Atlas Resources uses strategic partnerships and joint ventures to grow and develop unconventional shale plays in multiple regions, president and chief executive officer Dr. Ed Cohen told an audience at Hart Energy's Developing Unconventional Gas Conference and Exhibition in Pittsburgh.

"We love the unconventionals. There is nothing like these shale plays," said Cohen.

Part of the corporation's business strategy is to use other people's capital for growth opportunities, Cohen said. That said, Atlas maintains its investor focus. "It's not what we receive, it's what the investor receives," he said.

The upstream master limited partnership currently holds more than 8,500 producing wells, with about 31.3 million cubic feet (MMcf) per day of net production.

Atlas will connect 16 horizontal Marcellus wells in the first quarter of 2012, all of which were funded through prior syndication programs. Eleven of these wells were drilled in 2011 and five were previously completed. Atlas will have a 30% net working interest in these 16 Marcellus wells, Cohen said.

In addition, Atlas plans to drill several new Marcellus wells in northeastern Pennsylvania in 2012. This will represent Atlas' first development in this part of the Marcellus shale. These wells will be funded through its investment partnership business.

Within West Virginia, Atlas entered a joint venture to drill wells into the Marcellus shale formation in Upshur County, West Virginia. Under that partnership, Atlas will be the operator of the wells, while drilling through Atlas' investment management business.

Within Ohio, Atlas operates more than 2,900 producing wells on more than 75,000 net acres producing 9 million cubic feet per day of natural gas.

In addition, Atlas controls about 100,000 net acres in northeastern Tennessee where it operates more than 450 wells in the region.

Atlas also holds 180,000 acres through a farm-in arrangement with Black Raven Energy in northeastern Colorado. Its recent well report indicated about 250,000 cubic feet per day of initial production. Its New Albany assets include 130,000 net acres, about 83% of which are undeveloped. Its current production is about 3.1 million cubic feet per day.

Atlas recently announced that its board of directors approved a plan to create a newly formed exploration and production master limited partnership named Atlas Resource Partners LP, which will hold all of its current natural gas and oil assets and its partnership management business. Atlas Resource Partners LP is currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlas Energy LP.

Atlas Resource Partners will seek exploration and production growth opportunities through both strategic acquisitions and organic development, Cohen said.

The sum of Atlas' operations have led to a steady growth in general partner’s cash flow streams and, looking forward, Atlas expects to benefit from strong cash flow growth without any investment of its own capital, Cohen said.

"We tend to use other people's money," he said.

Meanwhile, Atlas has a separate master limited partnership which operates midstream assets in several plays. Atlas Pipeline Partners LP, the company's pipeline master limited partnership, has more than 8,600 miles of gathering pipeline diversified across three systems with important exposure to liquids-rich production as well as stable residue gas areas. It owns five processing facilities, including state-of-the art cryogenic facilities.

The midstream master limited partnership has assets in Oklahoma, southern Kansas and northern and western Texas. It also owns a 20% interest in west Texas LPG Partnership, which is operated by Chevron Corp.

Contact the author, Keefe Borden, at kborden@hartenergy.com.