Royal Dutch Shell is set to acquire more drilling rights in northern Pennsylvania later this year – 155,000 acres in Potter and Tioga counties.

Last week, the company decided to leave its Pinedale and Haynesville onshore gas assets in exchange for about $2.1 billion, plus additional acreage in the Marcellus and Utica shale areas in Pennsylvania.

The company has focused on Marcellus gas in northeastern and Central Pennsylvania as part of a joint venture with Houston-based Ultra Petroleum Corp., according to a story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Royal Dutch Shell’s subsidiary SWEPI LP also controls about 900,000 acres in Pennsylvania, according to that news report.

“The deep-pocketed Shell became the first operator to make a serious attempt to harvest gas from another shale layer, the Utica, found even deeper. Discovery of a gusher, yielding eye-opening gas flows, in Tioga County has been the talk of the industry,” according to Potter County Today.

In one agreement with Ultra Petroleum, Shell will acquire 155,000 acres in the Marcellus and Utica Shale areas in the state. The transaction, expect to close in the third quarter, will include active wells flowing about 100 million cubic feet of gas a day, according to Potter County Today.

“We continue to restructure and focus our North America shale oil and gas portfolio to deliver the most value in the longer term,” Pinedale and Haynesville dry gas positions,” Marvin Odum, Shell’s Upstream Americas Director, said in a prepared statement.

The Shell deal with Ultra will is a big move by Shell which will put it in a very strong position in PA.

Shell’s Utica wells in Tioga County have hit oil according to the rumors that I have heard (RUMOR). I’m anxiously looking for the production numbers from those wells.

Joseph Barone
President
ShaleDirectories.com
610.764.1232

www.shaledirectories.com