STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Eclipse Resources Corporation and its subsidiary Eclipse Resources-PA, finalized an option to buy certain oil and gas leases, wells and other oil and gas interests in Tioga and Potter counties in central Pennsylvania from Travis Peak Resources, LLC, for $93.7 million.
The agreement covers approximately 44,500 net acres.
Eclipse also announced another subsidiary, Eclipse Resources Midstream, LP, will purchase the outstanding equity interests of Cardinal NE Holdings, for an aggregate purchase price of $18.3 million from Cardinal Midstream II, LLC.
Includes 22 wells
The lease acreage includes 22 industry Utica Shale wells (including the Painter 1H well drilled by Travis Peak). One producing well has approximately 6.5 net MMcf per day of production.
Eclipse officials say their preliminary analysis indicates the gas in place exceeds the southeast Ohio’s Utica Shale Dry Gas “Core” area.
They expect to create a new, highly contiguous core area, the “Flat Castle” Project Area, that supports extensive “super-lateral” development. The company’s announcement indicated it will add approximately 87 net drilling locations, while increasing the company’s Utica dry gas acreage by approximately 85 percent.
The Cardinal NE Holdings midstream infrastructure includes associated gathering rights on the acreage to be acquired by the company in the Flat Castle acquisition.
The company expects that the proximity of this infrastructure to Dominion’s gathering system will allow Eclipse Resources to build, own and operate the gathering system as wells are drilled.
Benjamin W. Hulburt, chairman, president and CEO of Eclipse Resources, said in a prepared statement that the company’s first well is expected to spud during the first quarter of 2018 and the full scale development anticipated to start in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Hulburt said this area is similar in depth to the company’s Ohio dry gas acreage “while lying within what we believe to be the highest gas in place of the prospect area.”
“We believe the Flat Castle Project Area is located in one of the best underdeveloped areas of the Appalachian Basin.”
