Top 10 Dry Gas Utica Shale Wells of All Time (as of Aug 2015)

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Top 10A slide we spotted in a Gastar presentation got us to thinking: What are the top 10 Utica Shale wells? Who drilled them? And how much was their initial production (IP) rates? So we went searching and came up with the handy list below. This list is current as of August 2015. A few caveats: First, some of the wells in the list produced not only methane (“dry gas”) but also oil, condensate and natural gas liquids–i.e. other hydrocarbons. However, the numbers in the list below are for the methane/dry gas only portion of what the well flowed during an initial period of time (typically the first 24 hours). So keep that in mind. These are not necessary dry gas only wells, but the numbers are for the dry gas portion coming from the well. Second, we scoured the MDN archives and other sources to compile the list. If you believe we’ve overlooked a well–let us know! We would be happy to correct the list. As it is, we believe it to be accurate. It tells a pretty incredible story. Below the Top 10 list is another list–of MDN stories covering the details for the wells in the Top 10 list…

Please Note: Somehow we overlooked adding the CONSOL Gaut 4IH well recently brought online in July at 61 MMcf/d–which should be in the list at #2. Our apologies! You can read about CONSOL’s gusher here: CONSOL Drills 2nd Best Utica Well Ever in PA, Flows 61 Mmcf/d! Thanks to an alert MDN reader for catching that oversight.

Here is MDN’s Top 10 Dry Gas Utica Shale wells of all time, as of August 2015:

Utica Shale Top 10 Dry Gas Wells
Click table for larger version

What we notice:

  • Six of the wells are in Ohio, four in Monroe County and two in Belmont County (counties that share a border with each other and both border West Virginia).
  • The top two wells were drilled recently–both in Pennsylvania.
  • The highest initially producing well, drilled by EQT, has the shortest lateral (or horizontal) length! Usually the longer the lateral the more production–but not in this case. Interesting.
  • Antero Resources drilled three of the top ten, Magnum Hunter drilled two of the top ten, everyone else drilled one in the top ten.
  • The top well, drilled by EQT, had more than twice the initial production of the #10 well in the list, drilled by Gulfport.
  • Although the Utica Shale region is enormous–covering a larger area than the Marcellus–all of the top ten wells were drilled in a fairly small window of southwestern PA, eastern OH and northern WV–where the three states meet.

Below are links to MDN stories about the wells in the list above. Note that MDN has not written about all of the wells in the list–the numbers correspond to the list/rank.

#1 – EQT Releases Data on Biggest Utica Well Ever; Dumping UD Drilling

#2 – Range Resources Drills Highest-Ever Initial Producing Utica Well

#3 – Magnum Hunter Takes the Prize: Top Producing Utica Well

#4 – Rice Energy’s Bigfoot New Reigning Utica Well Champ – 42 Mmcf/d!

#5 – Antero Resources Utica Well Produces Stratospheric 38.9 Mmcf/d

#6 – New Gastar Utica Well in West Virginia Hits Peak of 36.8 Mmcf/d

#7 – Magnum Hunter’s Prolific (& Dry) Utica Well in Monroe County, OH

#10 – Gulfport’s New Record-Breaking Well in Belmont Cnty – 30.3 Mmcf/d