Shell has found new discovery wells, Neal and Gee, which are both located within the Utica formation in Tioga County, Pennsylvania.
Each well was drilled to a total measured depth of approximately 4,420 and 4,724 metres with lateral lengths of 945 metres at Gee and 1,280 metres at Neal, respectively. These two discovery wells extend the sweet spot of the Utica formation beyond Southeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, where previous discoveries have been made. In the area where the wells were found, Shell holds a major leasehold position of approximately 430,000 acres.
The Gee well was drilled over 100 miles to the northeast of the nearest horizontal Utica producer, and had an initial flowback rate of 11.2 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. Gee has been on production for nearly one year. Shell began production of the Neal well in February, with observed peak flowback rates of 26.5 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.
“This successful discovery is the result of solid technical work in our onshore business,” stated Marvin Odum, Shell’s Upstream Americas Director. “Last year, we refocused our resources plays strategy to select fewer plays with specific scale and economic characteristics to best suit our portfolio. The Appalachian basin is one of those areas, and these two high-pressure wells both exhibit exceptional reservoir quality.”