Pritchard Capital Partners LLC analyst Ray Deacon calls acreage prices in the Marcellus shale play "atmospheric," in a recent report.

Chesapeake Energy Corp.'s proposed joint venture with Epsilon Energy Ltd. for 11,500 acres in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, implies a transaction price of $13,300 per acre, adjusting for net production of 5 million cubic feet per day value of $25 million. Additionally, sixteen companies bid an average of $4,200 per acre, more than double the $2,000 per acre average bid last year, on six parcels totaling some 32,000 acres in the ...