Gastar has traditionally concentrated on Marcellus Shale drilling in the northern panhandle of West Virginia. However, Gastar is currently drilling its first Utica Shale well in WV–in Marshall County. Based on results from others who have tried the Utica in WV, they believe they’ll have a winner.
It’s not cheap to drill the Utica in WV. The Utica/Point Pleasant formation sits two miles down. It typically costs $7 million to drill a Marcellus well in WV’s northern panhandle area–but a Utica well will cost them something like 3x that amount. And Gastar is still tickled pink and believe they’re going to make boatloads of money on it…
