Pennsylvania: Seneca gauges Forest County Utica well

National Fuel Gas Co.’s Seneca Resources Corp. unit has flow-tested its first horizontal Utica shale well, in Forest County, southeast of Titusville, Pa.

The well is part of the company’s program to assess the Utica as a second producing horizon underlying much of its Marcellus shale acreage in western Pennsylvania.

The well flow-tested at a peak 24-hr rate of 3.9 MMcfd of gas on a 6-day test. It is shut-in awaiting a pipeline connection. It is expected to go on production in the second quarter of fiscal 2013.

Seneca has drilled two horizontal and three vertical exploratory wells to the Utica. The second horizontal well, on the Mount Jewett prospect in McKean County, Pa., has three frac stages complete and the ability to complete additional stages is under evaluation, Seneca said.

Seneca plans two more Utica horizontal wells in Pennsylvania this fiscal year, one on the Owl’s Nest prospect in Elk County and one on the Henderson prospect in Venango and Mercer counties.