Encana Oil and Gas USA started drilling in Lake Township

Sponsor Links

Encana Oil & Gas USA Inc. recently started drilling on Zosh Road in Lake Township, the second of its two exploratory natural gas wells in Luzerne County, after wrapping up drilling at its first. Encana anticipates completing both wells either later this year or early 2011. Exploratory projects are by nature limited in scope and as such needed services and supplies compete with already full schedules. A schedule has not been set to complete the first two wells, including hydraulic fracturing to break up the shale and release the gas.

Prior to starting work in Lake Township, Encana finished drilling operations at its first exploratory site, the Buda well behind the Ricketts Glen Hotel on Route 118 in Fairmount Township. Wiedenbeck said the well was drilled 7,000 feet deep and 4,400 feet horizontally.

Since April, the state Department of Environmental Protection has made eight site inspections at the Buda well, and found no violations. Additionally, DEP has issued permits for Encana’s two Kent North horizontal wells, which are planned just down Route 118 from the Buda well site in Fairmount Township.

Encana Oil & Gas anticipated that completions activities wouldn’t take place immediately following drilling. A potential headache for natural gas companies, including Encana, is that dry conditions are leading to a growing scarcity of the large quantities of water needed for hydraulic fracturing.

Encana is still awaiting DEP permits for three more wells in Fairmount Township and five more in Lake Township. DEP declared most of Pennsylvania’s counties to be either in a state of drought watch or the more severe drought warning. The Susquehanna River Basin Commission, which monitors water levels and controls large-scale water withdrawals, has temporarily shut down some of Encana’s sources in Wyoming County.