Vertical

The move to horizontal drilling and longer laterals has made the domestic land rig count not so simple anymore, leading Raymond James & Associates Inc. on Monday to launch well and footage count forecasts.

Pioneer Natural Resources Co.’s first horizontal Wolfcamp Shale well in Martin County, TX, — the Mabee K #1H — has been placed on production with an initial rate that the company called “strong,” and an analyst following Pioneer said confirms prospectivity in the county.

Calgary-based Talisman Energy Inc. is considering a plan to exit shale development in Poland, a move that helps the company focus elsewhere but is also a blow to what was once considered Europe’s best source for shale natural gas and a hedge against pipeline gas supplies from Russia.

Lacking anything like the Bakken to its north and not seeing a major new play on the horizon, South Dakota oil and natural gas authorities nevertheless have begun the process for upgrading the state’s exploration and production (E&P) regulations, including adding provisions addressing hydraulic fracturing.

Carrizo Oil & Gas Inc. has nearly completed a vertical test well in New York State’s portion of the Marcellus Shale and will make its next move in the play once geological samples are analyzed and regulatory uncertainty in the state clears.

Ahead of the annual shareholder meeting on Friday, Chesapeake Energy Corp. acquiesced to demands of major shareholder groups and Carl Icahn, who now holds 7.8% of the stock, and said four existing independent directors would resign from the board. The company also has put up for sale 337,481 net acres in its prized Utica/Point Pleasant Shale, which would give it less than one million acres in the play.

Believing natural gas and oil prices will stay at their current levels “for a while,” Talisman Energy Inc. could shift money from the Marcellus and Montney shales to the Eagle Ford Shale next year as its focuses on liquid-rich plays, CEO John Manzoni said Wednesday.

Landowners in Belmont County, OH, which has become a hotbed of activity for prospective shale exploration, are signing leases with ExxonMobil Corp. subsidiary XTO Energy Inc. to allow drilling to begin on their acreage, the company has acknowledged.

The Alberta Energy Ministry said it has sold a record C$2.68 billion in drilling rights so far this year, eclipsing the previous record of C$2.39 billion set in 2010.