Horizontal drilling targeting the Ohio Utica shale reached an unexpected landmark during the last two weeks and now employs as many rigs as the core Louisiana Haynesville shale.

Both the Utica and the core Louisiana Haynesville sported 15 rigs drilling horizontally as of Friday, July 20, according to Hart’s Unconventional Activity Tracker.

But these are two regions heading in opposite direction as of midsummer, with the Haynesville seeing gradual erosion in activity in the wake of a tough gas strip while the Utica adds incremental rigs on its way to 30 units by year end.

Domestic rig count overall has stabilized with the increase in oil-directed drilling essentially offsetting the decrease in dry gas related drilling.

Examples of declines in gas-directed drilling outside the Haynesville include the Pennsylvanian Marcellus shale, which is down 25% during the last 60 days as operators such as EOG Resources, Talisman, Chesapeake Energy, and Anadarko reduce drilling.

Activity reductions have hit the three most active Marcellus counties in Pennsylvania, including Bradford and Lycoming in the dry gas northeast part of the Marcellus, and in Washington County in southwest Pennsylvania.

Overall, the Pennsylvanian Marcellus is down 26 rigs to just 80 active since mid-May.

The recent increase in oil-directed drilling originates in the Mississippi Lime. The play is approaching 70 units drilling horizontally with activity expanding outside the previous core of Alfalfa and Garfield counties into Noble County in north central Oklahoma. Chesapeake and SandRidge now represent 50% of Mississippi Lime activity, up from 40% in mid-May.

Comments