Petrohawk discovers shale gas field in South Texas

Petrohawk has announced a significant new natural gas field discovery in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas. This new field in La Salle County, Texas, was discovered after extensive regional subsurface and seismic mapping, geochemical analysis and petrophysical study.
The company has leased over 100,000 net acres in what it believes to be the most prospective areas for commercial production from the Eagle Ford Shale. The field is located immediately south of the Stuart City Field, which is on the Edwards Reef Trend that extends across South Texas.

"This discovery folds perfectly into our portfolio of unconventional resource assets," said Dick Stoneburner, Chief Operating Officer.
"Petrohawk's staff has extensive experience in the acquisition and development of horizontal plays as exhibited by our results in the Haynesville Shale and Fayetteville Shale plays. Leveraging that expertise to uncover new opportunities like the Eagle Ford Shale adds significantly to our playbook."

The discovery well, the STS #241-1H, was drilled to an approximate true vertical depth of 11,300 feet during which extensive coring and open hole logging was performed. An approximate 3,200-foot lateral was drilled and subsequently fracture stimulated with over 2 mm pounds of sand in ten stages.
The well was placed on production at a rate of 9.1 mm cf of natural gas equivalent per day (7.6 mm cf of natural gas per day and 250 barrels of condensate per day).

A confirmation well, the second well drilled on the project, the Dora Martin #1H, which is approximately 15 miles from the discovery well, has been drilled, cored and logged. The quality of the Eagle Ford Shale in this well appears to be superior to that found in the STS #241-1H.
The company is currently drilling the lateral on this second well. A third well is expected to spud by mid-November.

Petrohawk expects drilling and completion costs for development wells to range between $ 5 and $ 7 mm. Development costs, including one rig that will run continuously on the project, have already been included in the company's published 2008 and 2009 capital plans. The company plans to access existing gathering and transportation infrastructure, further improving lower overall development costs.
Petrohawk is the operator and owns 90 % working interest in the project, with 10 % owned by industry partners.