BECKLEY — A Texas-based company is placing a bet that conventional wisdom — that the Marcellus shale gas field is uneconomical in southern West Virginia — is incorrect.

In fact, according to Deep Earth Energy, a Fayetteville-based company, more than 100,000 acres in Raleigh County, more than a quarter of the county’s acreage, is either leased or in negotiation to be leased for Marcellus shale gas drilling.

Timothy “T.J.” Boley, managing member of Deep Earth, said his client, New River Resources, contacted his brokerage company to provide professional land services in Raleigh County. New River, Boley said, is interested in “wildcatting,” a drilling industry term describing companies that look for oil and gas where others don’t believe it is located.

“We were approached by New River Resources ... to work on a project to develop the Marcellus shale here in southern West Virginia,” Boley said. “That was a bit of a surprise, because conventional wisdom says that we’re out of the pay zone when you get this far south. My client feels differently about that and has spent quite a bit of money here in Raleigh County and plans to spend more to develop Marcellus shale wells here.” Boley said he feels his client

has information that the general public does not that may indicate the presence of profitable levels of natural gas. Generally, southern West Virginia’s shale resources have been considered too thin to produce an economical flow of natural gas.

“The shale is underneath Raleigh County, West Virginia,” Boley said. “The issue is the thickness, the maturity of the shale, the porosity. ... Until you turn the bit horizontal, you fracture it, you complete it, you have a well, until then, you really don’t know what the payoff is going to be.”

Boley called New River’s plan a “huge risk” but not a “blind guess.”

“No one else would have come down here for a long time,” Boley said. “Companies like to be where there’s already been success.”

If there is production-worthy Marcellus shale gas deposits in Raleigh County, Boley said, drillers would have slowly made their way south anyway. New River Resources, he said, is simply bringing the drilling 15 years ahead of schedule.

“New River has leap-frogged everybody and come down here, because the prices to lease are not nearly as high as they are in Pennsylvania, so they have lower startup cost for your project,” Boley said. “We haven’t had any competition; we haven’t had anybody trying to lease right next to us.”

Waiting for other companies to drill in southern West Virginia, he said, may have been too late for some people.

“We need the boost in our economy today, not 20 years from now,” Boley said. “(Twenty years from now) there might not be anybody here.”

Boley said that according to his client, there is a high degree of certainty that Marcellus shale wells will be drilled in Raleigh County. The majority of the leased property is in eastern Raleigh County, with the bulk of it in the Shady Spring, Town and Richmond districts.

New River Resources, a smaller company, will likely complete “a half dozen or so” wells to prove there is a payload of natural gas and then hope for a bigger operator to come in as a partner, Boley said.

“My client’s business plan has always been — and he said this from the get-go — to attract a ‘Company X,’ one of the big, big players, to come in and develop this field,” Boley said. “You’re looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 million to drill one Marcellus well.”

A bigger operator is needed to make the shale drilling profitable. A significant investment in infrastructure, specifically a pipeline that can handle Marcellus shale capacities of gas, would be required. Before a bigger company takes interest, however, it’s going to require some proof of the area’s shale gas potential.

“That might take drilling half a dozen wells to completion, not core holes, in this area,” Boley said. “At that

point, we’ll be the prettiest girl at the dance. We will have the acreage in place, and we will have proven it up. Then, it won’t be difficult at all to attract that partner. In fact, we’ll be choosing the partner ourselves.”

Once a major player enters the picture, Boley said, the citizens of Raleigh County can expect a lot of change. He pointed to Pennsylvania communities that have boomed as a result of Marcellus shale drilling.

“The growth in some of these areas is truly mind-boggling,” he said. “... There are people who are getting monstrous royalty checks. Instant wealth, I mean, instant.”

Boley, a Fayetteville native who watched many in his graduating class move elsewhere for jobs, said he feels he is a part of something that could now reverse that trend.

“That’s an exciting, exciting thing for me,” Boley said. “What we are trying to do now is get the community prepared for that kind of thing, because it can be quite a shock.”

Southern West Virginians, many of whom grew up around coal and know well the bust that can follow an industry boom, may be wary of a wave of new industry that may leave when the gas runs dry. Boley said the growth potential should be carefully harnessed to ensure long-term growth in the area.

“It’s really up to the community leaders to be involved and start looking at a scenario that if this project works — and there’s a big if here — if this project works, how can we have systems in place to make jobs for local people and attract industry to this area that we couldn’t have before?” Boley said.

He added that there will also be the opportunity for facilities and long-term jobs that will exist as long as the gas

flows from the ground. With the support of the people, Boley said, a gas company can be a powerful force working for the community. He pointed out that not only would a gas boom bring jobs and cash, but also people and corporate philanthropy. “A rise in the economy floats all ships,” he said. “It will improve the overall quality of life.” Raleigh County actually owns some mineral rights, Boley said. If they were to get in on the partnership, they may stand to receive a substantial royalty check in addition to money for leasing the property.

Boley said there has been very little resistance to the planned drilling. Aside from refusals to lease, he said, there have been no problems.

“You can’t force anybody to sign anything. So we don’t try,” Boley said. “We’ll make our pitch to you, and I believe in what I am doing wholeheartedly, so I’m going to make a strong pitch to you. But, if at the end of the day, you don’t want to work with us, we say thank you, and off we go.”

Boley is also eyeing expansion of the properties that could be used for drilling. If New River likes the work Deep

Earth Energy has done in Raleigh County, they may request similar work in contiguous counties.

He said a cursory look at Fayette County suggests there could be interest in as much as 150,000 acres. He said that though there have been no discussions with the entities, there could also be interest in the new property purchased by the Boy Scouts for a high-adventure camp and in National Park Service land.

Boley said Raleigh County citizens should be excited, not concerned about the project. He said surface owner rights are largely protected and often considered heavily by drilling companies. He added that he would also encourage landowners to research the facts about drilling.

Whether or not people like the effects of natural gas drilling, or any extractive industry for that matter, it will continue until a “magic pill” is invented, Boley said.

“If we stop mining for coal or drilling for gas, we turn the lights off,” he said. “If we stop today, this country shuts down. Period.”

— E-mail: tkuykendall@register-herald.com