Consol to invest $1.5B in natural-gas production

Staff report

Pittsburgh-based Consol Energy Inc. said Tuesday that it will invest $1.5 billion to accelerate oil and natural-gas production in 2014.

Consol expects to invest $1.1 billion — more than half of its drilling capital — in drilling and completion costs in the liquid-rich Marcellus and Utica shales, the company said in a statement.

As part of a joint venture with Hess Corp., Consol plans to invest $105 million in capital expenditure to drill 32 new wells in Harrison, Belmont, Guernsey and Noble counties, which represent Ohio’s Utica Shale play.

Separate from the joint venture, Consol is planning to invest $25 million in a Monroe County well pad that will create two new horizontal wells. One will target the Marcellus Shale’s wet natural gas, while the other will get at the Utica’s dry-gas zone.

While Consol is quickly transitioning its Utica drilling activity from the exploratory to the production phase, the company still faces a series of obstacles caused by a lack of infrastructure.

The bulk of Consol’s capital investment will go toward a joint venture in the more-developed Marcellus Shale. The company plans to drill at least 74 new wells to target the Marcellus Shale’s dry natural-gas supply, and at least 88 new wells will target wet natural gas.

Overall, Consol said it is projecting a 30 percent increase in natural-gas production in 2014.