Pennsylvania-based shale producer Rice Energy plans to spend nearly $1.3 billion this year to fund continued development in the Appalachian basin, as it blew past fourth-quarter production estimates.
The vast majority of the 2017 spend - about $1.04 billion - will go towards drilling and completing wells in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays. Rice has $585 million allocated to the Marcellus and $300 million earmarked for its operated Utica plans.
