Welcome to the Business Journal Archives
Search for articles below, or continue to the all new BusinessJournalDaily.com now.
Search
Hilcorp Gets New Permit for Lawrence County Well
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Houston-based Hilcorp Energy Corp. has been issued a permit to drill a horizontal well in Lawrence County, Pa., the company's second on the McConahy farm in Pulaski Township, Pa.
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection records show the permit was issued to Hilcorp Dec. 3 as the company ramps up its presence in the western part of the commonwealth.
This is the fifth horizontal permit secured by Hilcorp within a month. The company is looking to develop, along with partner NiSource Midstream, a large pipeline project that extends from Pulaski Township into northeastern Ohio.
Yesterday in Kanawha County, W. Va., a 20-inch diameter transmission line owned by NiSource exploded near its Columbia Gas Transmission Lanham Compressor Station, about 15 miles north of Charleston. Five homes were destroyed and a portion of Interstate 77 was closed. There were no fatalities
Gas exploration companies such as Hilcorp have concentrated their efforts on developing acreage in the "wet" gas window of the Utica shale, a large rock formation that runs deep beneath eastern Ohio and portions of western Pennsylvania.
The Utica is believed to hold as much as 15 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas, natural-gas liquids and oil.
Thus far, Hilcorp has been issued 18 permits for horizontal wells in Lawrence County and one in Mahoning County in Poland Township in Ohio.
No new permits were issued in Mercer County over the last week, according to DEP data.
Meantime, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources reports six new permits were issued throughout the state from Dec. 2 to Dec. 8. Chesapeake Exploration LLC, a division of Chesapeake Energy, was issued two permits for horizontal wells in Harrison County and a permit for a new well in Carroll County.
Atlas Noble LLC was also issued a permit to drill a new well in Harrison County.
And, R.E. Gas Development LLC, a privately held company out of Evans City, Pa., was issued two permits for new wells in Carroll County, ODNR records show.
Over the last two years, ODNR has issued 469 horizontal permits to energy companies exploring oil and gas prospects in the Utica, and 193 wells are drilled, ODNR reports.
Of those wells drilled, 45 are now producing, ODNR records show.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
CLICK HERE to subscribe to our twice-monthly print edition.