Six months after selling its Appalachian Basin portfolio to focus on the oily Eagle Ford Shale, Penn Virginia Corp. (PVA) said its operations in the latter were moving forward while proved reserves of oil and natural gas liquids (NGL) had increased during 2012.

The Radnor, PA-based company said Tuesday that its proved oil and gas reserves were 113.5 million boe at the end of 2012, compared to 130.3 million boe at the end of 2011, excluding 16.9 million boe of reserves in the Appalachian Basin that PVA sold to an undisclosed buyer last July (see Shale Daily, July 18, 2012). The company did not sell its Marcellus Shale assets.

PVA said its proved oil and NGL reserves rose from 35.6 million boe at year-end 2011 to 45.5 million boe at year-end 2012, an increase of 28%. Oil and NGLs accounted for 40% of total proved reserves at the end of 2012, compared to 24% at the end of 2011. Meanwhile pro forma gas reserves fell 161 Bcf (or 26.9 million boe) during the same time frame, a decrease of 28%. The company attributed most of the decline to low gas prices.

Reserves in the Eagle Ford, where PVA holds 40,000 gross (32,000 net) acres, also rose, from 10.0 million boe at the end of 2011 to 26.1 million boe at the end of 2012, an increase of 161%.

According to PVA, its proved reserves are now valued at a PV-10 (present value of net estimated future revenues, discounted at an annual discount rate of 10%) of $692 million, while proved developed (PD) reserves were valued at a PV-10 of $628 million. The company said the PV-10 value of its assets, excluding all proved undeveloped (PUD) wells with negative PV-10 value, was $839 million.

PVA said production during 4Q2012 totaled 1.4 million boe (15,444 boe/d), with about 56% weighted toward oil and NGL. Net production from the Eagle Ford totaled 6,872 boe/d during the quarter.

The company said it currently had 66 gross (55.1 net) wells online in the Eagle Ford, with one gross (0.9 net) well awaiting completion. PVA drilled 10 gross (9.0 net) operated wells in the Eagle Ford during 4Q2012, all of them successful. The company said it was in the process of drilling two wells targeting the Eagle Ford in Lavaca County, TX, and one horizontal test well into the Pearsall Shale in Gonzales County, TX.

“As previously disclosed, we have initiated the process and are actively seeking a 40% working interest partner for our Lavaca County acreage,” PVA said (see Shale Daily, Dec. 19, 2012). “We expect to have this process completed late in the first quarter. In addition, beginning in 2013, we will initiate the use of pad drilling, which we believe will decrease costs and improve fracture efficiency.”

PVA said that its third party engineering firm calculated estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) rates of 400,000 boe and 500,000 boe for Eagle Ford Shale PUD wells with full-length laterals in Gonzales and Lavaca counties, respectively.

Shares of PVA were trading at $4.28 in afternoon trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange, an increase of 9 cents, or 2.15%.