The promise of unconventional resources was strong enough to compel a small exploration and production company to sell off non-core assets and focus on the development of shale plays, an executive at Rosetta Resources Inc. said recently.

John Clayton, senior vice president, asset development, at Rosetta Resources Inc., said the company believes in the future development of Eagle Ford. About two years ago, Rosetta had assets in 10 different states. Its assets included acreage in the Sacramento Basin, Green River Basin, San Juan Basin, DJ Basin, Arkalatex Basin as well as assets in South Texas and the Gulf of Mexico. Now it has less.

Speaking to 4,000 attendees at Hart Energy's Eagle Ford: Developing Unconventional Gas (DUG) Conference and Exhibition in San Antonio, Clayton said Rosetta decided its core assets should be in unconventional plays after an extensive portfolio review.

It sold off everything except two shale plays: the Eagle Ford in South Texas and the Alberta Bakken in the southern Alberta Basin in northwestern Montana. "We're allin on this play," he said.

As a result of its analysis, Rosetta's focus is sharper, its options are broader and its portfolio is more valuable, Clayton said. "You can only make good decisions if you have options. We have a tremendous amount of options on our assets today and our focus has never been clearer."

Within South Texas, Rosetta has 65,000 net acres in the Eagle Ford, with more than 75% of that acreage in the liquids window of the Eagle Ford. "We focused on quality rather than quantity," he said.

As of last year, its Eagle Ford wells were producing about 65 million cubic feet (MMcf) equivalent per day. Since then, it has expanded its inventory to nearly 50 producing wells that are making more than 200 MMcf equivalent per day. At that rate, Rosetta accounts for nearly 8% of Eagle Ford's production today.

The value of Rosetta's portfolio continues to grow as a result of its decision to focus on unconventional plays. As of the end of 2009, Rosetta's proven reserves were around 351 billion cubic feet (Bcf) equivalent. Its focus on the promise of unconventional reserves in South Texas has allowed Rosetta to grow its reserves to 970 Bcf equivalent as of June 2011, about 90% of which is in the Eagle Ford.

"The tremendous success in this play has grown our company off the charts," he said.

Rosetta spud its discovery well nearly two years ago and has learned a lot about the asset since then. It initially believed that its optimum well spacing would be around one well for each 100 acres. Since then, it has learned that the optimum spacing is between 55 and 100 acres per well.

Currently, Rosetta is on pace to drill and complete about 60 wells per year, a pace which should keep it drilling between 7.5 and 12 years on its current acreage. To complete that amount of activity, Rosetta plans to invest between $3.3 billion and $5.3 billion in capital expenditures.

At its current pace of 60 wells per year, it could be drilling through September 2021.

In its early stages, Rosetta took seven days to stimulate a well in 15 separate stages. Since then it has improved its time by working off pads and can do three wells in 15 stages in eight days.

In response to questions following his presentation, he said the company did not have immediate plans to take on a partner or to make dividend payments to its current shareholders.

Rosetta's Gates Ranch acreage is its single largest holding in the Eagle Ford, a property totaling nearly 26,500 net acres. As of one year ago, Rosetta drilled 21 horizontal wells in the property. "We were trying to delineate the true value of the underlying value of this asset," Clayton said.

Since then, Rosetta has drilled and completed more than 40 wells on the ranch.

Since delineation was complete, Rosetta started drilling wells on pads. Unless restricted by the geometry of the ranch, Rosetta plans to drill at least three wells per pad in the future.