OH’s Vallourec Repurposes Shale Pipes & Connectors for Geothermal
Fervo Energy and Youngstown, OH-based Vallourec announced a five-year supply agreement, potentially worth up to $800 million, to scale domestic geothermal infrastructure in the United States. Vallourec will exclusively supply Fervo with U.S.-manufactured tubular solutions (pipelines) and pipeline connectors, creating a fully domestic supply chain for critical geothermal well infrastructure. This collaboration aims to reduce supply chain risks, improve project timelines, and ensure cost certainty for Fervo’s deployment of standardized 50 MW geothermal units, leveraging Vallourec’s expertise in tubular solutions. Here’s the cool part: the pipelines and connectors Vallourec will manufacture for Fervo’s geothermal work were originally developed for shale energy applications. Read More “OH’s Vallourec Repurposes Shale Pipes & Connectors for Geothermal”
Ohio’s Utica/Point Pleasant shale production reached a record 48 million barrels of oil in 2025, a 39% increase from the previous year. While natural gas output remained stable at 2 trillion cubic feet, oil volumes have tripled since 2021. This surge was fueled by high-performing wells in the Northern Tier, specifically Columbiana and Mahoning counties, largely driven by EOG Resources and Encino Energy (which EOG bought in mid-2025 for $5.6 billion). Although southern hubs like Harrison and Carroll counties remain major producers, the expansion into northern regions highlights a significant shift in Ohio’s energy landscape and drilling success. Go North, young molecule! 
The Mahoning Valley is entering a “Utica 2.0” era as advanced drilling technologies revitalize oil production in previously dismissed regions of Ohio. While energy companies once abandoned Mahoning and Trumbull counties, record-breaking yields from new wells in Columbiana and Mahoning counties have triggered a surge in leasing and permits. Improvements in horizontal drilling and fracking fluids now allow operators like EOG Resources and Hilcorp to extract significant oil from formations once considered unprofitable. This industrial renaissance, punctuated by EOG’s $5.6 billion acquisition of Encino Acquisition Partners, signals a transformative phase of exploration poised to expand further north in the Utica. 
The EOG Resources-owned Wehr Spring Valley Farm well in Ellsworth may signal a resurgence in the oil and gas industry in Mahoning County, Ohio. Producing 40,489 barrels of oil in its first quarter, the well significantly outperformed neighboring sites, validating predictions that the Utica play would yield oil as it moves north. Regional leaders and attorneys attribute this success to advanced drilling technologies, specifically improved surfactant chemistry and closer fracturing stages. This production spike in the Wehr well has revitalized local interest in mineral rights and spurred infrastructure investments, such as Vallourec’s $48 million pipe mill expansion, highlighting the region’s growing economic potential. 
How often have we read that shale energy doesn’t create jobs and isn’t the economic boom to local communities as advertised. The enviro-left peddles the lie that oil and gas companies get fat on profits while everyone else suffers. We have the perfect story that exposes the left’s lies about the economic benefits of shale energy—and it comes from Youngstown, OH. Dearing Compressor & Pump designs and manufactures compressor packages for three major business lines including natural gas pipelines. 
We’re a sucker for a railroad story. There’s something magical about railroads, dontcha think? We spotted a railroad story that ties in with the Marcellus/Utica. Yesterday morning, the Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC) voted to approve a project (and back it with a grant) in Youngstown, Ohio. It is a significant, large-scale project by the Youngstown & Southeastern Railroad to create what will be called the Lansingville Yard. The new yard will serve customers related to the M-U, including the Shell ethane cracker in nearby Beaver County. 
Folks new to the Marcellus/Utica may not know this, but Chesapeake Energy’s then-CEO Aubrey McClendon first “discovered” the Ohio Utica about 15 years ago. Under McClendon, Chesapeake spent over $2 billion acquiring rights to drill 1.3 million acres in Ohio — or roughly 5% of the state’s land area. McClendon pegged the value of the Utica for Ohio at half a trillion dollars. He famously said the Ohio Utica is “the biggest thing economically to hit Ohio, since maybe the plow.” While McClendon rightly deserves credit for launching the development of the Utica, he guessed wrong on the best places to drill in the Utica.
Vallourec, headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, manufactures steel pipes used in the oil and gas industry. The company employs some 19,000 people in 20 countries, including the U.S. In fact, Vallourec employs more than 750 at three Youngstown, Ohio units: Vallourec Star, VAM USA and Vallourec USA Corp. Yesterday Vallourec corporate headquarters announced it will reduce (layoff/eliminate) some 900 positions “across all plants as well as support functions.” That number, 900, represents over one-third of Vallourec’s total workforce and contractor positions in North America. The announcement implies all 900 of the positions being eliminated will happen in North America.
The voters in Youngstown have finally, after seven years, had enough of the the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) and its useful idiots who have tried, and failed, to get a so-called Community Bill of Rights ballot measure (i.e. frack ban) passed. Last November Youngstown voters rejected the CELDF measure for the eighth time (see 
In March MDN reported that work has restarted, after eight years, to complete an injection well in Mahoning County, OH (see