Range Resources

From Wikimarcellus

(Difference between revisions)

Current revision

Range Resources Corp. (NYSE: RRC) of Ft. Worth, TX is the biggest natural gas producer in Pennsylvania, and one of the largest drillers in the U.S. Between 2005 and 2008, counting all drilling and infrastructure costs, its total investment in the Marcellus shale play approached $700 million. It had the distinction of having started the Marcellus shale play when it first drilled a well in southwest Pennsylvania's Washington County. It began producing in 2005. By July, 2009 Range was reporting that its Marcellus investment had exceeded $1 billion. As of April, 2011 its leasehold in the Marcellus shale was reported to be 1.1 million acres. It had drilled 244 horizontal Marcellus wells with roughly 30% of these still awaiting either completion or pipeline hookup.

1 Latest operating results
2 2008 Development Timeline
3 2009 Development Timeline
4 2010 Development Timeline
5 2011 Development Timeline
6 Spotlighted Issues
7 Executive Contacts

-<center>http://www.sonic.net/~tcopley/img/washington_co_rig_sm.gif<br>'''Drilling rig in rural Washington Co., PA'''<br>[http://donnan.com/ Photo credit - donnan.com]</center>
+<!-- [[Image:Washington_co_rig_sm.gif|right|frame|<div align="center">'''Drilling rig in rural Washington Co., PA'''<br>[http://donnan.com/ Photo credit - donnan.com]</div>]] -->
+'''Range Resources Corp.''' (NYSE: RRC) of Ft. Worth, TX is the biggest natural gas producer in [[Pennsylvania]], and one of the largest drillers in the U.S. Between 2005 and 2008, counting all drilling and infrastructure costs, its total investment in the [[Marcellus shale]] play approached $700 million. It had the distinction of having started the Marcellus shale play when it first drilled a well in southwest Pennsylvania's [[Washington|Washington County]]. It began producing in 2005. By July, 2009 Range was reporting that its Marcellus investment had exceeded $1 billion. As of April, 2011 its leasehold in the Marcellus shale was reported to be 1.1 million acres. It had drilled 244 [[horizontal drilling|horizontal]] Marcellus wells with roughly 30% of these still awaiting either [[hydro-fracturing|completion]] or pipeline hookup.
-'''Range Resources Corp.''' (NYSE: RRC) of Ft. Worth, TX is the biggest natural gas producer in [[Pennsylvania]], and one of the largest drillers in the U.S. Between 2005 and 2008, counting all drilling and infrastructure costs, its total investment in the [[Marcellus shale]] play approached $700 million. It had the distinction of having started the Marcellus shale play when it first drilled a well in southwest Pennsylvania's [[Washington|Washington County]]. It began producing in 2005. By July, 2009 Range was reporting that its Marcellus investment had exceeded $1 billion. As of February, 2010 its leasehold in the Marcellus shale fairway was reported to be 900,000 acres.
 === Latest operating results ===
-By April, 2010 Range was reporting that it had drilled 120 [[horizontal drilling|horizontal]] Marcellus wells, 31 were awaiting completion, and 8 still needed to be hooked up.
-Also in April, the company announced that it had entered into an agreement with a third party in Lycoming Co., PA to build a dry gas pipeline and compression facility in several stages. The first stage was to be completed and online by the end of 2010.
+During the first quarter of 2011, Range's daily production advanced up to a limit that its current gathering system could support. It's Marcellus production rose from a year-end 200 Mmcf/d to 260 Mmcf/d by the end of the first quarter. In fact, production from 15 new wells tied in during the first quarter averaged initial production of 7.4 Mmcf/d (6.3 net) per well and 452 (384 net) bbl/d of [[natural gas liquids]] and condensate. Expressed in terms of natural gas volume, this amounted to a combined 10.1 Mmcf/d (8.6 net) average per well. 16 additional wells were completed and awaiting connection to the gathering system.
-As of July, 2010, its [[Marcellus shale]] production was 160 Mmcfe/d.
+By mid-February, Range had also brought five wells online in Lycoming County. These had combined initial production of 45 Mmcf/d (39 net).
