Gastar Exploration Ltd. issued an operational and financial update for the third quarter of 2011. The company is active in exploring and developing oil and gas resources in the Appalachian Basin and Midcontinent areas of the United States.

Gastar Exploration reported net income of $1.0 million, or $0.02 per diluted share, in the third quarter of 2011, a vast improvement over the company’s net loss of $16.4 million, or $0.33 per share, in the comparable quarter last year.

Gastar Exploration is operating two rigs in the Appalachian Basin and is making progress on a development program targeting the Marcellus Shale in West Virginia. The company estimates that it will have nineteen horizontal wells either producing or waiting on fracturing operations by the end of 2011.

Gastar Exploration has acreage in East Texas and is developing various sands in the Bossier formation. The company spent $4.2 million in this area in the third quarter of 2011, and reported average daily production of 16.6 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalents per day.

For more information on the company, go to www.gastar.com

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