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Ohio Awards Drilling Contracts for State Parks – Salt Fork Surprise

Yesterday, the Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) met to award contracts to drill under (not on) several Ohio state parks, including the 20,000-acre Salt Fork State Park in Guernsey County. Anti-fossil fuel nutters didn’t disappoint. They showed up and dressed up in burlap bags and silly hats, standing along a wall to protest against the proceeding. Fortunately, the protesters didn’t disrupt or stop the proceeding (they had been threatened with arrest if they did). The big news (for us) is that Encino Energy, which has long coveted the Salt Fork State Park property, did NOT win the contract for it! At some point, Encino pulled its proposal for Salt Fork and instead concentrated on several other parcels. The contract for Salt Fork was awarded to Infinity Natural Resources. We have the complete list of who won which contracts and how much they are paying in signing bonuses and royalties.
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Utica Drilling in Columbiana County, OH, Came Alive in November

Columbiana County, OH, located in the northern portion of the Utica Shale play in the Buckeye State, has recently come roaring back to life. In 2022, there were 41 permits issued to drill in the Utica in Columbiana County. So far, in 2023, there have been 35 permits issued to drill in Columbiana County. But here’s the thing: 16 of this year’s 35 permits (half!) were issued in November! It’s like Columbiana had been asleep for most of this year, and then it suddenly came alive.
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22 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Nov 6 – 12

New shale permits issued for Nov 6 – 12 in the Marcellus/Utica slipped but still turned in a respectable number. There were 22 new permits issued last week, versus 37 issued the week before. Last week’s permit tally included 6 new permits in Pennsylvania, 16 new permits in Ohio, and no new permits in West Virginia. Hilcorp Energy was the winner of most permits issued, with 12 new permits issued for a single well pad in Columbiana County, OH.
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Leasing in Columbiana County Picks Up; Bonuses & Royalties Down

Once upon a time (roughly 12 years ago), Chesapeake Energy and other shale drillers were leasing property in Columbiana County, OH, in deals that often paid $6,000 per acre for a signing bonus and granted 20% royalties for any oil or gas produced. According to an analysis by the Youngstown Business Journal, those days are long gone. However, many of those original leases have expired, and there is a new push to re-lease in the county, says a Youngstown attorney specializing in oil and gas. Just don’t expect big signing bonuses and royalty rates.
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18 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jul 31 – Aug 6

New shale permits issued for Jul 31 – Aug 6 in the Marcellus/Utica were down a lot from the previous week. There were 14 new permits issued last week, down more than half from the 29 issued the previous week. Last week’s permit tally included just 4 new permits in Pennsylvania (very low), 14 new permits in Ohio, and no new permits in West Virginia (for the second week in a row). The top permittee for the week was Encino Energy, receiving 8 permits spread evenly between Harrison and Tuscarawas counties in Ohio.
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17 New Shale Well Permits Issued for OH-WV (Not PA) Jul 10-16

We’re trying not to sound too PO’d (personally offended) here, but once again, in what seems to be an every month or two occurrence, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) online oil and gas permitting database is throwing an error. So, we are left with no permit numbers for PA for the week of July 10-16. Neither the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) reporting system nor the West Virginia DEP reporting system have these problems. It is only the PA DEP that routinely goes “off the air.” Why is that? [Rant over] Even without PA’s numbers, OH and WV combined issued 17 permits last week, versus the pathetic 11 total from the prior week that included PA.
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Hilcorp Well Leak in Columbiana OH Fixed, Evacuees Return Home

Yesterday MDN brought you the news that a third-party contractor “struck a well head” on a Hilcorp shale well pad in Columbiana County, Ohio, resulting in a leak that forced the evacuation of 450 people within a mile of the well site (see Columbiana County, OH Evacuates 450 After Hilcorp Gas Well Accident). Good news. The leak has been fixed, the well head replaced, and the evacuees have returned home.
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Columbiana County, OH Evacuates 450 After Hilcorp Gas Well Accident

