Statewide OH

Carrizo Oil & Gas | Crawford County | Energy Companies | Halcon Resources | Mercer County | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Trumbull County

Mystery Buyer of Carrizo’s Northern Utica Acreage Revealed
October 16, 2012October 17, 2012

Yesterday MDN reported that Carrizo Oil & Gas had sold off it’s interest in lease acreage in Ohio’s northern Utica Shale region for $43 million (see this MDN story). Carrizo did not identify the buyer, but the enterprising Youngstown Business Journal did.

Here’s who it is:

Read More “Mystery Buyer of Carrizo’s Northern Utica Acreage Revealed”
Ohio | Statewide OH

Where are the ‘Sweet Spots’ in Ohio’s Utica Shale?
October 15, 2012October 15, 2012

According to a professor of geology at Youngstown State University, the Mahoning Valley, the area around Youngstown in northeastern Ohio, is one of the “sweet spots” for natural gas drilling in Ohio. Is that statement accurate? MDN wondered, so we decided to analyze the latest numbers from the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR). Our analysis, along with a a couple of maps, is embedded below.

First, the statement from the Youngstown professor:

Read More “Where are the ‘Sweet Spots’ in Ohio’s Utica Shale?”
Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Ohio | Statewide OH

Carrizo Exits Northern Utica Shale, Retains Southern Acreage
October 15, 2012October 17, 2012

Carrizo Oil & Gas announced today it has sold its interest in the northern portion of the Utica Shale play—in Mercer and Crawford counties in Pennsylvania and Trumbull County in Ohio—for $43 million in cash (see the map below). Carrizo’s press release does not identify who purchased the lease interest in the northern Utica. Carrizo also does not say how many net acres are represented in the sale, although an MDN story from Oct. 2011 says the initial deal Carrizo signed included 15,000 acres (see this MDN story).

Carrizo has not, however, completely exited the Utica Shale. Far from it. They retain an interest in an additional 26,000 acres in the southern part of the Utica Shale play—in Guernsey County, Ohio. Looks like Carrizo has decided which part of the Ohio Utica Shale is their “sweet spot.” From the Carrizo press release:

Read More “Carrizo Exits Northern Utica Shale, Retains Southern Acreage”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Surprising Data on Rig Counts for Dry vs Wet Gas Drilling
October 15, 2012October 15, 2012

Seeking Alpha blogger Richard Zeits, whom we’ve highlighted before on MDN, is back with a new analysis of the latest Baker Hughes rig count. You need rigs to drill the holes—so the rig count is a good indicator of whether new drilling is going up, down or staying constant.

In Zeits’ extensive analysis (well worth your time to read and digest), he draws some conclusions about wet gas (natural gas liquids) versus dry gas (methane only) drilling as evidenced by the Baker Hughes numbers. His conclusions may surprise you, as it did us:

Read More “Surprising Data on Rig Counts for Dry vs Wet Gas Drilling”
Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Lease Bonus Payments for Marcellus & Utica Reach New Highs
October 12, 2012October 12, 2012

Because the sale price of domestically produced oil and natural gas has gone down over the past year, royalties for landowners have gone down as well. However, the bonus payments landowners receive when signing a new lease agreement have gone up—way up in the Marcellus and Utica Shale.

A newly released survey (embedded below) from Farmers National Co., a real estate management company for property owners, shows a dramatic increase for bonus deals in West Virginia (up 1.75 times), in Pennsylvania (more than doubling, up 2.3 times), but most dramatically, in Ohio (up nearly 13 times from a year ago). The largest reported lease signing bonus in Ohio for 3Q12 was a whopping $8,200 per acre.

Read More “Lease Bonus Payments for Marcellus & Utica Reach New Highs”
Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA

A Look at the Numbers: OH Drill Permits Dip, PA Permits Grow
October 11, 2012October 11, 2012

The number of permits filed to drill new shale oil and gas wells in Ohio slowed a bit in September, according to recent records. The number of permits to drill new shale wells in Pennsylvania saw an uptick in September.

Read More “A Look at the Numbers: OH Drill Permits Dip, PA Permits Grow”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Marathon Oil | Ohio | Processing Plants | Statewide OH | Trucking | Utica Shale

Marathon to Move Utica NGLs to Refineries by Truck & Barge
October 10, 2012October 10, 2012

Marathon Petroleum Corp. (MPC) and Harvest Pipeline Company announced yesterday they’re working together to build a system to bring natural gas liquids (NGLs) from the Utica Shale in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania to Marathon’s refineries by truck and barge along the Ohio River. The joint project will be completed by the end of 2013.

From the Marathon press release:

Read More “Marathon to Move Utica NGLs to Refineries by Truck & Barge”
Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH

Shale is "Revolutionary" for Ohio’s Petrochemical Industry
October 9, 2012October 9, 2012

Ohio finds itself at the very front end of the shale energy revolution and all of the benefits that will mean for the state. Most stories on how the shale boom will affect the state economically concentrate on the exploration and production (E&P) aspects and talk about jobs and tax revenue—very important aspects.

Not mentioned so often is another beneficiary of the shale revolution: the petrochemical industry. Shale drilling, according to one trade group, will have a “revolutionary” (not just evolutionary) impact on chemical and plastics companies throughout Ohio. How?

