Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy Corp. is taking advantage of its $4 billion merger with WildHorse Resources Development Corp. by already seeking permits to drill in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas.
Chesapeake is already considered one of the top drillers in the shale play and earlier this month filed 18 applications with the Railroad Commission of Texas to drill new oil and gas wells in three counties.
One published report indicated Chesapeake told investors of plans to create an Eagle Ford “powerhouse” by wrapping up the merger with WildHorse Resources.
“We look forward to consummating the merger with WildHorse Resources and further strengthening our portfolio and competitiveness with another strong oil growth asset,” Chesapeake CEO Doug Lawler said in anticipation of the company’s 2018 fourth-quarter results. “We plan to provide detailed capital guidance for the combined company later in the 2019 first quarter, but at present we anticipate operating four rigs on the WildHorse acreage in 2019.”
Fourteen of the 18 new drills applied for so far this year are in the company’s Briscoe Ranch field in Webb County and are anticipated to reach a depth of 9,000 feet, according to documents submitted to the Railroad Commission. The remaining four wells will be drilled in the Eagleville field in La Salle and McMullen counties at depths of 11,000 and 12,000 feet, respectively.
The Eagle Ford delivered the highest margins in the company in the fourth quarter and produced an average of 105,000 barrel of oil equivalent per day, 58 percent of which was in oil, according to the company.
A subsidiary of WildHorse, WildHorse Resources Management Co. LLC, filed for eight new permits in Washington, Burleson and Robertson counties. Four of the permits are amendments to previously drilled wells in the Austin Chalk and Eagle Ford plays in the Giddings field. Another three new permits are scheduled to be drilled in the same field. The final permit, on the Snap O lease, is an amendment to a previous drill on the Aguila Vado field in the Eagle Ford.