Goodrich Petroleum stock offering to steep up drilling in Tuscaloosa Marine Shale

10 16, 2013 by The Advocate

Houston-based Goodrich Petroleum Corp. expects to net $144.2 million from issuing 6 million shares of stock and plans to use the money to accelerate its drilling program in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale, which stretches across the middle of Louisiana.

The company has added a second horizontal drilling rig in the formation, increasing its 2013 Tuscaloosa budget to $75 million, a $25 million increase. Goodrich said it expects to spend $300 million drilling Tuscaloosa wells in 2014 and will have five rigs working in the formation by the end of 2014.

In July, Goodrich acquired Devon Energy Corp.’s two-thirds share of the 277,000 leased acres in the Tuscaloosa for $26.7 million. The deal upped Goodrich’s holdings to 320,000 acres in the Tuscaloosa and made the company the largest player in the formation.

Goodrich President and Chief Operating Office Robert Turnham Jr. said at the time the company expected to spend $50 million on drilling in the Tuscaloosa in 2013 and $150 million in 2014.

But under the right circumstances, Goodrich would love to double that number, he said.

Those circumstances have apparently arrived.

Goodrich could sell an additional 900,000 shares if the demand is there, and those shares could generate $21.7 million more for Goodrich.

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