Marcellus Shale: Range Resources Drilling Update 11/20/08

Range Resources ( RRC ) is out with a drilling update, 11/20/08, on their Marcellus Shale natural gas acreage.

Last month Range and MarkWest Energy Partners, L.P. (NYSE:MWE) announced completion of the first phase of the Marcellus Shale infrastructure. The initial phase included gas gathering and compression as well as Pennsylvania's first large-scale gas processing facility. Since then Range has been completing production facilities and connecting previously drilled wells to the gas gathering system. Currently, seven wells are tied into the gas processing facility and net sales from these wells total 30 Mmcfe per day.

MarkWest is currently undertaking additional infrastructure development which will serve to expand the gathering system and add gas processing capacity. A cryogenic plant is expected to be online by the end of first quarter 2009, increasing gas processing capacity to 60 Mmcf per day. By year-end 2009 or early 2010, processing capacity is anticipated to be 180 Mmcf per day. As additional gas processing capacity is completed, Range will turn on additional wells. Range currently plans to enter 2009 with three horizontal rigs, increasing to six rigs by the end of 2009. By year-end 2009, Range anticipates that production will reach 80 to 100 Mmcfe per day, net to its interest.

John H. Pinkerton, Chairman and CEO of Range Resources, commented, "We continue to make exciting progress in the Marcellus Shale play as production rates are exceeding expectations. Our technical team is making excellent headway in reducing drilling costs which is very important as we ramp up our development activities. Having now transitioned from the testing phase to the development phase, the Marcellus Shale play should greatly enhance our future production, reserves and capital efficiency. Given its proximity to the northeastern gas markets, the Marcellus Shale play is ideally located to provide a new source of domestic, clean-burning natural gas for many years to come. Importantly, during this period of economic uncertainty, the Marcellus Shale play has the potential to add tens of thousands of new jobs and billions of dollars of economic benefit

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