Pioneer Natural Resources Company provides results from wells recently drilled in South Texas and on the North Slope of Alaska.

In South Texas, Pioneer completed its first horizontal well in the Eagle Ford shale play. The Friedrichs Gas Unit #1, drilled in Dewitt County, had an initial flow rate of 3.7 million cubic feet equivalent per day, including 2.7 million cubic feet per day of natural gas and 160 barrels per day of condensate after partially completing only five stages of a planned eight-stage completion.

Mechanical problems in the original lateral required a sidetrack with a modified well path. The modified well path significantly reduced the well’s exposure to the main reservoir section in the brittle shale found at the base of the Eagle Ford formation. Pioneer estimates that only two stages of the fracture stimulation, representing less than 500 feet of the 3,000-foot lateral, penetrated the brittle shale and are contributing to gas production.

Scott Sheffield, Pioneer’s Chairman and CEO, stated, “It is unfortunate that this first well had mechanical issues which did not allow us to properly test the full potential of the Eagle Ford shale in this area. We have drilled more than 150 wells through the Eagle Ford shale as we developed the deeper Edwards formation and recognize the potential that underlies our 310,000 gross acres in the play. Pursuant to our original plans to test our extensive acreage position, we will drill a second Eagle Ford well more than 40 miles southwest of the first location in the third quarter of this year. We then plan to drill additional wells to high grade our acreage, including another well in the Friedrichs area.”

At Pioneer’s Oooguruk project on the North Slope, operations are underway to drill four horizontal laterals in the Nuiqsut formation during the second and third quarters of 2009. Two of these laterals will be fracture-stimulated producing wells and two will be water injection wells.

The first water injection well was completed and is being produced temporarily to measure the unstimulated productive capability of the Nuiqsut formation. It was tested at an initial rate of 2,500 barrels of oil per day (BOPD) and has been put on production at a stabilized rate of approximately 1,000 BOPD.

“The initial results from this Nuiqsut well are very encouraging, with initial production exceeding our expectations. Pioneer’s net production from Oooguruk was forecast to average 5,000 BOPD in 2009 and gradually increase to 10,000 to 14,000 BOPD in 2011 as development drilling continues. Later this year, we will reevaluate our production profile to incorporate higher than expected performance from our Kuparuk wells, early waterflood results and the performance of our planned fracture-stimulated Nuiqsut wells,” Sheffield continued.

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