Cline Shale News

Cline Shale Exploration Activity – Week Ending November 22nd, 2013 (PXD)

November 24, 2013 By - The Cline Shale Team Leave a Comment

Drilling activity in the Cline shale region has increased by 4 rigs in the past two weeks with 215 active drilling sites.  The number of rigs has increased by 10% in the last month alone; half of those additional rigs were mobilized in Martin county.  This shift is not surprising in light of the recent success of Pioneer in the area with their Scharbauer Ranch well.  That well, along with others reported by Pioneer, have effectively expanded the core of the play by 60 miles Northeast of the known sweet spot in Glasscock and Howard counties.
Not only is Pioneer increasing exploration activity to build on its own successes, other operators are now aware of the potential in the county and are looking to better understand their own holdings.  Of those 10 total rigs that moved into Martin county in the past month, 4 of them were horizontal rigs targeting depths greater than 10,000 feet.  This is below the upper Wolfcamp benches and most certainly the Cline specifically that is being drilled into.  These horizontal wells have the potential to have initial production rates in excess of 1,000 bbl/d.  Just 3 months ago, there was only 1 horizontal rig in Martin county, so the increase to 9 this past week starkly demonstrates that the rush is on in this new corner of the Cline.

County	Active Rigs	Weekly Change
Source:	Baker Hughes
Crockett	6	+1
Fisher	2	+1
Glasscock	40	-2
Howard	21	-4
Irion	16	+1
Martin	42	+6
Midland	22	-4
Mitchell	1	0
Nolan	1	+1
Reagan	17	+2
Schleicher	1	-1
Scurry	9	0
Sterling	7	-1
Tom Green	0	0
Upton	30	+4
Total	215	+4