Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. has given out $175 million in royalties to Marcellus gas leaseholders in Susquehanna County over the past three years and people in Wyoming County could be next, company spokesman George Stark said.
Speaking to a packed Wyoming County Chamber of Commerce luncheon at Twigs Restaurant in Tunkhannock on Wednesday, he said the company indeed had moved into Lemon Twp. Its Flowers' well there had already shown its flow capacity was rivaling what has been seen in any of the company's wells in Susquehanna County.
"Overall the fiscal health of the Marcellus has been gi-normous for Cabot," Mr. Stark said. He noted 15 of the top 20 producing Marcellus wells in Pennsylvania over the last half of 2012 were his company's.
Peoples Neighborhood Bank President Alan Dakey asked what percent of Cabot's completed wells are actually producing gas.
Mr. Stark said that he expected the number to be in the high 80s or low 90s.
He noted that while other gas companies might be slowing down to let some pipeline infrastructure catch up, that is not Cabot's intent.
Mr. Stark said his company had put up 72 wells in 2012 and was expecting to add 80 to 85 more in 2013.
He initially called the Dimock-Springville area of Susquehanna County "the sweetest spot in the (Marcellus) play" but noted latest production figures are extending that south to Lemon Twp., Wyoming County, and east to Lenox Twp.
"But we don't just produce it, we're looking actively for people to buy it," Mr. Stark said, adding that pipelines have become a huge issue in getting gas to market.
Mr. Stark said one billion cubic feet of gas that Cabot's wells in Susquehanna County have been producing each day since the end of December is enough energy to heat 25,000 homes a year.
Contact the writer: bbaker@wcexaminer.com