Horizontal Fracking of Ohio’s Clinton Sandstone Heats Up
Once upon a time the Clinton Sandstone layer was the most drilled rock layer in Ohio. Then the Utica/Point Pleasant came along and it seemed as if everybody forgot about the Clinton. Previously the Clinton was drilled vertically, or conventional-only. But what if you drilled the Clinton horizontally, like you do in the Utica? You might get a “Utica-lite” well, as we commented back in 2015 (see Ohio Clinton Sandstone Horiz Wells on the Increase – Utica-Lite?). According to drillers who have experimented in the Clinton, drilling a horizontal Clinton well is anywhere from 3-10 times more expensive than a conventional well, but it produces anywhere from 7 to 20 times more oil, which is typically the hydrocarbon companies drill for in the Clinton. EnveVest is one of the biggest Clinton drillers, experimenting with horizontal drilling in the Clinton (see EnerVest Likes Clinton Sandstone “Utica-lite” Oil Wells in OH). Earlier this year we told you about another driller targeting the Clinton in Ohio–US Energy (see 2 Horiz. Clinton Sandstone Wells Drilled in Ashtabula County, OH). We have another new Clinton driller to tell you about–experimenting with horizontal fracking in the Clinton, drilling wells in Hocking County, well outside of the Utica region.
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Here’s a story you won’t read in mainstream news outlets–because it doesn’t fit the media’s anti-fossil fuel narrative that all pipelines are evil, and the people installing them are either misguided, or perhaps evil too. TransCanada’s Leach XPress pipeline project involves construction of approximately 160 miles of new “greenfield” natural gas pipeline and compression facilities in southeastern Ohio and West Virginia’s northern panhandle, flowing 1.5 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of gas all the way to Leach, Kentucky (hence the name). The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved Leach XPress and a companion project, Rayne XPress, in January of this year (see