells this year.”

Devon Energy also has 300,000 net acres in the Michigan Basin that is prospective for the Utica Shale.