PETROHAWK ANNOUNCES THIRD QUARTER FINANCIAL AND OPERATING RESULTS - REUTERS - 11-4-09 7:37 pm est

EXCERPT:

Haynesville Shale

The Company drilled a total of 24 operated wells in the Haynesville Shale
during the third quarter. Twenty-three wells were in Northwest Louisiana and
one well was located in Shelby County, Texas. Eighteen of the wells were
completed during the quarter. Of these, fourteen were produced according to
normal procedure with an average initial production rate of 18.6 Mmcfe/d,
ranging from 12.6 Mmcfe/d to 25.5 Mmcfe/d. Petrohawk currently has 62 operated
Haynesville Shale wells on production with current gross operated production
of approximately 450 Mmcfe/d and net operated production of approximately 285
Mmcfe/d. Of the 62 operated wells that are currently producing, there are now
53 wells that have greater than 30 days of production. The average initial
30-day production rate for those wells is 14 Mmcfe/d.

Included in the 62 operated wells that are currently on production are four
wells being tested at restricted rates to compare the decline characteristics
of the test wells to other wells in the same area that have been produced
conventionally. The four test wells, which have been kept on a 14/64" choke
since first production, had initial production rates of between 8-9 Mmcfe/d
and flowing casing pressures of approximately 8500#. They have all exhibited
shallower decline rates in both production and flowing pressure than the
control set. The oldest well in the group has produced approximately 900 Mmcfe
and has considerably higher flowing pressure than the control wells had at the
same cumulative production. Further study of the economic and reservoir
implications of this reduced rate method are needed before any conclusions are
reached that would impact the Company's production practices.

Petrohawk accomplished a significant reduction in average drilling days per
well during the quarter in the Haynesville Shale operations, primarily due to
more efficient rigs and faster rates of penetration during the horizontal
lateral drilling phase. From January through June 2009 the average days from
spud to spud for all Haynesville Shale "grass roots" wells (wells drilled from
spud to total depth with the same rig) was approximately 68 days. In July,
that number decreased to just over 61 days and in August decreased to less
than 47. The Company's current forecast for average drilling days per well in
2010 is 42 days, a 20% reduction from the expected 2009 average of 51 days and
approximately a 50% reduction from average drilling days of 79 in 2008. A
direct example of how this improvement has occurred is a review of the number
of days in which greater than 800' of drilling occurred in the lateral. Prior
to third quarter 2009 there had been only 1 of these days. However, in the
third quarter there were 22 of these days, with the most footage on any given
day being greater than 1,700'. There are a number of factors that contributed
to this improvement, with the most significant being construction of a new
type of PDC bit that is specifically designed for the Haynesville Shale, as
well as a much better understanding of the precise section within the
Haynesville Shale to target the lateral in order to increase rate of
penetration.

Completion techniques have also improved well performance. A combination of
higher pump rates (as high as 100 barrels per minute), higher sand
concentrations (up to 3 lbs. per gallon) and decreased distance between
perforation clusters (50-65' spacing as compared to 85') have potentially
increased the amount of rock contacted through fracing. These improved
techniques have been employed in conjunction with a significant decrease in
average completion cost. The average per well completion cost during 2009 has
decreased from approximately $5.3 million in January to the current cost of
$3.5 million.

These improvements in the drilling and completion operations lead the Company
to a revised view that 2010 drill and complete costs per well in the
Haynesville Shale are expected to average between $8.0 and 9.0 million, versus
a year to date 2009 average per well cost of $9.5 million.

Lower Bossier ShalePlay

Petrohawk has been evaluating the Lower Bossier Shale in Northwest Louisiana
and East Texas as a viable shale gas reservoir through an abundance of open
hole log data, core data, and most recently a number of well tests by industry
partners. The conclusions of this evaluation are that 1) the area of
prospective commercial production within the Company's current leasehold area
is approximately 122,000 net acres; 2) the rock quality does approach that of
the Haynesville Shale in a limited area of the play; and 3) the expected
recovery from a Lower Bossier Shale well on average should be somewhat less
than that of the Haynesville Shale, with an estimated range of between 5.0 and
6.0 Bcfe/well.

At this time, and pending advanced technology that would allow multiple zones
to be completed with a single wellbore, the Bossier Shale will require
wellbores independent of the Haynesville Shale. Petrohawk expects to drill its
initial well to test the Lower Bossier in during the first quarter of 2010.

Tags: AND, ANNOUNCES, FINANCIAL, OPERATING, PETROHAWK, QUARTER, RESULTS, THIRD

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These well costs are much lower than what I am hearing thrown out there...these costs, the 3.5 million figure, are comparable to what I am hearing for Marcellus costs. Of course companies boast the low costs for a Marcellus well. At DUG East, I think $8 million was being thrown out there.
Keith, those are completion costs - not total well costs.
So completion costs run about 35%-50% of a well's total costs?
Keith,
Read on in the above article -- they said drilling and completion costs are$8-9M per well. I think Chesapeake has been adverstising lower numbers -- in the $6.5 - 7.0M range.

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