WPX Energy completes drilling of second well in Niobrara shale

Oil and gas exploration and production company WPX Energy has successfully completed drilling of its second well in the Niobrara shale, North America.

The company posted an initial rate of 11.8 million cubic feet a day (MMcf/d) at a flowing casing pressure of 5,700lbs/in².

The well, which has been choked back to 8MMcf/d at 5,400lbs/in² of flowing tubing pressure, is three miles to the southeast of the initial discovery well.

With a flowing casing pressure of 7,300lbs/in², the initial discovery well produced at a rate of 16MMcf/d.

The well has produced two billion cubic feet of natural gas over its first ten months and is currently producing at a rate of 3.5MMcf/d.

WPX president and chief executive officer Ralph Hill said that the company is quickly executing its plan to delineate its Niobrara discovery.

"The Niobrara formation on our acreage is at its shallowest where we drilled the second well. We believe this will coincide with the lowest reservoir pressures we’ll encounter in the play if our assumptions about the geology and pore pressures hold true over time," Hill added.

During July and August, a third Niobrara horizontal well was drilled, which is located around 2,000ft to the west of the company’s initial discovery well.

The company plans to drill two additional Niobrara wells in November. The first is a horizontal test located three miles north of the initial discovery well and the second is a vertical delineation well located 12 miles to the east.

Earlier, WPX announced plans to more than double its Niobrara drilling in 2014, with 10 to 12 wells expected, which is expected to delineate 80% of its Valley acreage.

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Image: the second Niobrara well has been drilled to a total vertical depth of 9,062ft. Photo: courtesy of Guitar guy.