Alta has drilled or participated in more than a thousand wells in Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Pennsylvania and Alberta, Canada with an emphasis on being an industry leader in creating value while maintaining the strictest standards of corporate responsibility. Beginning in 2004, Alta became one of the first companies in the history of the oil and gas business to target shale gas as a leading operator in the Fayetteville Shale in Arkansas. In Arkansas, Alta used its technical talent to identify the best geologic areas to drill for the Fayetteville Shale and leased the second largest land position in the core of the play.
Alta's engineers were leaders in developing best drilling and completion practices and drilled horizontal wells with the highest sustained flow rates in the play. After the sale of the Arkansas assets in 2008, Alta began an aggressive leasing campaign in the Marcellus Shale play in Pennsylvania. Again, Alta's technical talent focused on what was to become one of the most prolific area of the play in northeastern PA.. In 2011, Alta entered the Duvernay Shale play in Alberta, Canada with a focus on the Kaybob area. Alta established a premier acreage position in the core, liquids-rich window of the play in Kaybob.
Currently Alta owns an interest in approximately 900 Marcellus shale wells together with midstream assets in roughly a quarter of a million net acres and half a million gross acres in northeastern Pennsylvania.