Infinity accelerates Marcellus project, weighs slowing of oil-focused work

Looking to take advantage of positive natural-gas market dynamics, executives of Infinity Natural Resources Inc., Morgantown, W.Va., have accelerated development of a four-well project in the Marcellus shale.

At the same time, the company’s leaders are reviewing plans for oil-weighted development in the Ohio Utica basin but are reiterating full-year production targets of 32,000-35,000 boe/d, which will be an increase of about 40% from 2024.

Infinity is building the Marcellus project pad this quarter and expects to begin drilling wells this summer. The work there is the second time in recent quarters that Infinity has pulled forward its schedule for gas-focused development in Pennsylvania to benefit from returns that president and chief executive officer Zack Arnold recently told analysts are “pretty frothy.”

While Arnold said his team will develop more gas assets soon, Infinity also plans to stick relatively closely to its target of having about 60% of its wells turned in line be weighted toward oil.

“It’s never as good as you think and it’s never as bad as you think when it comes to commodities, so you have to maintain the flexibility to move quickly,” Arnold said. “I think we will continue to execute on some of our oil projects into the future because we are seeing discounted returns on investment that are exceeding these because the laterals are longer and the costs are lower.”