Cabot Reports E TX Minden Operations; First Horizontal Cotton Valley Taylor Well IPs At 9.5 MMcf/d

Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., Houston, (NYSE: COG) reports it has completed its first horizontal Cotton Valley Taylor sand well on the Minden play in East Texas with an initial rate of 9.5 million cubic feet of gas per day.

This well has had a 30-day average rate of 7.9 million cubic feet per day.

Cabot chairman, president and chief executive Dan O. Dinges says, “We are pleased with both the initial results and the production stability of this well. These rates significantly enhance the economics for Cotton Valley development in a lower price environment, and to that end, we have identified 50 to 60 potential locations.”

In response to the soft price for natural gas near-term, Cabot initiated an effort to exploit the horizontal Pettet at County Line oil reservoir.

Dinges says, “We have completed our confirmation wells of the Pettet Lime oil reservoir under the James Lime Field. The most recent well confirms the initial discovery drilled by Cabot this past spring.”

The Sustainable Forest #5 tested the Pettet in April with a 4,700-foot lateral and a ten-stage slickwater frac. The well initially produced to sales at 842 barrels of oil and 1.4 million cubic feet of gas per day at 1,300 pounds flowing-casing pressure. The 30-day average rate was 519 barrels and 2 million cubic feet per day.

The confirmation well, Timberstar Redditt #4, drilled about 4,000 feet from the discovery, was spud in May and tested the Pettet in a 5,200-foot lateral with a ten-stage frac. This well flowed to sales at an initial rate of 504 barrels of oil and 1.2 million cubic feet per day. During the first nine days of production, the well flowed at an average of 465 barrels and 584,000 cubic feet per day.

Dinges says, “Because Pettet oil economics are superior to the James at current commodity prices, we will shift some capital from the James program to the Pettet. We have recently spud our third Pettet well and if the price disparity between natural gas and oil persists, we plan to expand the program further in 2010.”

Cabot has interests in the Gulf Coast, the Rocky Mountains and the Midcontinent.