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19 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 27 – May 3
The Marcellus/Utica region received 19 new drilling permits last week, Apr. 27 – May 3, up from the 12 permits issued two weeks ago. Pennsylvania issued 5 of last week’s permits. Ohio issued the lion’s share, with 13 new permits (four of which were from two weeks ago). West Virginia issued just 1 new permit last week. The drillers who received new permits included: Ascent Resources, Campbell Oil & Gas, CNX Resources, EOG Resources, Gulfport Energy, and Range Resources. Read More “19 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 27 – May 3”
The Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) voted on Friday to open more than 8,700 acres of public land, including an additional 513 acres under Salt Fork State Park and 8,236 acres under Egypt Valley Wildlife Area, for shale fracking. This move makes Egypt Valley the largest fracking project *under* (not on) state-owned land, despite vociferous public opposition from citizens and left-wing environmentalists. The next step in the process is to put the parcels out for bid. 
In a March 25, 2026, decision in the Omni Energy Group, LLC v. Ohio Department of Natural Resources court case, Judge Algenon L. Marbley from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio dismissed Omni’s amended complaint regarding Class II injection well permits. Omni alleged that the ODNR unlawfully set injection pressures too low, rendering its multimillion-dollar investment in two injection wells inoperable. This case goes back to events that began in 2019, events we previously covered in a 2024 post (see 
An unidentified natural gas driller has applied to open over 8,300 additional acres of the Egypt Valley Wildlife Area for fracking, potentially making it Ohio’s largest fracking operation on public land. This request follows a January decision that already opened 4,400 acres of the 18,000-acre preserve, which is primarily used for conservation, hunting, and fishing. While the state’s Oil and Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) has historically favored industry requests despite significant public opposition, environmentalists and some Democratic lawmakers argue that the expansion exploits public resources and threatens local ecosystems. A public comment period remains open until April 27. 
In December, Antero Resources announced a deal to sell its Ohio Utica assets to a partnership of Northern Oil & Gas (NOG) and Infinity Natural Resources (INR) for $1.2 billion in cash (see 
In December, Antero Resources announced a deal to sell its Ohio Utica assets to a partnership of Northern Oil & Gas (NOG) and Infinity Natural Resources (INR) for $1.2 billion in cash (see 
One of the significant stories of 2024 in the Ohio Utica was about Austin Master Services (AMS), a radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry, Ohio, that processes and transports fracking waste for disposal. AMS ran into trouble when it ran out of money. The Martins Ferry facility in Belmont County, where waste is temporarily stored, had vastly exceeded its permitted limit of 600 tons (storing over 10,000 tons), resulting in a permit violation. The Ohio Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit against the company in March 2024 to compel compliance and require the company to clean up the facility. After the company didn’t perform, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) stepped in to handle the cleanup (see 
Yesterday, the Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) met in a public forum in Columbus and voted to open another 6,570 acres of state-owned wildlife land (in Belmont and Harrison counties) to allow bids to frack under (not on top of) those areas. The Commission also awarded a contract to Grenadier Energy to drill under another wildlife area in Carroll County, 172 acres of the Leesville Wildlife Area. The state is getting an amazing $6,000 signing bonus, equaling $1.03 million, plus big royalties! 
The second round of big news coming from Antero Resources today is the sale of the company’s Utica Shale assets. We told you in November that Antero, the largest Marcellus/Utica (M-U) driller in West Virginia, officially began to market its Ohio Utica assets for sale (see 
One of the significant stories of 2024 in the Ohio Utica was about Austin Master Services (AMS), a radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry, Ohio, that processes and transports fracking waste for disposal. AMS ran into trouble when it ran out of money. The Martins Ferry facility in Belmont County, where waste is temporarily stored, had vastly exceeded its permitted limit of 600 tons (storing over 10,000 tons), resulting in a permit violation. The Ohio Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit against the company in March 2024 to compel compliance and require cleanup of the facility. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) stepped in to handle the cleanup. As of May 2025, cleaning and testing were completed (see