Latest Well Permits Issued in Columbiana, Mercer Counties
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The Ohio Department of Natural Resources issued eight new permits last week for oil and gas exploration in the Utica shale, one of them for Columbiana County.
At the same time, interest in developing the Utica in nearby Mercer County, Pa., continues as the state Department of Environmental Protection last week awarded three new permits for horizontal wells there, records show.
Houston-based Halcon Resources secured all three permits to drill in Mercer County, according to DEP data. Halcon was issued two horizontal well permits on March 8, while another horizontal permit was approved March 11 for the Stevenson unit in Salem Township.
Halcon has emerged as one of the more aggressive drillers in this part of Pennsylvania since it purchased the leasehold position of Carrizo Oil and Gas last year.
Since April 2012, Halcon has secured permits for seven wells in Mercer County and has drilled at least one. Halcon has also drilled a well in Hartford Township in Trumbull County, and has another permit to drill in Lordstown Township.
Hilcorp Energy has five permits in Mercer, while SWEPI -- a division of Royal Dutch Shell -- and Chevron-Appalachia hold three permits each, DEP records show.
There were no permits issued last week for sites in Lawrence County, Pa., according to DEP data.
Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy continued its aggressive permitting activity in eastern Ohio last week, as the energy giant secured four new permits for horizontal wells in Columbiana and Carroll counties, ODNR records show.
ODNR issued Chesapeake a permit March 12 for a new well on the Dye farm in Center Township in Columbiana County, records show. Three additional permits were awarded to Chesapeake for wells in Loudon, Perry and East townships in Carroll County, directly to the south of Columbiana.
No new permits were recorded for wells in Mahoning or Trumbull counties during the week, according to ODNR records.
Gulfport Energy, also based in Oklahoma City, received two new permits to drill on the Wagner farm in Harrison County, ODNR reports. Gulfport's initial Wagner 1-28H well is now producing and last September tested at a peak rate of 4,650 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
At the time, the Wagner 1-28H well tested as the most productive well in the Utica, only to be surpassed by two other Gulfport wells in Belmont County.
Two other energy companies also received permits for Utica exploration last week, ODNR reported.
Atlas Noble LLC received a permit to drill at the Reese/Cramblett site in Harrison County, while PDC Energy Inc. was issued a permit to drill at the Garvin property in Noble County.
As of March 16, the rig count in Ohio's Utica shale stood at 34, and 575 permits have been issued since 2011, ODDNR records show.
ODNR reported that 272 horizontal wells have been drilled since with 77 now in production.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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