Pearsall

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. said Friday it has dropped a drillbit into its first Utica Shale horizontal target in Ohio’s northern Washington County.

Magnum Hunter Resources Inc. is in talks with three parties for the potential sale of Eagle Ford Shale assets as part of plans this year to sell $400-500 million of assets. An announcement is expected soon, according to the company. During a recent conference call, CEO Gary Evans said all three Eagle Ford bidders have made offers in the same price range. Two are offering all cash and one is offering cash and equity, he said. “So from our perspective, it doesn’t really matter who ends up with it. But we do feel like we will have an announcement on that in short order,” he said.The company also is considering selling assets in the Pearsall Shale as well, and assets in the Williston Basin and potentially in Kentucky, Evans said.

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. brought online two new company-operated Eagle Ford Shale wells three days before Christmas. The wells’ best-ever results for the company in the Eagle Ford could have Magnum Hunter rethinking its idea of divesting Eagle Ford properties, said CEO Gary C. Evans.

Houston-based Sanchez Energy Corp., which has a 95,000-net acre position targeting the liquids-rich Eagle Ford Shale, Pearsall Shale, Austin Chalk and Buda Limestone, said its estimated current net production is 4,400 boe/d, of which 84% was oil. This rate represents a 159% increase over the third quarter net production exit rate of 1,700 boe/d (see Shale Daily, Oct. 30). “We continue to see strong well performance across our three focus areas as we execute on the remainder of this year’s development plan,” said CEO Tony Sanchez. “Additionally, we are testing tighter spacing in each of our positions in the Eagle Ford trend and, more specifically, one of the rigs in our Palmetto area is drilling the first of a five-well, 40-acre spacing pilot on the southern part of the Barnhart Ranch.” The company is running two rigs in the Palmetto area, one rig in the Maverick area, and two rigs in the Marquis area.

Anyone familiar with the Eagle Ford Shale shouldn’t be surprised that U.S. Capital Advisors analyst Cameron Horowitz would title his latest note on the play “South Texas Swagger.”