In early February, Eclipse Resources, a Marcellus/Utica pure play driller headquartered in State College, PA that drills mostly in Ohio, released an operational update for fourth quarter and all of 2016 (see Eclipse Resources 2016 & 4Q16 Update – Super Laterals Coming). Yesterday the company released a full update, including financials, for full year and fourth quarter 2016. The report shows natural gas production was up significantly in 2016, up 23% from 2015. However, natural gas liquids (NGL) production was flat and oil production, a small part of the company’s production, was down. On the financial side, Eclipse lost $204 million in 2016, which is a vast improvement over their $971 million loss in 2015. Things are turning around. During 2017, Eclipse plans to drill 24 wells with an average lateral length of approximately 13,300 feet. Eleven of those 24 will be “Super-Laterals” with lateral extensions exceeding 15,000 feet. Mammoth! You may recall Eclipse has drilled what is (so far) the longest Utica well ever, the Purple Hayes, some 18,500 feet long (see Eclipse Res. 1Q16: Drills Longest Shale Well Ever! “Purple Hayes”). Can you imagine another dozen of them?! Buckle up, here comes 2017 for Eclipse…
