New Drilling Permits for Columbiana, Mercer Counties
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Seventeen new horizontal drilling permits were issued last week by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, including one for a new oil and gas well in Columbiana County, records show.
ODNR awarded Houston-based Hilcorp Energy a permit Jan. 8 to drill in Salem Township at the Grubbs property. It is the company's first well permit in Columbiana County and the 62nd permit to be issued in that county.
Hilcorp has permits in Mahoning County, as well as Mercer and Lawrence counties in western Pennsylvania.
ODNR also issued 16 other permits to companies looking to drill for oil and gas in eastern Ohio's Utica shale.
Gulfport Energy Corp., based in Oklahoma City, was issued three permits, two in Belmont County and one in Harrison County. The company has focused its drilling activity on this part of the state since production rates from wells drilled here several months ago exceeded projections.
Gulfport''s Shugert 1-12H well in Belmont County is the most productive well in the Utica to date.
Six new permits for horizontal wells were issued to Chesapeake Exploration LLC for sites in Harrison, Jefferson and Carroll counties, ODNR records show.
Also, ODNR let three permits to Hess Ohio Developments LLC for a well site in Guernsey County, while the company's joint venture partner, CNX Gas Co. LLC, a division of Consol Energy, was issued three horizontal permits to drill in Noble County.
A single permit was also awarded to Antero Resources Appalachian Corp. for a new horizontal well in Noble County.
There were no new permits issued for Mahoning or Trumbull counties.
In western Pennsylvania, Halcon Resources was awarded a horizontal permit to drill a new oil and gas well in Mercer County, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
The new permit, issued Jan. 8, allows Halcon to drill a new well on the Gallagher property in Greene Township.
Halcon has secured two other permits in Mercer County since it purchased leases once owned by Carizzo Oil & Gas. Halcon is currently drilling a well in Trumbull County on the Brughler property in Hartford Township.
The company has also filed applications for two new well permits in Lordstown, according to ODNR records.
In September, Halcon filed applications for two new wells targeting the Utica/Point Pleasant formation, one along Brunstetter Road on the Kibler property and another near Highland Avenue on the Hall property.
There were no new permits issued for Lawrence County is western Pennsylvania, records show.
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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