American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2017 - 85

Although it has completed a couple dry
gas wells in the northeastern region of
the Keystone State, the company isn't
drilling in that area at present. Instead, it
has seven rigs operating in southwestern
Pennsylvania, which offers multiple horizons, including the Marcellus, Utica and
Upper Devonian. The company refers to
that area as "super-rich," with at least
1,200-1,250 Btu gas. It also has as a wet
gas area (1,050-1,200 Btu) and a dry gas
area with pipeline-ready gas.
Degner says Range "remains focused
on our Marcellus assets for production
growth. Our consistent improvement in
capital efficiency and well performance
over the last decade has made the Marcellus well activity difficult to beat."
Degner, who oversees Range's entire
Appalachia Division since the company
combined its southern and northern Marcellus divisions earlier this year in an
effort to streamline operations and reduce
costs, says, "Since there is no NGL component in dry gas, it is not burdened
with the cost of processing. The superrich and wet gas offer additional revenue
streams, but you have to pay for processing."
During the past 12 months, Range has
moved to what Degner calls "a place of
big data," which he says "allows us to
look at the economics and move from
one project to another (depending on
commodity prices)."
The Btu diversity of Range's assets
requires the company to take different
approaches to proppant loading, depending

on whether the gas is dry or wet, Degner
offers.
"We tend to use smaller amounts of
proppant in dry gas wells, but we have
tested larger jobs with encouraging results," he adds. "It just depends on what
delivers the most."
He says Range is using two-and-ahalf times more frac stages than it did in
2010, noting its average Marcellus lateral
is approaching 9,000 feet and 45 frac
stages.
During the first quarter, Range drilled
and completed four super-rich wells from
a pad located in a lightly drilled area
near the planned Harmon Creek processing
plant in northwestern Washington County,
Pa. Because of their high initial production
rates, only two of the wells were brought
on line. Degner says those two wells
produced a combined 62.8 MMcfe/d from
an average lateral length of 10,772 feet
with 54 frac stages. The remaining two
wells on the pad will be brought on line
when gathering capacity is available.
"MarkWest has a looped gathering
system, so we can take our gas to two
processing plants-the Houston plant near
Canonsburg, Pa., and another at Majorsville near the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border," he comments. "When the
Harmon Creek plant comes on line sometime in 2018, it will allow us to expand
our operations farther north."
He notes that MarkWest has removed
the original Houston plant to upgrade to
a 200 MMcf/d cryogenic plant, increasing
processing capacity by 170 MMcf/d.

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Range Resources, shown here at a location in southwestern Pennsylvania, drilled three
laterals in excess of 15,000 feet during the ﬁrst ﬁve months of 2017, including its longest
Marcellus lateral to date in Washington County, Pa. According to Dennis Degner, vice
president for Range's Appalachia Division, bit selection, improved rotary steerable tools
and an improved mud program have helped the company increase drilling rates.

1902 N. Yellowood Ave.
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma 74012 U.S.A.
PHO 918-250-5584 * FAX 918-250-4666

AUGUST 2017 85

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American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2017

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