ECA Named to Hart Energy's Marcellus Playbook

ECA Named to Hart Energy's Marcellus Playbook

Energy Corp. of America (ECA) started drilling the Marcellus Shale wells in the 1970’s but began working the play in earnest in 2005 as it began testing wells on its large leasehold portion throughout the Appalachian basin.

The privately held company also has operations on the Texas Gulf Coast, in the Rocky Mountains and New Zealand on its 2.4 million controlled acres worldwide. It operates more than 5,200 wells and more than 5,000 miles of pipeline in North America, and most of these assets are in the Appalachian Basin.

Its leaseholds in the basin total more than 1 million acres, and most of that is prospective for Marcellus Shale, according to the company. Those properties cover an estimated gas in place of more than 10Tcf.

The company plans to spend more than $300 million drilling and completing wells in the Marcellus Shale during the next three to five years as it zeros in on southwestern and central Pennsylvania along with north-central and southern West Virginia. It had drilled 155 Marcellus wells by May 2009.

Its latest activity took place in extreme southwestern Pennsylvania. In a May 2009 release, John Mork, chief executive officer, said the company is accelerating its Marcellus development, particularly in Greene County, Pa., which he called one of the best locations for development of the popular shale. “Though the industry as a whole has been slowing down, there is an estimated 1 Tcf of natural gas in our Greene County acreage alone, which provides us with an incredible opportunity for growth in that area,” he said.

ECA holds some 10,000 acres in the county that are prospective for Marcellus, and it will drill one or two horizontal wells a month in the area for a total of 75 wells in three years.

So far, the company has drilled 12 wells to the Marcellus among 115 wells it has drilled in the county. The company is a member of the Marcellus Shale Committee that is dedicated to work with government agencies, special interest groups, and Marcellus-area citizens for an orderly development of play.

It drilled its first horizontal well in Greene County in 2007 with a joint venture partner, and it brought in a rig in May to begin its horizontal Marcellus program for 2009.

The company also controls more than 40 miles of pipeline in the area with enough capacity on nearby interstate pipelines to get its gas to markets.

For more information regarding the Marcellus Shale Playbook, please visit https://store.hartenergy.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=86&products_id=252&zenid=fbdc8eb641ae49ddfe4309998219625c.