EQT is looking to drill up to 15 wells in the deep Utica Shale next year, after it suspended drilling in some areas above the Marcellus Shale, company leaders said last week. "If the deep Utica works, it is likely to be larger than the Marcellus over time. We're going to be able to supply a big portion of North America's natural gas needs from a relatively small geography," said David Porges, chairman, president and CEO of EQT. The plan is expected to be finalized in December.

EQT family ponders shift into deep Utica as monster well keeps flowing

Thursday, October 22, 2015 snl.com

Excerpt.  Emphasis added is my own.

"There have been fewer than 10 wells drilled and completed in the deep Utica around our acreage so it is still too early to be confident that the play will be economic but the early results are certainly encouraging," Porges told analysts. "Specifically, if the Utica does work, which for us means that the returns are better than returns from the core Marcellus, we will certainly add significant resource potential to our inventory."

But the immediate effect of having a second rich resource play stacked atop the first is that more natural gas will keep prices lower for longer, Porges said. "As a result, some of our other inventory that requires higher prices to make economic returns would be deferred possibly for many years."

"A cannibalization of other opportunities will affect everyone including those of us that will be much better off if the deep Utica play does work economically," Porges said.

Although not approved yet by his board, Porges outlined a drilling program that calls for 10 to 15 deep Utica wells in 2016, alongside a reduced Marcellus drilling program.

At the end of the second quarter, EQT announced the results of the Scotts Run well in Greene County, Pa., the best shale gas well in the country with an initial 24-hour rate of 72.9 MMcf/d.

 EQT's President for Exploration & Production Steve Schlotterbeck said Scotts Run's high pressure was choked back to 30 MMcf/d and is expected to flow at that rate through mid-March 2016 with an estimated ultimate recovery between 13.9 Bcf and 18.8 Bcf.

EQT executives admit that much of what they expect from the Scotts Run well is educated guesswork as there is no decline curve to match the well's pressure and output. They simply figure that well pressures are declining 30 psi/d and will reach pipeline pressures of 500 psi in March.

EQT has two other deep Utica wells in progress. The first, the Pettit 593066, was spudded in August. It is five miles north of Scotts Run in Greene County and has been drilled to a 12,200 feet with a planned 13,400-foot vertical depth and 4,000- to 4,500-foot laterals.

Link to full article:  https://www.snl.com/Interactivex/article.aspx?CdId=A-34259506-12588