Washington (Platts)--20Feb2013/141 pm EST/1841 GMT

Natural gas production from Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale more than doubled to 6.3 Bcf/d last year from 2011 despite a declining rig count in the region, the state Department of Environmental Protection said late Tuesday.

The semi-annual production report, compiled from producers' reports, only covers dry gas from unconventional wells; it does not include natural gas liquids or condensate volumes.

Sequentially, the DEP data showed a 45% increase in gas production between the first half of last year and the second half, to 6.3 Bcf/d.from 4.36 Bcf/d, as more wells were completed and other infrastructure came online.

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Producers during this period said they had backlogs of drilled wells awaiting completion or delayed pipeline connections, indicating production could have been even higher.

Even as output ballooned from 3.14 Bcf/d in 2011, however, producers also began to drastically cut back on the number of drilling rigs in the play amid continuing low gas prices. According to Baker Hughes, Pennsylvania has lost 45 rigs between this and last February, to 65 from 100.

Four counties in northeast Pennsylvania -- Bradford, Susquehanna, Lycoming and Tioga -- dominated Pennsylvania's dry gas production, accounting for just over 4 Bcf/d of production.

In the wetter, southwestern portion of the state near Pittsburgh, Greene County had the most production, at 600,000 Mcf/d.

Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy was the state's top producer -- by a mile -- as its nearly 1.4 Bcf/d of production in the second half of last year was more than double second-place Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas' roughly 700,000 Mcf/d.

Nonetheless, Cabot had the top three producing wells in the state for the second half of 2012, according to DEP's data, all in Susquehanna County. Its biggest well, the A. Heitzenroder 3 well in Springville Township, Susquehanna County, produced 22,428 Mcf/d on average during the last half of the year.

Cabot also had 11 of the state's top 25 wells, and four of the top five gas wells.

--Bill Holland, bill_holland@platts.com
--Edited by Carla Bass, carla_bass@platts.com

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