Apache recently added a third drilling rig in Delaware Basin, and the Houston-based company said after that rig completes six wells it will move to Alpine High in Reeves County to drill two 3-well pads. Apache officials told Midland Reporter Telegram they “did not need natural gas at $9 per Mcf to make Alpine High work,” but they will take advantage of current prices along with the relatively new, environmentally friendly infrastructure of pipelines and processing plants.
Enverus vice president Stephen Sagriff added, “This is definitely Apache leaning into a favorable environment for natural gas and NGL prices.” He said Apache’s initial move into Alpine High “was extremely ill-timed due to its overly aggressive development approach coupled with poor natural gas and NGL prices… Everything that could go wrong went wrong.”
APA Corp. said its U.S. Q1 production exceeded expectations thanks to Permian Basin, driven by longer laterals and enhanced completions. Average lateral length increased to nearly 10,000 feet in 2021 from 8,000 in 2019 and 2020.