Niobrara Shale

Quicksilver Resources To Drill Six Niobrara Exploration Wells In 2011

Quicksilver Resources (KWK) issued an update on its Niobrara Shale exploration program in the Green River Basin in Colorado.

Quicksilver Resources has 313,000 gross acres in the Sandwash area and plans to drill six vertical wells to test the play in 2011. The company believes that the resource potential in this area may total 100 million barrels of oil equivalent.

PetroQuest Energy Working On Fourth Niobrara Shale Well

PetroQuest Energy (PQ) has 5,000 net acres in Wyoming exposed to the Niobrara Shale and a total of thirteen drilling locations on its acreage here.

PetroQuest Energy completed the Nevis # 2 Niobrara Shale well in November 2010 and has produced 43,000 barrels of oil to date from this well. The company plans between 10 and 15 gross wells in 2011 and is actively looking to lease more acreage here.

PetroQuest Energy said that the Hester #3 well is nearing total depth and will undergo completion operations in the second quarter of 2011. This is the company’s third well in the Niobrara Shale.  The Davis well was recently spud and is expected to reach total depth in early June 2011.

PDC Energy Reports Niobrara Shale Completions

PDC Energy (PETD) reported an operational update on its Niobrara Shale program in the first quarter of 2011.  The company has 74,100 net acres in the play.

PDC Energy drilled the company’s first horizontal well in the Niobrara Shale in late 2010.  The Rickards 41-10H well had an initial production rate of 625 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) per day, and produced 310 BOE per day during the first thirty days of production.

PDC Energy said that the company’s second horizontal Niobrara Shale well produced 503 BOE per day for the first thirteen days of production.  The company’s third horizontal Niobrara Shale well produced 501 BOE per day during the first eight days of production.

PDC Energy plans to drill fourteen horizontal Niobrara Shale wells in 2011.  This includes from eight to nine wells in the Wattenberg field and from four to five wells in the Krieger Niobrara area.  PDC Energy used to do business as Petroleum Development Corporation.