During the second quarter, PetroQuest Energy Inc., Lafayette, La., (NYSE: PQ) completed five horizontal wells in the Woodford shale and now has 40,000 net acres in the development. The company also reports a second-quarter income of $21.7 million compared with $9.6 million in the same quarter a year ago.
             

“We are very pleased with our performance this quarter where we once again set company records in production, net income and cash flow,” says PetroQuest chief executive Charles T. Goodson. “Based upon our year-to-date results and our outlook on commodity prices and production, we now expect to post reserve growth in excess of 40% from the drillbit alone in 2008.”
            

Goodson says the company is currently completing its 20th and 22nd wells and has reached total depth on its 21st and 23rd Woodford wells. “Development of the company's acreage is expected to be accelerated with the addition of a fourth operated rig during the fourth quarter,” Goodson says.
            

He adds that drilling continues in the Fayetteville shale where the company has five rigs working. Since the start of this program in December 2007, Goodson adds that the company has participated in drilling 67 wells in the core area.
            

“The company expects to participate in a total of 110 to 130 wells during 2008,” Goodson says. “The company's current net production rate in the Fayetteville shale is approximately 5 million cubic feet per day, which is an increase of 150% from the average daily production rate during the first quarter of 2008.”
            

In East Texas, PetroQuest has completed its second horizontal well in the Weekley prospect targeting oil in the Buda objective. The well continues to clean up, and has reached rates as high as 275 barrels of oil per day. The company is currently drilling its third well in the Weekley prospect and expects to reach total depth in approximately two weeks, Goodson says.
             

In addition, the company recently reached total depth on its fifth well in the Palmer prospect targeting the lower Cotton Valley Lime formation. The well logged approximately 23 net feet of pay and is expected to be completed in a week, he adds.
            

PetroQuest interests are in the Arkoma Basin, East Texas, South Louisiana and the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico. JAS