-The company also announced in July, 2010 that it was upping its capital budget by $65 million to drill an additional 18 wells in the southwestern portion of the Marcellus play. 15 of these were planned to be completed by year-end 2010. It was also increasing its planned production by the end of 2010 from 180 to 200 Mmcfe/d to 200 to 210 Mmcfe/d. It was now forecasting that it would exit 2011 with 400 to 420 Mmcfe/d net production.
+The company also planned to bring online an additional 20 wells in Lycoming Co. upon completion of its gathering system in that county.
-It also stated that it had combined 14,000 net acres with acreage owned by [[Talisman Energy Inc|Talisman Energy]] in a [[Bradford|Bradford Co., PA]] joint venture (JV). Range was to own a 33% working interest in the combined leasehold of the JV. Talisman was to be well operator. Range's 2010 expenditures for the JV were expected to be $25 million.
+To address the bottleneck in gathering capability, Range planned to complete the third expansion of its [[Processing plant|gas processing plant]] in southwestern Pennsylvania that was to add 200 Mmcf/d of capacity bringing the total available up to 350 Mmcf/d. It was expected to grow to 390 Mmcf/d by the end of the third quarter, 2011.
-Based on encouraging results the previous year with a test well, Range planned to drill two more ''Upper Devonian'' test wells in 2010. It also planned to drill a [[Utica shale]] test well in the first quarter of 2011.
+Range was also actively pursuing marketing agreements to sell its [[ethane]] production from the southwestern PA wells.
-In June, 2010 Range had acquired 115,000 net acres from [[Chesapeake Energy]] adjacent to its existing Nora/Haysi properties in Virgina for $135 million. This land was already producing 10 Mmcfe/d and the acquisition included 30 miles of gas transmission lines. The new acreage along with the already-owned Nora/Haysi property gave Range a combined 350,000 leasehold in stacked plays prospective for coal-bed methane (CBM), tight gas sand, and [[Huron shale]].
-During the second quarter of 2010, the company had drilled one horizontal Huron Shale well in the Nora field as well as a number of CBM and tight gas sand wells.
 === 2008 Development Timeline ===
 In April, 2008 it was reported that Range had drilled three wells in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania and planned a fourth one there. Range has a field office on Sycamore Road in Montoursville, a suburb of Williamsport in Lycoming County.
+To address the squeeze on the gathering system, Range was in the process of making a third expansion to their gas processing facilities in southwestern Pennsylvania. 200 Mmcf/d of processing capability was to be added in May bringing the total available up to 350 Mmcf/d. It was expected to rise to 390 Mmcf/d by the end of the third quarter, 2011. At least 20 wells were expected to tie in by the end of that quarter. The company was also making plans to sell [[ethane]], one of the natural gas liquids.
 ==== Expanding Marcellus shale leasehold ====
 According to an October, 2008 report the company had recorded 172 leases during 2008 with the [[Bradford]] County Registrar of Deeds. Bradford County is located in northeastern Pennsylvania.
-<center>http://www.sonic.net/~tcopley/img/rrc_rig.gif<br>'''Appalachian fall colors backdrop Range rig'''<br>Image courtesy of Range Resources </center>
+[[Image:Rrc rig.gif|center|frame|<div align="center">'''Appalachian fall colors backdrop Range rig'''<br>Photo courtesy of Range Resources </div>]]
 ==== Southwestern Pennsylvania activities ====
 ==== Leasing in Pittsburgh's suburbs ====
-<center>http://www.sonic.net/~tcopley/img/hickory_flare.gif<br>'''Range Resources' well in suburban area being flared after hydro-fracturing'''<br>Photo credit [http://www.marcellus-shale.us -www.marcellus-shale.us] </center>
+[[Image:Hickory flare.gif|right|frame|<div align="center">Range Resources' well in suburban area being flared<br>after hydro-fracturing.''' Photo credit [http://www.marcellus-shale.us -www.marcellus-shale.us] </div>]]
 In the late spring of 2009 reports began circulating that Range had been actively leasing in the western suburban areas of Greater Pittsburgh. This came to light in August, 2009 when Allegheny County's Collier Township Commissioners had voted to advertise an ordinance restricting drilling to only three areas:
 * The Campbell's Run corridor