Natural gas well head (sometimes called a Christmas tree)

Roughly 450 people within a one-mile radius of a Hilcorp Energy well pad in Fairfield Township (Columbiana County, OH) were evacuated following a mishap at the pad. Hilcorp says a third-party contractor “struck a well head” on the pad around 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, causing natural gas to leak into the air. What does that mean, that someone struck a well head?
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26 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV May 8-14

New shale permits issued for May 8-14 in the Marcellus/Utica rose from the prior week. There were 26 new permits issued last week, up from 20 in the prior week (and 18 the week before that). Last week’s tally included 13 new permits for Pennsylvania, 10 new permits for Ohio, and 3 new permits in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits was CNX Resources, with 7 permits issued (5 of them in Westmoreland County, PA, and 2 in Greene County, PA). Encino Energy, showing up as EAP Ohio in the report, had the second-highest tally with 5 permits (issued in Harrison County, OH).
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20 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV May 1-7

New shale permits issued for May 1-7 in the Marcellus/Utica rose slightly from the prior week. There were 20 new permits issued last week, up from 18 in the prior week. Last week’s tally included 15 new permits for Pennsylvania, 5 new permits for Ohio, and no new permits in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits was PennEnergy Resources, with 5 permits issued in Armstrong County, PA. Chesapeake Energy was second-highest, with 4 permits issued in Bradford County, PA.
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18 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 24-30

New shale permits issued for Apr. 24-30 in the Marcellus/Utica fell from the prior week. There were 18 new permits issued last week, down from 25 in the prior week. Last week’s tally included 8 new permits for Pennsylvania, 4 new permits for Ohio, and 6 new permits in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits was Antero Resources, with 6 permits issued in Tyler County, WV. EQT (Rice Drilling) was second-highest, with 4 permits issued in Greene County, PA.
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29 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Feb 27-Mar 5

New shale permits issued for Feb. 27 through Mar. 5 in the Marcellus/Utica stayed the same as the prior week. There were 29 new permits issued in total last week, including 7 new permits for Pennsylvania, 20 new permits for Ohio, and 2 new permits issued in West Virginia. Last week the top receiver of new permits was Hilcorp Energy with 8 new permits–all of them in Columbiana County, OH. The second highest number of permits went to Encino Energy, with 4 permits in Carroll County and 2 in Columbiana County. EOG Resources also received 4 permits in Carroll County. It seems the northern part of the Ohio Utica saw a lot of love last week.
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43 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Oct 31-Nov 6

New shale permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica came roaring back during the week of Oct. 31 through Nov. 6. Both Pennsylvania and Ohio issued 13 new permits during that week. But what’s this? West Virginia issued a whopping 17 new permits! The prior week WV issued only a single new permit.
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30 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Sep 19-25

Last week the three states with active Marcellus/Utica drilling, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, issued a collective 30 new drilling permits, up from the 21 permits issued the week before. It was a reversal of what we typically see. Last week PA only issued four new permits, while WV issued 17 permits and OH issued nine permits. Usually, PA issues the most permits.
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40 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Aug 29-Sep 4

Last week the three states with active Marcellus/Utica drilling, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, issued a collective 40 new drilling permits, way up from the 19 permits issued the week before. But there was a shocker. PA only issued nine new permits, while OH issued 14 new permits and WV issued a record high 17 new permits.
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47 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jul 11-17

For the week of July 11-17, the three Marcellus/Utica states issued 47 permits to drill new shale wells, up 10 from the prior week. Pennsylvania issued the lion’s share with 35 new permits. CNX grabbed seven of those permits in Washington County, and Olympus Energy received six in Westmoreland County. Ohio issued 11 new permits, with four going to Ascent Resources in Jefferson County, and four to Hilcorp Energy in Columbiana County. West Virginia issued a paltry one new permit, which went to Southwestern Energy in Ohio County.
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