Trans Energy Natural Gas Well Completed
By ART LIMANNTrans Energy Inc. has completed a natural gas well in Wetzel County that appears to be in one of the most prolific parts of the Marcellus shale resource in Appalachia.
Trans Energy has finished work to create its Dewhurst No. 73 well on Arches Fork in Wetzel County off W.Va. 20. According to James Abcouwer, chief executive of Trans Energy Inc., the well was completed in mid-December and has since been connected to the company's gas sales line.
The Marcellus shale is a prolific geologic formation in Appalachia similar to the Barnett, Fayetteville and Haynesville shales, which have grown to become a significant base of hydrocarbon reserves in the United States.
Abcouwer noted his company currently has about 330 wells in Wetzel County and has also started drilling a horizontal shaft in Marshall County north of Cameron near the Pennsylvania state line. He said new technology is making new areas accessible that were not available been in the past.
The new Wetzel County well is continuing to purge water used in the process, and it is "producing gas at a volume and working pressure that indicates this development area may be among the most attractive parts of this new and substantial shale play," he said.
The well is the company's third Marcellus well and, according to Abcouwer, "the positive results from our first two vertical wells, the Hart No. 20 and Dewhurst No. 50, can be replicated throughout our acreage position in northern West Virginia. We're now beginning a horizontal well program, and we're pleased to have achieved this sizable acreage position centered in Wetzel, Marion, Marshall and Doddridge county areas."