 Also during the fourth quarter, Range had finished drilling a [[Utica shale]] well and an ''Upper Devonian'' one.  The Utica well had been completed and was in the process of being tested. The Devonian one still awaited completion. '''''Update:''''' By April, 2010 the company was reporting that it was continuing its evaluation, results from both wells were "encouraging," and both were awaiting pipeline hookup.
+====Huron shale in Virginia====
+Range has also been actively drilling in the [[Huron shale]] formation in Virginia.  It had recently drilled four horizontal wells in Virginia's Nora Field. As of April, 2009, It had a total of eight producing horizontal wells in the play with average production of 1.1 Mmcf/d.  The company planned to drill 20 horizontal Huron shale wells in the Nora field.  Range owns a 50% working interest there. It had been drilling a combination of coal-bed methane and tight gas wells in this field. According to its July, 2009 update, the company had drilled three more horizontal Huron shale wells during the second quarter of 2009.
+In April, 2009 Range announced its best Huron well ever which had averaged 3.0 Mmcf/d for the previous 30 days.
+By October, 2009 the company stated in an update that during the third quarter of 2009, it had drilled 5 more horizontal [[Huron shale]] wells in the Nora field. It also drilled three other horizontals in the Big Lime and Berea zones there. So far during the year 15 horizontal wells had been drilled in all three zones and 10 of these were on production and meeting expectations.
+The fourth quarter of 2009 saw another 4 Huron shale wells drilled and 1 Big Lime one. 19 wells had been completed in these target zones during 2009, and all were performing up to the company's expectations.
 ==== Year-end 2009 results ====
 According to the  February, 2010 update above, the company planned to drill 150 horizontal wells during 2010. It had fielded 13 rigs in its Marcellus division. By year-end the horizontal rig count was planned to grow to 16. Several of these rigs were of the custom-built variety.
+By April, 2010 Range was reporting that it had drilled 120 [[horizontal drilling|horizontal]] Marcellus wells, 31 were awaiting completion, and 8 still needed to be hooked up.
+According to a late October, 2010 update, during the third quarter Range's Marcellus Division had produced 191 Mmcfe/d up from 160 Mmcfe/d at the end of the second quarter. It expected to finish the year with production between 200 and 210 Mmcfe/d.
+====Northeast pipeline and compression facilities project====
+In April, 2010 the company announced that it had entered into an agreement with a third party in Lycoming Co., PA to build a dry gas pipeline and compression facility in several stages. The first stage was to be completed and online by the end of 2010.
+====Bradford County joint venture with Talisman Energy====
+Range stated that it had combined 14,000 net acres with acreage owned by [[Talisman Energy Inc|Talisman Energy]] in a [[Bradford|Bradford Co., PA]] joint venture (JV). Range was to own a 33% working interest in the combined leasehold of the JV. Talisman was to be well operator. Range's 2010 expenditures for the JV were expected to be $25 million.
 ==== Impact of longer laterals and more stages to completions ====
 Range was said to be seeking other sites in the Frazer area to drill.
+An early January, 2011 news item mentioned that a Range well on a bluff off Yutes Run Road, overlooking Pittsburgh Mills mall in Frazer, was being [[flaring a well|flared]] and could be seen for miles.
 Meanwhile, on the opposite side of Pittsburgh, in the western suburb of North Fayette Twp., Range was in the process of leasing 164 acres of land from the Township supervisors for a [[Horizontal drilling|horizontal well]]. Terms on the 5 year lease were $3,000/acre with a 17.5% royalty with the option to renew for an additional 3 years. Any well drilled there was to extend under the county's property. The vertical portion was to be on one of the surrounding property owner's parcels--also under lease to Range.
 An August, 2010 news account mentioned that Range held 88 leases in Allegheny County covering 917 acres.
-=== Huron shale developments ===
+====Drilling for NGLs and southwest PA infrastructure build-out====
