Ohio: Magnum Hunter spuds on Monroe County 18-well pad

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp., Houston, has spudded the first well on its Stalder pad in eastern Monroe County, Ohio.

The pad has been designed and permitted to drill as many as 18 wells, 10 to the Marcellus shale and eight to the Utica shale, using the company’s new Schramm T500XD robotic drilling rig. The first well will test the Marcellus and the second the Utica. Magnum Hunter's Triad Hunter LLC subsidiary is operator with a 50% working interest in the drilling unit.

The development plan is to drill both Utica and Marcellus wells first, then fracture stimulate them, and subsequently test them in the fourth quarter of 2013. The company’s Eureka Hunter Pipeline LLC unit is laying a 20-in. high pressure gas line to the Stalder pad. First deliveries are anticipated in October.