I beg to differ, but shale, and particularly the Marcellus shale, is the least costly to produce. Initial drilling and fracking costs are higher, but the amount of production far exceeds conventional plays. I’ll give you an example. The average conventional well drilled in PA has net production of 16 mcf per day after the initial three years of flush production. A well such as this would cost $250,000. A Marcellus well, even a poor one, will do 3000 mcf per day. Some have tested at over 20,000 mcf per day. Using the 3000 mcf was as the norm, and reflecting the average cost of such a well at $5,000,000, it would take 187 conventional wells to match the daily output of a mediocre Marcellus well. Do the math and you will understand why Marcellus wells are being drilled so rapidly.
Can you give me a source for the production numbers you cited for a Marcellus well? All I have seen is a chart here:
http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=99414
And I see PA state is releasing production data here, which I haven’t gone through yet:
http://www.marcellusreporting.state.pa.us/OGREReports/Modules/Production/ProductionHome.aspx
There was also a recent FR discussion on the Marcellus here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2617260/posts
I don’t doubt what you are saying, I would just like to see what your sources are for my own education.