Range hikes Marcellus resource, pursues Utica

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Feb. 8 -- Range Resources Corp., Fort Worth, said its unproved resource potential rose to 35-52 tcf of gas equivalent at the end of 2010 compared with 24-32 tcfe a year earlier.

The company said its Marcellus shale resource potential rose to 20-31 tcfe due to higher per-well reserves. It also included for the first time the unproved resource potential for the overlying Upper Devonian shale in the Appalachian basin. That figure is 10-14 tcfe.

The remainder is attributable to the Nora area in Virginia and the Permian and Midcontinent areas where Range holds more than 560,000 net acres.

Range said its first Utica shale well in Pennsylvania averaged an encouraging 4.4 MMcfd of gas equivalent on a 7-day production test. No Utica shale resource potential is included in the yearend estimate, but that issue will become clearer as Range and others drill more Utica wells in 2011.