-Range has also been actively drilling in the [[Huron shale]] formation in Virginia.  It had recently drilled four horizontal wells in Virginia's Nora Field. As of April, 2009, It had a total of eight producing horizontal wells in the play with average production of 1.1 Mmcf/d.  The company planned to drill 20 horizontal Huron shale wells in the Nora field.  Range owns a 50% working interest there. It had been drilling a combination of coal-bed methane and tight gas wells in this field. According to its July, 2009 update, the company had drilled three more horizontal Huron shale wells during the second quarter of 2009.
+Range had been focusing on the [[Natural gas liquids|natural gas liquids (NGLs)]]-rich portion of the play in southwestern Pennsylvania with 29% of production coming from NGLs and condensate. During the third quarter 18 horizontal wells had been brought online and 23 were still drilling and expected to be complete by the end of 2010. All were in the same liquids-rich southwest corner of Pennsylvania. Those wells brought online averaged 8.5 Mmcfe/d although the company stated that production was less than full capacity and constrained. Range was expecting the estimated ultimate recovery (EURs) from these 18 wells to average 5.0 Bcfe per well.
-In April, 2009 Range announced its best Huron well ever which had averaged 3.0 Mmcf/d for the previous 30 days.
+Range continued the build-out of its infrastructure both in the southwestern portions of the play where the emphasis was on wet gas processing and in the northeast portion where the focus was on construction of gathering lines:
+                          Southwest                           Northeast
+                          (Mmcfe/d)                           (Mmcfe/d)
+   Wet gas processing
+(existing)        185                                 n.a.
+(interruptable)
+(1st half)       +165
+(2nd half)       + 40
+   Dry gas
+(existing)         25
+(added)          + 65
+   Lycoming Co. Gathering
+(added)                                              + 150
+"                                                 + 200
-By October, 2009 the company stated in an update that during the third quarter of 2009, it had drilled 5 more horizontal [[Huron shale]] wells in the Nora field. It also drilled three other horizontals in the Big Lime and Berea zones there. So far during the year 15 horizontal wells had been drilled in all three zones and 10 of these were on production and meeting expectations.
+==== Midyear 2010 results====
-The fourth quarter of 2009 saw another 4 Huron shale wells drilled and 1 Big Lime one. 19 wells had been completed in these target zones during 2009, and all were performing up to the company's expectations.
+As of July, 2010, its Marcellus production had been 160 Mmcfe/d.
+The company also announced in July, 2010 that it was upping its capital budget by $65 million to drill an additional 18 wells in the southwestern portion of the Marcellus play. 15 of these were planned to be completed by year-end 2010. It also had increased its planned production by the end of 2010 from 180 to 200 Mmcfe/d up to 200 to 210 Mmcfe/d. It was now forecasting that it would exit 2011 with 400 to 420 Mmcfe/d in net production.
+==== Other formations ====
+The company expected to drill one [[Utica shale]] test well in the first quarter of 2011.
+Also, based upon encouraging results the previous year with a test well, Range planned to drill two more ''Upper Devonian'' test wells in 2010.
+The positive results from the aforementioned Upper Devonian pilot well had been a seven day average of 5.1 Mmcfe/d. Additional wells of this type were planned for 2011.
+====Virginia land acquisition from Chesapeake====
+In June, 2010 Range had acquired 115,000 net acres from [[Chesapeake Energy]] adjacent to its existing Nora/Haysi properties in Virgina for $135 million. This land was already producing 10 Mmcfe/d and the acquisition included 30 miles of gas transmission lines. The new acreage along with the already-owned Nora/Haysi property gave Range a combined 350,000 acre leasehold in stacked plays prospective for coal-bed methane (CBM), tight gas sand, and [[Huron shale]].
+During the second quarter of 2010, the company had drilled one horizontal [[Huron shale]] well in the Nora field as well as a number of CBM and tight gas sand wells.
