Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. intends to drill at least four Utica Shale test wells in Ohio this year, the Houston-based independent exploration and production company said Tuesday.

If results are similar to those experienced by offset operators in the area, further development on the company’s leasehold position is planned later in the year, Magnum Hunter said. Subsidiary Triad Hunter has mineral rights on about 107,000 gross acres (81,000 net acres) of Utica potential, largely held by production. About 41,000 gross acres (26,514 net acres) are deemed to be in the wet gas window.

“Development of this exciting and highly productive unconventional play could have significant impact to our company,” said James W. Denny, president of Triad Hunter, which is building its first Utica pad in Washington County, OH. “As nearby offset operators results have validated our geologic interpretation, we are confident that our leasehold position will yield anticipated results.”

Triad Hunter recently drilled and cased two Marcellus wells on its Ormet acreage in Monroe County, OH, “adjacent to leases where Utica potential exists,” Denny said. “We are planning to complete these new liquids rich Marcellus wells this summer when Eureka Hunter, our midstream division, has completed the necessary infrastructure.”

The Farley Pad in Washington County is designed for potentially drilling four horizontal Utica wells. The company plans to first drill a vertical pilot well for logging and coring, and then to plug back and drill a nearly 6,000-foot lateral in the Point Pleasant portion of the play. The well then would be fracture stimulated and tested. Plans are to spud the first well in late February or early March.

The announcement comes on the heels of Magnum Hunter and privately held Eclipse Resources I LP striking a joint operating agreement covering a leasehold owned by both companies in the Marcellus and Utica shales in Monroe County, OH (see Shale Daily, Jan. 3). Terms call for Triad Hunter and State College, PA-based Eclipse to collaborate within the contract area on an equal basis on 1,950 net mineral acres with the objective of drilling 12 horizontal wells in the Marcellus and 12 horizontal wells in the Utica over the next three years. The combined capital costs for the development are expected to exceed $200 million.

Three Utica/Point Pleasant wells are planned in conjunction with the joint operating agreement to form three drilling units in Monroe County, Magnum Hunter said. “Production from these Utica wells, along with the 12 ‘Magnum Rich’ Marcellus wells, will be gathered and delivered to the MarkWest processing facility at Mobley, WV,” according to the company, which plans to lay three separate pipelines in the same right-of-way — one for wet gas, one for dry gas and one for produced liquids to be separated at a central facility.

Anticipating favorable results, Magnum Hunter has already commissioned engineering drawings and unit preparation on two additional Utica pads. The Crooked Tree Pad in Noble County, OH, is being designed around the potential for 10 horizontal wells, and the Woodchopper Pad in Washington County is being designed for four Point Pleasant horizontal wells.