Rice Energy’s Bigfoot New Reigning Utica Well Champ – 42 Mmcf/d!
Rice Energy’s corny well names have, in this case, turned into a self-fulling prophecy. Rice announced yesterday that their first Utica Shale well–the Bigfoot 9H in Belmont County–is producing an initial 41.69 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. That production places the Bigfoot on top of the heap as the most productive Utica well so far–flying by Antero Resources’ Yontz well (see Antero Resources Utica Well Produces Stratospheric 38.9 Mmcf/d). In addition to this huge news, Rice also announced they’ve increased their line of credit and they’ve lined up more pipeline capacity for their Utica Shale gas…
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Get ready for rolling blackouts. We predict a run on candles at the local Walmart. We’re talking, of course, about President Obama’s EPA unilaterally forcing coal generating electric plants to shut down in the coming years because they can’t meet strict new carbon emission standards (coal is made from…carbon). All of the wind and solar and purple unicorns in the world won’t replace the electricity that’s about to go away thanks to the Obamadroids. Some of the slack will be taken up by natural gas–but it’s a hollow victory for natgas because electric power plants won’t be able to convert quickly enough and infrastructure won’t be in place soon enough to prevent mass electric outages. And no, we’re not kidding…
Ack is back! MDN is pleased to bring you another guest post from our very good friend Chris Acker. Chris is a geological engineer with an MBA. He grew up in the oil fields of Venezuela where his father, a petroleum engineer, was a drilling contractor for all the major players, onshore and off. Chris’ interest in energy economics and policy found him working for Exxon, Petroleum Industry Research Associates and Petroleos de Venezuela. He bought a parcel of land in the PA countryside twenty-five years ago and later semi-retired to work on antique pianos (see www.PianoGrands.com). A few years ago, it was established that Chris’ property in Susquehanna County sits atop one of the Marcellus shale’s most prolific areas. He is now happily engaged once again in energy economics, with emphasis, naturally, on gas. In this post Chris gives us the lowdown on what every landowner with a well sooner or later wants to know: How fast will production from my well peter out? It’s called a “decline curve” and Chris gives us a great understanding of the fundamentals…