+By February, 2011, the company was reporting that its ''Appalachian Division'' had drilled 51 (26 net) coal-bed methane (CBM), tight gas sand, and [[Huron shale]] wells in Virginia during the prior year. With an average of four rigs operating, the well break down as follows:
+* 11 (6 net) vertical wells in tight gas sand
+* 26 (12 net) CBM.
+* 8 (3 net) horizontal wells in the Nora field.
+On the above mentioned acreage acquired from Chesapeake, now dubbed the ''Nora extension property'', Range had drilled 5 net tight gas sands wells and one horizontal [[Huron shale]] well. The latter was a significant [[step-out well]] that tested at 2.6 Mmcf/d, a flow rate well above the average production for Nora wells. The company had also had good results from recompleting a handful of wells on the Nora extension and planned to recomplete up to 30 wells during 2011.
+====Year-end 2010 results====
+By mid-December, 2010, Range announced that for the first two weeks of the month [[Marcellus shale]] production had reached an average of 212 Mmcfe/d which slightly exceeded its previously announced production target for the year-end. For the entire month of December, production averaged in excess of 200 Mmcfe/d. This represented more than a doubling of production since the beginning of 2010. 71% of production had been from natural gas and 29% was [[natural gas liquids|NGLs]].
+During the fourth quarter of 2010, Range had brought 11 [[horizontal drilling|horizontal]] wells online in southwestern Pennsylvania, and 9 of these had been located in the [[wet gas region]] of the play. All of these 11 wells were expected to exceed the company's previously estimated EUR per well in southwestern Pennsylvania of 5 Bcfe.
+At the close of 2010. Range had 52 horizontal wells awaiting completion and an additional 15 that were completed, yet still had not been connected to a pipeline.
+Range had been focusing on producing from wells in the wet gas portion of the play. It had brought online 3 wells that had a collective production of 26.1 Mmcf/d (22 net) and 1,373 bbl (1,167 net) of NGLs and condensate per day (or, expressed entirely in gas volume, that amounts to a net of 29 Mmcfe/d). Some dry gas production had even been temporarily curtailed to focus on wet gas.
+The company fielded 290 people in its Marcellus shale operating group as of the end of 2010.
+=== 2011 Development Timeline ===
+By February, 2011 the pace of bringing new wells online had accelerated to the point of bringing an additional 70 Mmcfe/d net of new production online in the third week of February alone. Production climbed to 260 Mmcfe/d, combining the flow of natural gas from both the southwest and northeast portions of Range's Marcellus area of operations. The company projected year-end 2011 production to again double to 400 Mmcfe/d.
+==== Utica shale activity ====
+In January, 2011 a news item mentioned a permit granted to Range in southern Beaver County, PA for a well targeting the [[Utica shale]]. The well was to be located on the John R. McCoy farm off St. Route 151 between Crooks School and Bassett Roads, in Hanover Township. It was planned to have a total depth of 9,730 feet. This well came to notice as it was being deliberated by the Ambridge Council. There was some concern about possible contamination from the drilling of nearby Service Creek Reservoir. The Ambridge Water Authority controls 1,900 acres in the area including the 420 acre reservoir.
+In February, 2011 the company stated that its first [[Utica shale]] completion had resulted in production of 4.4 Mmcf/d.
+====A significant step-out well====
+Also, in February, 2011 Range announced completion of a significant [[step-out well]] on the southwest portion of its Marcellus acreage that on a five-day test had produced 18.6 Mmcfe/d.
+====Lycoming Co. gathering system comes online====
+The first phase of its northeast pipeline and compression facilities project, aka the ''Lycoming County gathering system'' came online in mid-February, 2011. With that, production began in earnest from Range's northeastern Pennsylvania acreage. In February, 2011, northeastern Pennsylvania production had been 45 Mmcf/d (39 Mmcf/d net) with 5 wells producing an average of 9 Mmcf/d (7.9 Mmcf/d net). Range expected to bring an additional 20 wells online in Lycoming Co. by the end of the third quarter, 2011.
+====Barnett shale assets sold====
