Amplify Energy Corp. said June 5 it is accelerating its East Texas drilling program targeting horizontal development of the Cotton Valley Formation.

The Houston-based company is currently running one rig on a two-well surface location in East Texas and recently ran casing on its first well to a total measured depth of 15,315 ft. Drilling operations are underway on the second well and first production from this two-well pad is expected in August.

Formerly Memorial Production Partners, Amplify exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 4 as a corporation with a new name following its restructuring, which eliminated $1.3 billion of debt.

Additionally, Amplify engaged Jefferies LLC to explore and evaluate potential strategic alternatives, including the marketing of certain noncore assets for sale. The company is currently transitioning from an upstream MLP to a growth-oriented E&P company, said Bill Scarff, president and CEO.

"We are making great progress positioning Amplify for growth and long-term success, and the commencement of drilling operations in our core area of East Texas is a key step toward advancing these efforts," Scarff said in a statement. "East Texas is an area where we have had a lot of success as an operator targeting horizontal development of the Cotton Valley, and we look forward to building on that success in 2017."

Amplify said it expects to run one rig in East Texas throughout the remainder of 2017 and drill five additional horizontal Cotton Valley wells.

Development will be focused on the Joaquin and Tatum fields in Shelby, Rusk and Panola counties in East Texas. All-inclusive internal rate of returns (net of transportation costs) is expected to exceed 30% using current strip pricing, according to the company release.

To facilitate continued improvements to its cost structure, Amplify said it also engaged Huron Consulting Group.

At year-end 2016, Amplify's asset position included about 394,000 gross (273,000 net) acres with operations in East Texas/Louisiana, the Rockies, South Texas and offshore California. The company said 72% of its assets were classified as proved developed producing.

On June 5, Amplify also named David Proman, managing director and partner at Fir Tree Partners, as its board chairman. Drew Scoggins, managing partner at Millennial Energy Partners, will serve as chair of the board's audit committee and Alex Shayevsky, senior analyst at Citadel LLC, will head the compensation committee of the board.