The Utah Fuel-2 well originally came on-stream in 1953 and produced 11.9 billion cubic feet of natural gas until 1964 when it was shut-in.

Following the restoration of production, the well was tested and flowed at a sustainable rate of 1.5 million cubic feet per day, or 800,000 cubic feet per day net to Marion.

“Following the successful completion and testing of the Ridge Runner 13-17 at 3.1 million cubic feet per day, the Utah Fuel-2 is an additional, important step towards confirming the existence of a potentially large natural gas resource in the Ferron sandstone as previously indicated by independent reservoir engineers,” Marion CEO Jeff Clarke said.

“In addition, it shows that even those areas that were produced in the 1950’s and 1960’s were not drained efficiently and still have substantial reserves remaining.”

Clarke added that Marion believed the Ferron sandstone could contain potential reserves exceeding 500 billion cubic feet of natural gas net to the company.

Following recent positive drilling results, the Marion has decided to accelerate its Utah drilling program and is planning to drill 35 new wells during the remainder of this year in the Clear Creek and Helper projects.

The Clear Creek unit - which comprises about 17,090 acres – is in Carbon and Emery counties, about 12 miles (19km) west of the Drunkards Wash field in the Uinta Basin in central Utah. Marion has a 67.5% interest in the project.

Drilled in the 1950s, the field mostly produced throughout the late 1960s on 1000 acres spacing. It has produced a total of 137 Bcf of natural gas from the conventional Ferron sand reservoir.