Forest Oil Corp.’s second horizontal well in the Haynesville Shale ramped up in early July at an initial production rate of 20.3 MMcfe/d, the producer said Monday.

The Driver 13-1H well in Red River Parish, LA, produced with 6,500 pounds/square inch flowing casing pressure, and was drilled and completed with a horizontal leg of 3,500 feet and a 10-stage hydraulic fracture (frac).

“Our drilling and completion design delivered a well with results which are at the high end of the range for initial production per lateral length and number of frac stages for only $9 million,” said CEO H. Craig Clark. “We intend to further improve costs and efficiencies as we expand upon our drilling effort in the play.”

The independent, which owns and operates the well, has an estimated 11,050-acre net leasehold in Louisiana, and it has identified 110 additional locations to drill on the acreage. Forest plans to maintain a one-rig drilling program in the parish for the rest of 2009. Another rig “will work both Texas and Louisiana properties in the future,” Clark said.

“Forest intends to continue its current horizontal drilling effort in the Haynesville Shale and the Texas Panhandle Granite Wash areas in order to refine its drilling and completion techniques. When costs and commodity prices improve to more attractive levels, Forest intends to deploy a rig count commensurate with its size and scale focused in these areas.”

For 2Q2009 Forest’s average natural gas and oil net sales volume is estimated to be 520 MMcfe/d, representing a 3% increase from 505 MMcfe/d in 2Q2008. The volumes were 5% below those in 1Q2009 because of a “significantly reduced rig count,” the company noted. The producer operated only four rigs in 2Q2009 “and continues to defer significant investments until drilling and completion costs are reduced to acceptable levels to support a larger drilling program at current natural gas prices.”

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