Forest Oil Corp., Denver, has returned a drilling rig to its acreage in the Haynesville shale play of East Texas and Northwest Louisiana.

The company decided to reenter the play as a result of positive performance from its restricted rate production program from the seven wells drilled in 2010 and reductions in drilling and completion costs in the region. The seven wells have produced at an average 8 MMcfe/d in their first 240 days of production and, at the end of the 240 days, averaged 4,300 psi flowing pressure.

Forest now believes that the estimated ultimate recovery from these wells should exceed the 6.5 bcfe type curve. Forest recently completed its first well in the area in 2011, which had an initial restricted rate of 12 MMcfe/d with 8,640 psi flowing pressure. The performance from this most recently completed well is consistent with that of other rate-restricted wells drilled in 2010, the company said.