Other groups will keep drilling

MATT HUGHES

mhughes@timesleader.com

Encana may be packing up its operations in Luzerne County, but other natural gas drillers exploring the county’s borders will keep on working.

Several operators, including Chesapeake Energy, Williams Production Appalachia, ExxonMobile subsidiary XTO Energy and Corrizo Oil and Gas, are drilling or plan to drill exploratory gas wells within miles of the county line. Corrizo has signed leases in Noxen and Monroe townships in Wyoming County, some of which may cross the county line into Luzerne, said Phillip Corey, Senior Landman for Corrizo.

Corey said Encana’s departure is “an issue that we’re going to have to discuss internally,” and that the company is “reviewing the situation.” He added that the company is still planning to continue its preparations to drill an exploratory well in Wyoming County by the end of January.

“Our plans have been all along to drill a well,” Corey said. “We’re planning to drill a well prior to Feb. 1 to evaluate the acreage.”

Though Corey said Corrizo’s leased acreage does not extend as far south as Encana’s, the company was aware that the Lackawanna syncline, a downward fold in the earth’s crust commonly known as the Wyoming Valley, may lower the likelihood that commercial quantity gas exists nearby.

A spokeswoman for Williams Production Appalachia said Encana’s decision “has no impact whatsoever” on the company’s activities or decisions. Williams began drilling an exploratory well in September in Benton Township, Columbia County, a few miles from Encana’s Buda 1H well, located near Ricketts Glen State Park.

“Our exploration decisions will be driven by our own business decisions,” Williams spokeswoman Susan Oliver said. “What Encana does does not drive what Williams does.”

A Chesapeake Energy spokesman said that because Encana’s withdrawal “is unrelated to our operations,” the company has no comment on the matter. XTO energy did not return a reporter’s request for comment.