Ultra Petroleum Corp

From Wikimarcellus

Englewood, Colorado-based Ultra Petroleum Corp. (UPL) is an oil and gas exploration and production company. Its Marcellus shale leases are focused on the northcentral Pennsylvania counties of Bradford, Centre, Clinton, Lycoming, Potter, Sullivan and Tioga.

Ultra was reported in September, 2008 as having a 270,000 gross acre leasehold in Pennsylvania. (See updates below). It had several wells either drilled or in the process of being drilled in Potter County, Pennsylvania in an isolated location approximately 20 miles west of Wellsboro called Marshlands. They had been testing both the Oriskany and Marcellus shale horizons. One of two Oriskany test wells had potential estimated production of 5 Mmcf/d. Ultra owns a 50% working interest. East Resources who operated the wells is an equal 50% joint venture partner with Ultra.

A May, 2009 report found Ultra applying to the Susquehanna River Basin Commission to withdraw water from Pine Creek in Tioga County. The water was to be use for hydro-fracturing gas wells in the area. The Commission approved Ultra's withdrawal plan.

According to Ultra's second quarter, 2009 update, issued in early August, 2009, in the joint venture with East Resources four net (eight gross) wells had been drilled in the Oriskany sandstone. The company had already shot 100 square miles of 3-D seismic and planned to shoot another 92 square miles before the end of 2009. All told, this represented 40% of Ultra's acreage in northeast Pennsylvania.

The company began production in mid-July from two wells that had a combined rate of 13 Mmcf/d. It had opened an office in the Borough of Wellsboro in Tioga County.

At the time of the August report, Ultra and East Resources had drilled 13 vertical test wells and nine horizontal ones in the Marcellus shale formation. 7 of the 9 horizontal wells had been completed and two were still awaiting completion. A tenth horizontal was in the process of being drilled. These horizontal wells had laterals ranging from 3,500 to 4,000 feet. Each well was to be shared on a 50-50 basis with East, and, the same as with the Oriskany wells in Potter County, East acted as well operator. Several of the horizontal wells were producing to sales as was one of the vertical wells. Five of the horizontal wells had initial flow rates averaging 5.3 Mmcfe/d. East and Ultra planned to drill 24 additional wells on their joint acreage by the end of 2009.

In Ultra's leasehold, the Marcellus averages about 150 feet thick and the formation is at a depth of 4,000 to 7,000 feet. There is good pressure at this depth and the gas is dry. Gas production on Ultra's leasehold is considered to be as good as that of the sweet spot in the Barnett shale.

Update #1: By August, Ultra's leasehold had increased to 320,000 gross and 170,000 net acres. The individual leases there are all largely contiguous. Ultra owns 100% of the lease on 30,000 acres. This wholly-owned land is located on the Potter-Tioga County line. The acreage co-owned with East Resources is due east of the Potter-Tioga line in Tioga County. It stands in an area 30 miles across and 40 miles wide. Ultra had pipeline capacity there of 80 Mmcf/d and planned to have a capacity of 300 Mmcf/d by the end of 2009. Ultra also expected to have 50 miles of gathering system installed by the end of 2009. Ultra had 4 pipeline interconnects: one was with Dominion South and three were with Tennessee.

Ultra had two wells on its wholly owned 30,000 acres on the county line. It planned to do microseismic on these two wells during August, 2009.

An August, 2009 report found Ultra drilling in the southwestern corner of Tioga County in Gaines and Elk townships. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEC) had issued a permit for the drilling, but it had become the object of litigation by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation who challenged the lack of an appropriate technical review of the permit application by DEC prior to issuing Ultra the permit. The Foundation was not objecting to the drilling per se, but rather to potential stormwater runoff issues related to construction of the pipeline supporting the Ultra well. It was charged that this runoff could pollute environmentally sensitive trout streams located in the area. It was not clear from the report whether this was one of the wholly-owned Ultra wells or not, but the location certainly seems consistent with it having been one.

According to an October 30, 2009 Ultra update during the third quarter of 2009, the company had drilled 12 horizontal wells with an average lateral length of 4,000 feet. The company planned to drill another 15 to 20 horizontal wells during the 4th quarter of the year. It was not made clear whether these were being drilled with East Resources or not, although it may be the case.

Update #2: A company press release in the second half of December, 2009 mentioned that Ultra had agreed to acquire 80,000 net acres or 160,000 gross acres from an undisclosed seller at the cost of $400 million. This increased Ultra's leasehold to a net 250,000 Marcellus shale acres or a gross of 480,000 acres. The purchase was to close in February, 2010. It would appear this new acreage must be covered by the joint venture with East Resources, and not be a part of the area that is separate owned by Ultra.

The press release went on to state that during 2009 Ultra had drilled 30 horizontal wells and 13 were producing. Preliminary IPs for the producing wells were averaging 7.5 Mmcf/d with EURs ranging from 3.5 to 4/0 Bcf.

• Michael D. (Mike) Watford is Ultra's Chairman, President, and CEO.
• Sally Zinke is Director of Exploration.
• Mark Smith is the company's CFO.
• Bill Picquet is Vice President of Operations, Rocky Mountains.