Sage completes natural gas drilling program in Barnett shale

(WO) – Sage Natural Resources LLC recently completed its 2022 Barnett Drilling program, successfully drilling 30 horizontal wells targeting the Barnett shale formation in North Texas.

The 30-well Barnett shale drilling program totaled 96 miles drilled. The average lateral length was approximately 8,200 feet per well, with average spud to rig release under 13 days. On average, each well came in at approximately $745 per drilled and completed lateral foot.

Due to the significant drop in natural gas commodity price through the first quarter of 2023, Sage is suspending its Barnett drilling program. The Company will return to its substantial gas inventory when prices rebound relative to the cost of capital services. Sage plans to focus on its Texas oil assets in the Eagle Ford shale for the balance of 2023, which offers attractive returns and asset diversification.

Gavin D. McQueen, President and CEO of the Company stated, "Sage made an investment decision in October of 2020 during Covid at $2.50 natural gas pricing to drill our first eight well pad. The investment decision made at that time, with respect to all-in capital service costs, were half of what they are today. Since that time, we have drilled 44 extended-reach horizontal wells in the Barnett shale with great success as the commodity price continued to increase to fantastic heights throughout 2022.

“Due to the backlog of domestic supply, natural gas prices have fallen to levels that do not support economic returns. We remain bullish on natural gas over the long-haul due to its growing global demand, but we'll save those reserves for a sunnier day. In the interim, we look forward to kickstarting our Eagle Ford oil program.