A pilot horizontal well drilled by Petrohawk Energy Corp. in the Haynesville Shale began flowing Sunday at an average rate of 16.8 MMcf/d, the Houston-based independent reported. On the news, Petrohawk’s share price jumped almost 8% in heavy trading.

The initial well in the play, the Elm Grove Plantation #63 in Bossier Parish, LA, in which Petrohawk holds a 100% stake, was placed on production last week. The pilot was flowing Sunday with 5,600 pounds of casing pressure on a 26/64-inch choke. The initial hole encountered around 212 net feet of pay in the Haynesville Shale, Petrohawk said. The targeted interval in the reservoir was at 11,005 feet true vertical depth, and a lateral of 3,880 feet in length was drilled.

The completion of the well included 11 stages of fracture stimulation, Petrohawk noted.

Petrohawk’s initial results would be higher than any other recent announcements. Penn Virginia Corp. reported in May that its first horizontal well in the Haynesville Shale tested at a rate of around 8 MMcf/d (see Daily GPI, June 2). An EnCana Corp. executive two weeks ago said his company had a “couple of wells” testing at more than 5 MMcf/d in the play (see Daily GPI, June 20). Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon said earlier this year that his company estimates that the Haynesville play may hold up to 20 Tcf of potential reserves.

Petrohawk’s rate “is the highest initial rate from the three wells press released by industry,” said JP Morgan’s Joseph Allman in a note to clients. In another note, BMO Capital Markets said Petrohawk’s drilling results gave credence to the land grab now under way across the region.

Petrohawk, whose anchor property is in the Elm Grove field of the Haynesville Shale, has leases or commitments for about 275,000 net acres in the Haynesville and Bossier shales, which extend from northwestern Louisiana across parts of East Texas. The company currently is drilling three horizontal Haynesville Shale wells and expects to have six operated rigs drilling there by mid-September. By the end of the year it expects to have 10 operated rigs in the play.

“In anticipation of increased activity in the area, the company has evaluated and planned for additional access to equipment, services, gathering and takeaway capacity,” Petrohawk stated.

In related news, Denver-based Forest Oil Corp. has increased its acreage position in the region to 143,000 gross acres (113,000 net) through some private acquisitions and leasing activity. About 113,000 gross acres (90,000 net) are “prospective” for the Haynesville/Bossier trend, Forest stated. Most of Forest’s acreage is in Harrison County, TX, and in Red River, Webster and Bienville parishes, LA.

Current production in the region is 75-80 MMcfe/d, and by year’s end Forest expects to increase output to 85-90 MMcfe/d.

“Our strategy in this shale will be similar to the one deployed in our highly successful horizontal development program being utilized in the Cotton Valley sands,” said Forest CEO H. Craig Clark. “The Cotton Valley horizontal program has produced excellent results with initial producing rates ranging from 3.3 to 7.8 MMcfe/d. Forest intends to employ a vertical pilot program in 2008 which includes 10-15 wells to test the Haynesville/Bossier Shale in order to identify potential horizontal targets.”

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