Ultra Petroleum is poised to become a significant player in the Marcellus Shale through its large, contiguous blocks of acreage.
Ultra Petroleum is expanding its footprint across the United States to the Northeast, focusing on an emerging Marcellus Shale opportunity in Pennsylvania. As of year-end 2011, Ultra Petroleum’s Marcellus position consists of 500,000 gross (260,000 net) acres of leases across five counties in north central Pennsylvania: Potter, Tioga, Clinton, Centre and Lycoming counties with the potential for 2,500 future net wells and 9.5 Tcfe of net resource potential. Ultra has 100 percent working interest in almost 60,000 acres in Tioga and Potter counties. Ultra and its joint venture partners share an area of mutual interest (AMI) consisting of approximately 200,000 net acres with approximately 50/50 working interest. In 2008, Ultra planted $35 million in seed capital, drilling 18 vertical wells to evaluate the acreage geologically. Based on encouraging well data analysis results, Ultra Petroleum and its joint venture partners escalated activity in the region. In 2009, Ultra Petroleum spent $135 million, commencing a 30+ horizontal-well drilling program, more than doubling to over $400 million in 2010.
