The partners also said hydraulic fracture operations had been initiated in the Cornstalk, Bug Run and Green Park projects in West Virginia.

Water slugging hampered the flow rate of Tussey-1, however the rate is expected to improve as the well cleans up, Alto said.

Alto said although the well would not be brought into production for some time due to pipeline access, the discovery of gas at the Berea level had significantly improved prospectivity in the Little Sandy region.

Norwest has a 60% working interest in the three wells drilled and a 70% working interest in about 12,700 leased acres surrounding the wells, while Alto has a 30% working interest in about 12,700 leased acres and has been carried by Norwest through the initial three-well program.

Meantime, the fracture stimulation of two wells at the lower Rhinestreet Shale in the Cornstalk, Bug Run and Green Park projects has begun, with each individual well flowing gas at unstabilised initial rates of up to 130,000 cfd.

Fracture stimulation operations are planned for the primary target Devonian Shale and operations to connect these wells to an existing gas-gathering system at the Apple Grove Field have already begun.

Alto and Norwest both have a 29% working interest in 36,000 acres in the Cornstalk, Bug Run and Green Park project, while Ascent Resources has operatorship and is paying Norwest and Alto’s share of costs of drilling and completing the first three wells in the project.

Alto also announced yesterday that its Home Run Field project, Kentucky, is producing at 220,000 cfd, with seven of the nine wells now in production and individual rates continuing to stabilise. Norwest is not a partner in this project.

Alto anticipates the remaining two wells will be online in the next few weeks after problems with difficult access due to poor road conditions.

The operator, Hay Exploration, has initiated planning for a further five-well drilling program in the field, which will start in the third quarter of 2006, Alto said.

Alto gained access to four existing well bores to frac at the Devonian Shale level under the participation agreement with Hay, which also provided for the drilling of five wells in the Home Run project, followed by an optional further five-well program.