Uncovering and Exploiting Existing Marcellus Shale Opportunities in the Appalachian Basin

Abstract The developing interest in the Northeast Marcellus Shale play has led to a flood of lease acquisition activity not seen in many years. Competitive acreage positioning and rumors of huge delayed rentals, large signing bonuses, and generous buy-outs are reminiscent of the boom years in the early 1980's. Most of the potential affordable assets have already been locked up and the small or medium size operator has either been priced out or crowded out. Those operators may not be as far behind the rush as they may fear. The nature of oil field culture has led to the Marcellus and other shale formations being ignored for years and viewed as more of a drilling nuisance than as a valuable play. As a result, it has been drilled to, drilled through, cased through and generally avoided for as long the Devonian Sands have been developed in the Appalachian Basin. In a few cases where shale stimulations were attempted, they were poorly designed and marginally effective which kept the interest very limited. The oil field culture of past decades allowed many of these resources to remain hidden and underdeveloped. These assets can now be "Re-Discovered" through a variety of record resource reviews, re-drilling and re-completion techniques, spacing analysis, and general detective work. This paper will explore a variety of techniques that both major and independent operators can use to take advantage of their existing underdeveloped assets.