Halcon: 'Premature' to Comment on $70M Project
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- A statement released Wednesday afternoon by Houston-based Halcon Resources Corp. says it's "premature" to comment on viability of the company's proposed $70 million investment to build a transloading terminal at the Ohio Commerce Park in Lordstown.
Concerns about the project's future arose after Halcon confirmed that it planned to suspend drilling in the Utica shale this year, as it assesses the performance of a handful of wells now producing or will be producing in the play (READ STORY).
"It's premature to comment on the future development of the rail terminal as it's dependent on the overall development of the northern tier, not just by Halcon, but other operators in the area," Halcon said in its sttatement.
Halcon also said that it plans to honor the terms of all the lease agreements it has signed with landowners in this region.
Last summer, officials announced a proposal to construct a large offloading terminal at the Commerce Park that would store and then load onto rail cars crude oil and condensate trucked in from wells drilled in the Utica shale (READ STORY).
Major energy companies such as BP, Consol Energy, Chesapeake Energy Corp., and Hilcorp Energy Co. have staked out claims in the northern portion of the Utica in Mahoning and Trumbull Counties, and Mercer and Lawrence counties in western Pennsylvania.
At least one other company has moved its rigs from the northern tier of the Utica and is now exploring other areas to the south.
Consol Energy has drilled three wells in Mahoning County and was drilling another in Trumbull County before it suspended its drilling program in the north to focus on its acreage holdings in the southern -- and thus far more lucrative -- tier of the Utica play.
Last week Halcon announced during a conference call with analysts that it has no plans to drill any new wells in the Utica this year. Halcon CEO Floyd C. Wilson said that the wells drilled in the northern portion of Trumbull County in Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania "haven't been too wonderful," and will assess the wells now in development.
In November, also during a conference call, Wilson described the results from one of the wells in Trumbull County as "shitty" (READ STORY)
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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