Pinedale

Ultra Petroleum Corp. reduced its operated rig fleet from seven to four in 1Q2018, but plans to accelerate its horizontal drilling program while reducing well costs for the remainder of the year.

Ultra Petroleum Corp. produced 803 MMcfe/d in the first quarter, exceeding the midpoint of its 790-810 MMcfe/d guidance and increasing volumes by 13% from the year-ago period.

Ultra Petroleum Corp., an early Marcellus Shale entrant, has divested its last assets in the play, agreeing to sell its 50% nonoperated interest in 72,000 net acres for $115 million to an affiliate of privately held Alta Resources LLC.

After emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year, Houston-based Ultra Petroleum Corp. is thinking more horizontally for its mostly vertical drilling program in the Pinedale Anticline in the Green River Basin.

Denver-based independent QEP Resources Inc. continues its shift to an oilier production mix, completing its exit from the Pinedale Anticline in September while completing this week a $683.5 million purchase of 13,000 acres in the Permian Basin in West Texas.

On the heels of its exit from Wyoming’s Pinedale Anticline earlier this week, QEP Resources Inc. on Thursday announced plans to acquire 13,800 net acres in the Permian’s Midland sub-basin for $732 million, further signaling its intentions to grow liquids in its portfolio.

A QEP Resources Inc. subsidiary said Monday it would sell natural gas assets in Wyoming — including all of its assets in the Pinedale Anticline — through two transactions totaling $777.5 million.

With a definite shift in emphasis to its Permian Basin assets, Denver-based QEP Resources Inc. executives signaled on Thursday that the company is preparing to divest its Pinedale assets in Wyoming to focus on the Williston and Permian basins.

Vanguard Natural Resources LLC is laying down $581 million for natural gas-weighted properties in southwestern Wyoming, marking a change in strategy to compete for more mature production and proven undeveloped acreage.