Even though natural gas prices remain low, drilling in Ohio remains red hot, largely because of the promise of natural gas liquids and oil. An article in Farm and Dairy magazine recaps the permitting activity for June, and includes this handy summary chart for the entire state, county by county, including where actively producing wells are located:
The Ohio Oil and Gas Association saw a doubling of their membership from June 2011 to June 2012, and they continue to add about 135 new members each month. Why? The Utica Shale.
According to Terry Fleming, executive director for the Ohio Petroleum Council, Trumbull County is “at least” 18 months away from any active drilling for oil and gas.
Fleming’s update for Trumbull County:
Read More “Trumble County, OH Update: Drilling Won’t Start for 18 Months”
Devon Energy has just received the first permit to drill a Utica Shale well in Wayne County, Ohio. No timeline is set for when the drilling will begin, but Devon hopes the well will yield not only methane but oil too.
Read More “Devon Energy Receives First Utica Permit for Wayne County, OH”
CONSOL Energy’s drilling in Ohio’s Utica Shale is now under way and ramping up rapidly, according to CONSOL’s Harry Schurr who spoke Wednesday at a workshop on the campus of Kent State University. They’ve already drilled their first Utica well in Tuscarawas County, and they plan to drill 15 more this year. CONSOL also has a joint venture with Hess. Hess plans to drill six Utica wells this year.
Each year, the Canadian-based Fraser Institute surveys petroleum industry executives and managers (623 of them for 2012) asking them their opinions on the barriers to investing in exploration and production in various geographies across the globe. That is, what makes them more likely or less likely to spend money drilling in a particular location?
The Global Petroleum Survey, as it’s called, tallies the survey responses and ranks each geography from most desirable place to invest, to least desirable. The rankings for this year are interesting and illustrative that politicians’ words and legislation have a direct bearing on where, and how much, drilling companies are willing to spend.
Read More “Energy Execs Rank Drilling Locations Including WV, OH, PA, NY”
Drillers who operate in Ohio are put on notice that the state is now watching how many Ohio residents are hired by the industry. Ohio State Senator Lou Gentile, Democrat from Steubenville, had the only amendment from his party to be included in the new drilling law signed by Gov. John Kasich earlier this month.
The amendment, called “Ohio Workers First,” requires the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services to track hiring of residents and non-residents and create an annual report showing employment figures for the oil and gas industries in the state. The purpose? To show the “real economic impact” of drilling in the state. And to send a very loud and clear message to the industry.
Read More “New OH Drilling Law Tracks Jobs by Resident/Non-Resident”
Marietta, Ohio Mayor Joe Matthews is looking into converting all of the city’s gasoline powered vehicles to run on compressed natural gas (CNG), to cut down on costs.
Read More “Marietta, OH Evaluates Converting All City Vehicles to CNG”
Businesses in Muskingum County, Ohio are banding together to form a coalition to market themselves to the Utica Shale drilling industry that’s just getting started in the area.
Backed by the Zanesville-Muskingum County Chamber of Commerce, the new group, called the Muskingum Oil and Gas Coalition, currently has 28 member companies. They want to get to 130 members. Members pay $300 per year in dues to fund the new group.
Read More “Businesses Form Coalition to Reach Drilling Industry in OH”
It looks like Anadarko is getting ready to drill in the Utica Shale in Coshocton County, Ohio. New blue signs on rural roads have begun to spring up warning Anadarko truckers to not go beyond certain points (to limit road damage). When queried about the signs, Anadarko’s public affairs rep said:
Gulfport Energy reports it has just completed drilling the two longest horizontal Utica Shale wells—ever. The horizontal portion for one of the wells, located in Harrison County, Ohio, went over 1.5 miles.
Here’s the particulars:
Read More “Gulfport Drills Longest Horizontal Utica Wells to Date”
Sadly, we have to add the National Wildlife Federation to the list of rabid anti-drilling groups. In fact, a check of the NWF website shows they’ve drunken so deeply from the anti-everything pool they’re beyond redemption. The latest “wild” charge they’re making (pun intended) is that natural gas drilling, specifically fracking in Ohio and Michigan, will use excessive amounts of water from the Great Lakes and is an imminent danger to people and animals.
Read More “Wildlife Federation Sounds Alarm on Fracking in OH, MI”
Columbiana County, OH has just signed a deal with DPS Penn (an agent for Chesapeake Energy) to lease 548 acres for Utica Shale drilling. And they astutely doubled their money from the original offer from DPS a year ago. The new terms of the deal, just signed, are for $5,850 per acre and a 20 percent royalty. Columbiana also negotiated the lease term down to three years. A typical lease is five years.
The deal makes Columbiana breaks the record as the highest signing bonus granted to any government body for a Utica (or Marcellus) Shale lease deal.
Read More “Columbiana County Lease with Chesapeake, Highest Bonus Ever”
The Coshocton County, Ohio unemployment rate has been stubbornly high, but now it’s starting to move lower. In May of this year the unemployment rate for Coshocton stood at 9.3 percent. It was 10.2 percent in April, one month earlier. And if you go back a year to May 2011, it was 11.3 percent. In fact, the current 9.3 percent rate is the lowest rate seen in Coshocton County since 2008.
What’s caused the Coshocton unemployment rate to go 2 percent lower in just one year? Yep, much of it can be credited to Utica Shale drilling.
Read More “Utica Shale Drilling Causes Unemployment Drop in Eastern OH”
The Tuscarawas Oil and Gas Alliance (TOGA) Summit was held on Tuesday, June 19 at the Performing Arts Center at Kent State Tuscarawas, Ohio. One of the speakers was Rhonda Reda, executive director of the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP). She said in 2011 there were 33 shale wells drilled with 5 in production, and by 2015 eastern Ohio will see some 4,000 new shale wells, mostly in the Utica Shale.
Reda had a number of statistics and predictions for how large the drilling boom will get in Ohio. Among the statistics she highlighted:
Read More “Just How Big Will Shale Oil/Gas Drilling Get in Ohio?”
Ohio’s attorney general, Mike DeWine, has Chesapeake Energy in his crosshairs. He’s investigating them for “fraud” because their stock price went down. Good luck with that.
Here’s what the Columbus Dispatch is reporting: