One of our most distinctive characteristics is our commitment and ability to grow production and reserves organically through the drillbit in areas with large unconventional accumulations of natural gas, oil and NGLs. We’re currently utilizing approximately 161 operated drilling rigs and 100 non-operated drilling rigs to further develop our inventory of approximately 39,200 net drillsites. Of Chesapeake’s 161 operated rigs, 125 are drilling wells primarily focused on developing unconventional liquids-rich plays, 34 are drilling wells primarily focused on unconventional natural gas plays and two are drilling conventional natural gas plays. By April 1, 2012, the company estimates it will be using 157 operated rigs, of which 131 will be drilling wells primarily focused on developing unconventional liquids-rich plays, while only 26 will be drilling wells primarily focused on unconventional natural gas plays and no rigs will be drilling conventional natural gas plays — the first time in the company’s nearly 23-year history it has not been drilling a conventional natural gas well.
For many years, we have been actively investing large amounts of capital in leasehold, 3-D seismic information and human resources to take full advantage of our capacity to grow through the drillbit. We are one of the few large-cap independent natural gas and oil companies that have been able to consistently increase production, which we have successfully achieved for the past 22 consecutive years.
We believe key elements of the success and scale of our drilling programs have been our recognition earlier than most of our competitors that:
- New horizontal drilling and completion techniques would enable development of previously uneconomic natural gas and oil reservoirs
- Various shale and other unconventional formations could be recognized and developed as potentially prolific reservoirs rather than just as source rocks for conventional reservoirs
In response to our early recognition of these trends, we have proactively hired thousands of new employees and have built what we believe is the largest combined inventory of onshore leasehold and 3-D seismic in the U.S. These are the building blocks of our successful large-scale drilling program and the foundation of value creation for our company.