Range’s Wet Gas Drilling Location & Dry Gas Drilling Timeline

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Interstate 79The talk coming from the largest drillers in the Marcellus Shale is that they will scale back drilling activities in the dry (methane only) portions of the Marcellus Shale play and instead focus on the wet (liquids-rich) portion.

Ever wonder where, exactly, the liquids-rich area can be found? We now know where it is for Range Resources, one of the largest drillers in Pennsylvania. We also have an estimate of how long drilling in the dry gas portion of the Marcellus may be pushed back for Range due to low prices for natural gas.

[Range] spokesman [Matt Pitzarella] said the company roughly defines the wet gas region here as being west of Interstate 79 and north of I-70, an area that contains Chartiers, Mt. Pleasant and other areas stretching toward the West Virginia panhandle.

While Range Resources is expected to release its 2012 drilling plan in the next couple of weeks, Pitzarella acknowledged that some of the company’s drilling in dry gas areas of the Marcellus "could be pushed back by as much as five to 10 years" if low gas prices persist.*

*Washington (PA) Observer-Reporter (Jan 31, 2012) – Range keeps focus on region