CONSOL Energy Inc

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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based CNX Gas Corporation (NYSE:CXG) controls 230,000 acres of Marcellus shale primarily located in southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia. The company had originally been spun out of CONSOL Energy and is a subsidiary 83% owned by it. On a revenue basis it is the leading gas producer in the Appalachian Basin.

As of September, 2008 it had commenced a drilling program in the Marcellus with one vertical 8,000 ft deep well which had initial flow rate of 1.3 MMcf per day. CNX had invested $6 million in this well. It had been stimulated with a five-stage, slickwater frac. The company already had an extensive coal-bed methane (CBM) operation in the area so that shale gas was being blended with the CBM production in order to take advantage of the company's existing extensive gas gathering system. Additional wells were planned. As of October, 2008, a second horizontal well had been drilled and was pending hydro-fracturing.

CNX was reported to have been actively leasing drilling rights in Greene County, Pennsylvania.

In October, 2008 the company was also reported to have been active in Marshall County, WV. It had invested $34 million during 2008 in a gas well drilling program in the State of West Virginia. As of then, twenty-two wells had been drilled there in 2008. A total of thirty-four wells were planned to be drilled by year-end 2008. The company had also invested around $10 million in gas processing plants.

In December, 2008, CNX reported its first horizontal well had a flow rate of 6.5 million cubic feet (MMcf) per day. It was located in Washington County. It is believed to be the same one previously reported in September, 2008 as a vertical well with initial production of 1.3 MMcf per day.

In January, 2009 it was reported that a second and third horizontal wells had been drilled and were in the process of being fraced.

A February, 2009 report indicated that so far CNX had 10 Marcellus wells and 186,000 acres under lease in that formation. (Update: see below - expanded to 230,000 acres in July, 2009). Their total Appalachian shale acreage including Marcellus, Huron and Chattanooga shales was 633,000 acres. (Update: As of July, 2009 it was roughly 675,000 acres)

One factor that distinguishes CNX from its competitors, if not all of them, is that much, of its Marcellus acreage, technically speaking, had not leased at all, but rather was owned outright. That has a significant positive impact on its cost structure and means that the company is under no obligation to drill in order to retain its land.

In March, 2009 there was a report about CNX moving its corporate headquarters to Southpointe II in Canonsburg, PA where CONSOL's headquarters were also located. Marcellus shale gas production had started to be a very significant income producer for CNX as its 4th quarter income had nearly doubled. In the past most of its income had been derived from coal bed methane (CBM) production, but Marcellus production had started to kick in. The company planned to ramp up Marcellus drilling in 2009 with a CapEx budget of almost $50 million, and was cutting back on its CBM drilling.

In April, 2009 the company released the following table summarizing the results of its first five horizontal Marcellus wells all located in Greene County, PA:

            HORIZONTAL MARCELLUS SHALE PROGRAM STATISTICS
                                    Peak       April 19       Cumulative
                                    Daily      Daily          Production
      Well   Turn in   Peak         Production Production     Mcf through
      Name   date      date         (Mcf)      (Mcf)          April 9
      ----   --------  ----------   -----      ----------    ------------
   1. CNX#3  10/5/2008 12/16/2008   6,623      2,500         479,639
   2. CNX#2  1/28/2009  2/13/2009   2,532      1,900         145,610
   3. CNX#2A 2/13/2009  3/4/2009    1,982      1,600          97,242
   4. GH10CV  4/6/2009  4/9/2009    5,508      4,800          11,960
   5. GH10ACV 4/18/09   4/21/2009   4,900      4,900            N/M
        Average Peak                4,309

According to a July, 2009 press release, in two separate transactions, CNX had expanded its Marcellus shale leasehold by 40,000 acres to 230,000 acres. In the first transaction it leased 20,000 acres from NiSource located in Greene and Washington Counties, PA and in Marshall County, West Virginia. This acreage was located in close proximity to CNX's existing holdings in that area. In the second transaction, the company had leased 20,000 acres from its parent company CONSOL Energy. These latter holdings were located in and around CONSOL's coal mining operations in Green and Washington Counties, Pennsylvania and in the West Virginia counties of Marshall, Monongalia and Wetzel.

This July press release mentioned that on the basis of its micro-seismic data analysis, CNX had started using only 40 acre well spacing for its horizontal Marcellus shale drilling program.

• J. Brett Harvey is Chairman and CEO.
• Nicholas J. DeIuliis is CNX's President and COO.
• Randy Albert is Senior Vice President of Emerging Business Units.
• Dan Zajdel is CNX's Vice President of Investor Relations.
• Laural Ziemba is Manager of Public Relations