Ultra Petroleum Announces Strategic Marcellus Acquisition and Pennsylvania Operations Update
21 Diciembre 2009 - 6:34AM
PR Newswire (US)
HOUSTON, Dec. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ultra Petroleum Corp.
(NYSE: UPL) today announced that it has signed a purchase and sale
agreement to acquire approximately 80,000 (net) acres in the
Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale, from a private company. Following the
acquisition, Ultra Petroleum will hold approximately 250,000 net
acres in this region, with the potential for 1,800 net drilling
locations. Ultra Petroleum expects to pay roughly $400.0 million
for the assets which will be financed using debt. "We are
strategically increasing the scale of our Marcellus position with
assets that rival the returns of our current acreage. With this
acquisition, we believe that our net recovered resource in the
Marcellus alone will exceed 8.5 trillion cubic feet equivalent
(Tcfe), an increase of 3.5 Tcfe from current estimates," stated
Michael D. Watford, Chairman, President and Chief Executive
Officer. The company expects the transaction to close late February
2010, subject to standard closing conditions, with an effective
date of October 1, 2009. Ultra Petroleum in the Marcellus Shale
2009 year-to-date, the company has drilled 30 horizontal wells with
13 producing. Initial production (IP) rates for the producing wells
average 7,500 Mcf per day with preliminary estimated ultimate
recoveries (EURs) ranging from 3.5 to 4.0 Bcf. The company started
2009 with 288,000 gross (152,000 net) acres in the Marcellus.
Through a combination of land acquisitions and swaps, including
today's announcement, Ultra Petroleum has added over 192,000 gross
acres, nearly doubling its position to approximately 480,000 gross
(250,000 net) acres. The company's expanding core position is
concentrated around Tioga, Bradford, Lycoming, Potter, Clinton and
Centre counties in north central Pennsylvania. A PowerPoint
presentation regarding the acquisition is posted on Ultra
Petroleum's homepage and can be found at
http://www.ultrapetroleum.com/. About Ultra Petroleum Ultra
Petroleum Corp. is an independent exploration and production
company focused on developing its long-life natural gas reserves in
the Green River Basin of Wyoming - the Pinedale and Jonah Fields;
and is in the early stages of exploration in the Appalachian Basin
in Pennsylvania. Ultra is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and
trades under the ticker symbol "UPL". The company had 151,443,094
shares outstanding on November 30, 2009. This release can be found
at http://www.ultrapetroleum.com/. This news release includes
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of
the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The opinions,
forecasts, projections or other statements, other than statements
of historical fact, including our ability to consummate the
acquisition described in this release, are forward-looking
statements. Although the company believes that the expectations
reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can
give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been
correct. Certain risks and uncertainties inherent in the company's
businesses are set forth in our filings with the SEC, particularly
in the section entitled "Risk Factors" included in our Annual
Report on Form 10-K for our most recent fiscal year and from time
to time in other filings made by us with the SEC. These risks and
uncertainties include the results of our diligence review of
properties, increased competition, the timing and extent of changes
in prices for oil and gas, particularly in Wyoming, the timing and
extent of the company's success in discovering, developing,
producing and estimating reserves, the effects of weather and
government regulation, availability of oil field personnel,
services, drilling rigs and other equipment, and other factors
listed in the reports filed by the company with the SEC. The SEC
permits oil and gas companies, in their filings with the SEC, to
disclose only proved reserves that a company has demonstrated by
actual production or conclusive formation tests to be economically
and legally producible under existing economic and operating
conditions at oil and gas prices in effect at the time of the
estimate, without future escalation. We include in this press
release the term estimated ultimate recoveries, or EUR, that the
SEC's guidelines strictly prohibit us from including in filings
with the SEC. Investors are urged to consider closely the
disclosure in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, as amended, available
from us at http://www.ultrapetroleum.com/ or from the SEC at
http://www.sec.gov/.
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020226/DATU029LOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Ultra Petroleum Corp.
CONTACT: Kelly L. Whitley, Manager Investor Relations,
+1-281-876-0120, ext. 302, Web Site: http://www.ultrapetroleum.com/
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