+At the end of February, 2011 Range announced that it had sold substantially all of its [[Barnett shale]] properties including 52,000 acres and 390 wells producing 113 Mmcf/d to a private company for 900 $million cash. The company planned to redeploy this capital into developing its Marcellus shale holdings.
 === Spotlighted Issues ===
-* Range has had tremendous production results from its southwestern Pennsylvania Marcellus leasehold. With three rigs operating in the region, 2010 will begin to demonstrate how productive the company can be in the northeastern Pennsylvania Counties of Bradford and Lycoming.
+* Range has had tremendous production results from its southwestern Pennsylvania Marcellus leasehold. With three rigs operating in the region, 2011 should begin to demonstrate exactly how productive this company can be in the northeastern Pennsylvania Counties of Bradford and Lycoming.
 * The company endeavored to build up its pipeline and processing capability in southwestern Pennsylvania in partnership with MarkWest, and that appears to be coming together on schedule.
 * Range, by experimenting with longer laterals and more frac stages, was enjoying positive ''learning curve economics'' as it gained increasing experience in the play.  These improvements in technique were leading to higher initial production (IP) and expected ultimate recovery (EUR) per well.
 * Carl J. Carlson is Director of Government Affairs.
 * Matt Pitzarella is Director of Public Affairs.
+* Tony Gaudlip is Director of Strategic Planning and Development.
 * Chuck Moyer is Geology Manager.
+* Pete Miller is Manager Water Resources.
 * Dave Schieck is a geophysicist with the company.
 * Mike Forgione is Senior Engineer, Appalachian Basin Office.
 * Steve Rupert, Ralph Tijerina and Carl Carlson are Pittsburgh area spokesmen for Range.
 * Jim Cannon is a Range Public Relations Specialist and spokesman.
+* Mike Mackin is a Range spokesman.
 [[Category:E&P Companies]]
-[[Category:Active]] [[Category:Public]] [[Category:Listed-NYSE]] [[Category: Domestic]] [[Category:Ohio]] [[Category:Jefferson County, OH]] [[Category:Pennsylvania]] [[Category:Southwestern PA]] [[Category:Northeastern PA]] [[Category:Allegheny County]] [[Category:Beaver County]] [[Category:Bradford County]] [[Category:Greene County]] [[Category:Lycoming County]] [[Category:Washington County]] [[Category:Westmoreland County]] [[Category:Marcellus shale]]  [[Category:Virginia]] [[Category:Huron shale]] [[Category:Utica shale]] [[Category:500,000 to 1 million acres]]
+[[Category:Active]] [[Category:Public]] [[Category:Listed-NYSE]] [[Category: Domestic]] [[Category:Ohio]] [[Category:Eastern Ohio]] [[Category:Jefferson County, OH]] [[Category:Pennsylvania]] [[Category:Southwestern PA]] [[Category:Northeastern PA]] [[Category:Allegheny County]] [[Category:Beaver County]] [[Category:Bradford County]] [[Category:Greene County]] [[Category:Lycoming County]] [[Category:Washington County]] [[Category:Westmoreland County]] [[Category:Marcellus shale]]  [[Category:Virginia]] [[Category:Huron shale]] [[Category:Utica shale]] [[Category:1,000,000 or more acres]]

Range Resources

From Wikimarcellus

Current revision

Contents

Latest operating results

2008 Development Timeline

Expanding Marcellus shale leasehold

Northeastern Pennsylvania activities

Southwestern Pennsylvania activities

2009 Development Timeline

Outstanding drilling results

Washington County gas processing infrastructure

Crawler rigs

Bradford County plans

Cross Creek Park contamination issues

Cecil Township office facility

Leasing in Pittsburgh's suburbs

Forecasted EUR

Drilling test well in Beaver County

Drilling results in Lycoming County

Drilling in the Utica shale

Huron shale in Virginia

Year-end 2009 results

2010 Development Timeline

Northeast pipeline and compression facilities project

Bradford County joint venture with Talisman Energy

Impact of longer laterals and more stages to completions

Westmoreland County Plans

Allegheny County Plans

Drilling for NGLs and southwest PA infrastructure build-out

Midyear 2010 results

Other formations

Virginia land acquisition from Chesapeake

Year-end 2010 results

2011 Development Timeline

Utica shale activity

A significant step-out well

Lycoming Co. gathering system comes online

Barnett shale assets sold

Spotlighted Issues

Executive Contacts

Views

Personal tools

Navigation

Search

Toolbox