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200th Horizontal Well Drilled in Ohio’s Utica Shale Play
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The number of horizontal wells drilled in the Utica shale topped 200 last week, according to data released by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
ODNR reports that 205 horizontal wells have been drilled in eastern Ohio since late 2010, when large energy interests started to step up oil and gas exploration in the Utica shale.
Of those wells drilled, 47 are producing, ODNR records show.
The Utica has attracted 487 horizontal drill permits to date, most in Carroll County. That county has recorded 177 permits, and 52 of those wells have been drilled or are being drilled, while another 27 are in production. All but nine of these permits in Carroll County were awarded to Chesapeake Exploration LLC, a division of Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corp., and Chesapeake operates 25 of the 27 producing wells in the county. Harrison County boasts the second most permits with 63.
Columbiana County has the third-largest number of permits issued with 61, 29 of which have been drilled. One well -- the Sanor well in Knox Township -- is producing.
To date, 15 wells have been permitted in Mahoning County. CNX Gas Co. LLC, a division of Consol Energy Corp., has drilled a well in Ellsworth Township and is drilling another in Jackson Township, ODNR records show.
Chesapeake Energy, which holds 12 permits in the county, has drilled one well. However, that well, in Milton Township, is inactive.
Houston-based Hilcorp Energy also holds a permit to drill in Poland Township near the Carbon Limestone Landfill, ODNR records show.
In Trumbull County, there are permits for two horizontal wells. Halcon Operating Co. has started drilling procedures at the Brugler property in Hartford Township, while CNX Gas still holds a permit to drill at the Wollam Farm in Vienna Township. CNX started to develop that well site last year, but then suspended the project.
ODNR issued eight new permits the week of Dec. 30, records show.
Gulfport Energy received four permits to drill on the Boy Scout camp site in Harrison County. The company has found success with its wells in the southeastern counties of Harrison and Belmont, including its second well on the Shugert farm, which is thus far the most productive well in the Utica.
Hess Ohio Developments LLC was issued a single permit to drill in Belmont County, PDC Energy Inc. was awarded a permit for a horizontal well in Guernsey County, Chesapeake secured a new permit in Jefferson County, while CNX Gas was awarded a horizontal permit for Noble County.
There were no new permits approved for Mahoning, Trumbull or Columbiana counties during the week.
And no recent permits were approved for Lawrence County in western Pennsylvania, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
Since 2011, 36 horizontal wells targeting the Utica and Marcellus shale formations have been permitted in Mercer County, according the DEP.
The DEP did award new permits on Dec. 28 to Hilcorp for two horizontal wells in Mercer County on the James property in Lackawannock Township.
Nine horizontal wells have been permitted in Mercer County, all of them issued in 2012. Besides Hilcorp, Shell Oil, Halcon and Chevron have options in the county, DEP records show.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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