Energen Resources Corp. has purchased three-year leases for about 17,000 net acres in the Bone Spring and Avalon shale trends in the Permian Basin from various Texas state agencies and other entities for $15.3 million, said parent Energen Corp. Based on 320-acre spacing, the company estimates that the acreage in Reeves, Ward, Loving and Winkler counties offers potential for approximately 50 Bone Spring locations and 50 Avalon Shale locations. The typical Bone Spring well has estimated ultimate recovery of 400,000-500,000 boe, the company said. Energen Resources estimates that drilling and completion costs are approximately $7.5 million per well. It has drilled eight Bone Spring wells in Ward and Winkler counties and participated in another 23 wells. The company announced plans in December to drill another 13 Bone Spring net wells in 2011 and at least one Avalon Shale well. Potential drilling plans on the new leases in 2011 have not been determined.

An Allegheny Township, PA, official plans to form a committee next month to study the legal ramifications of zoning restrictions on Marcellus Shale operations, which the township’s Board of Supervisors may take up later this year. An ordinance to regulate drilling through zoning, which was proposed last fall (see Shale Daily, Nov. 16, 2010) and approved by the board in December, didn’t go far enough, according to some Allegheny Township residents. Critics would like the ordinance to prohibit gas drilling in areas zoned as single-family residential. At a Board of Supervisors meeting on Monday, Township Manager Greg Primm said he would begin organizing the committee next month, the Valley News Dispatch newspaper reported.