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Hilcorp Gets More Well Permits for Western Pa.
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Hilcorp Energy Co. continues to seek oil and gas prospects in western Pennsylvania three months after one of its drilling operations was linked to a spate of small earthquakes that rattled the eastern edge of Mahoning County.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued five new permits to Hilcorp June 3, authorizing the company to drill horizontal wells in Mercer County, the agency reports.
Hilcorp's new wells are targeted for the Wengerd farm in Lackawannock Township, Pa.
Since March 10, the day small earthquakes -- one of them a 3.0 magnitude temblor -- linked to a Hilcorp well in Poland Township shook the Valley, Hilcorp has received 34 new permits to drill just across the Ohio state line in western Pennsylvania
Twenty-nine of those permits were issued to Hilcorp for wells in Lawrence County, Pa., while the remaining five were issued last week in Mercer County, directly to the north.
Hilcorp has ceased drilling at the Carbon Limestone Landfill site in Poland Township, after the Ohio Department of Natural Resources determined that a Hilcorp fracking operation at the site likely triggered the quakes. The company had drilled eight wells on two pads there before the earthquakes hit, according to ODNR, and at least two of those wells are in production.
Hilcorp remains the busiest energy company in the northern tier of the Utica shale. In recent months, Halcon Operating Co. announced it had suspended drilling operations in the shale play, while BP America announced in April that it would exit the play and place its leasehold acres in Trumbull County up for sale.
Meantime, the southern tier of the Utica in eastern Ohio is in full ramp-up mode, according to the latest permits issued by ODNR.
Thirty-two horizontal well permits were issued during the week ended June 7, ODNR reported.
Antero Resources, secured 11 permits for wells in Noble County; Gulfport Energy Corp., received eight permits in Monroe and Belmont counties; XTO Energy was awarded two permits in Belmont County; and Chesapeake Energy Corp. was issued two permits in Carroll and Harrison counties, according to ODNR.
Also in the southern tier, Carrizo Utica secured a permit in Guernsey County; Eclipse Resources was awarded two permits for wells in Harrison County; CNX Gas secured three permits to drill in Noble County; EM Energy was awarded a permit for a well in Washington County; and EnerVest Operating was granted a well permit in Tuscarawas County.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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