Range Resources Doubles PA Marcellus Output in 2011

Range Resources, one of the largest drillers in the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, just posted year-end results and said that despite selling their Barnett Shale acreage, 2011 was the eighth consecutive year of double-digit gains for the company. In the Marcellus, Range doubled their output from 2010 levels.

CEO Jeff Ventura said the production increases represent "a terrific accomplishment by our team," given that the company sold most of its Barnett Shale operations in North Texas last spring.

Fourth-quarter production averaged the equivalent of 625 million cubic feet of gas per day, 16 percent more than a year earlier. The company reached its year-end 2011 Marcellus production target of 400 million cubic feet equivalent per day by early December, roughly doubling its year-end 2010 output in the play.

Range’s total production for all of 2011 averaged the equivalent of 554 million cubic feet of gas per day, 12 percent more than in 2010. Had the Barnett properties not been sold, production would have grown 36 percent, the company said.*

*Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Jan 17, 2012) – Range Resources posts record fourth-quarter gas production