Read More “Shale is "Revolutionary" for Ohio’s Petrochemical Industry”
Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | New York | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide MD | Statewide NY | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide VA | Statewide WV | Utica Shale | Virginia | West Virginia

USGS Releases Official Estimate of Oil & Gas in Utica Shale
October 5, 2012October 5, 2012

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has just released their first official assessment (i.e. estimate) of how much recoverable natural gas, oil and gas liquids is located in the Utica Shale throughout Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland and Virginia (a full copy of the USGS assessment is embedded below).

The USGS estimates the Utica is #3 in size behind the Marcellus (#1) and Green River Basin (#2) for volume of recoverable natural gas in the U.S. Here are the numbers from the USGS, along with and a brief introduction to their first-ever assessment of the Utica:

Read More “USGS Releases Official Estimate of Oil & Gas in Utica Shale”
Anadarko | Devon Energy | Energy Companies | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Ohio’s Less Than Stellar Results from Oil Drilling
October 5, 2012October 5, 2012

The story line for development of the Marcellus and Utica Shale going back to the beginning of this year was, “Drillers are leaving the dry gas areas and going after wet gas,” meaning natural gas liquids. Why? Because the price for liquids is more favorable. That meant drilling activity was lessening in places like northeast Pennsylvania and (supposedly) moving to southwest PA, northern WV and eastern OH. To some degree that has happened.

However, the price for natural gas liquids has fallen due an abundance created by Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling. So the more recent story has been a move toward drilling for crude oil, especially in Ohio. But drilling for crude in Ohio isn’t working out so well—at least for some drillers.

Read More “Ohio’s Less Than Stellar Results from Oil Drilling”
Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

New IHS Report Compares OH Utica Shale to TX Eagle Ford Shale
October 4, 2012October 4, 2012

IHS Cera, a global consulting and information service, recently published a new report on the Utica Shale and its potential. Although MDN has not seen the full report, the press release announcing the report contains a good bit of useful information about the IHS findings. IHS compares the Utica to the highly productive Eagle Ford Shale in Texas, saying there are many parallels, but cautioning it’s still very early in the game.

Here’s the full release with lots of juicy tidbits, including which well has produced the most oil in the Ohio Utica:

Read More “New IHS Report Compares OH Utica Shale to TX Eagle Ford Shale”
Ohio | Statewide OH

ODNR Announces Third Ohio State Geologist This Year
October 1, 2012October 1, 2012

Do we now have a conclusion to the unhappy tale of a state geologist for Ohio? You may recall MDN’s coverage of the firing of Ohio state geologist Larry Wickstrom earlier this year when he released a map showing revised boundaries for the Utica Shale formation, boundaries indicating where “the best places” to drill are located (see this MDN story). That map apparently ticked off Wickstrom’s bosses at ODNR. Wickstrom had been an employee of the ODNR Geological Survey division for 29 years but he was shown the door.

After Wickstrom we had an interim state geologist, Mac Swinford, who announced a new Utica Shale boundary map due out in September (see this MDN story). No idea if Swinford’s map announcement had anything to do with the latest ODNR announcement or not, but as of Friday, we now have a new, officially anointed, full-time, non-interim state geologist: Thomas J. Serenko.

Read More “ODNR Announces Third Ohio State Geologist This Year”
Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Ohio: $17.5B in Economic Activity from Drilling 2011-2014
September 27, 2012September 27, 2012

Linda Woggon, executive vice president of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce and executive director of the Ohio Shale Coalition, said at a meeting yesterday that shale drilling in Ohio is on track to pump a total of $17.5 billion into the Ohio economy from 2011 to 2014 and generate 65,000 jobs. It will also bring in an additional $795 million in taxes over the same time period—with no increases on taxpayers.

Here’s a few of the highlights from her talk at a breakfast hosted by the Salem Area Chamber Area of Commerce on Wednesday:

Read More “Ohio: $17.5B in Economic Activity from Drilling 2011-2014”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Michigan | New York | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide MI | Statewide NY | Statewide OH | Statewide PA

NRDC Launches Lawyers to Oppose Fracking in 5 States
September 25, 2012September 25, 2012

You have to say one thing about the increasingly shrill Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)—they don’t let an issue they can demagogue for money go to waste. For the NRDC, there’s money to be made in opposing fracking. Warning to the drilling industry: The NRDC is well-funded and is gunning for you. Their latest offensive? They’ve created something called the Community Fracking Defense Project whereby they’ll launch lawyers out into any township across New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and North Carolina to assist that town in opposing fracking. (Sorry West Virginia, you aren’t important enough for the NRDC to spend time and money on.)

The fight over fracking is about to go very local, and get very nasty, with the NRDC pumping millions into the effort to make mischief.

Read More “NRDC Launches Lawyers to Oppose Fracking in 5 States”
Education | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Statewide OH

Ohio Regents Launch Website to Link Ohioans to Energy Jobs
September 25, 2012September 25, 2012

Looking for a great job in the booming energy sector in Ohio? The Ohio Board of Regents wants to help. They’ve just released a new website, OhioEnergyPathways.org, to help Ohioans find jobs in green energy, shale energy, and other parts of the expanding energy sector in the state.

MDN noticed at least one bug with the new site, if you’re clicking to view open positions. But don’t let that stop you. The site offers links to training programs, it offers businesses the opportunity to list open positions and search resumes, and it allows job seekers to search for jobs and post resumes (with links to the OhioMeansJobs.com website filtering for energy-related jobs).

Read More “Ohio Regents Launch Website to Link Ohioans to Energy Jobs”
Energy Companies | Ohio | Statewide OH | Total | Utica Shale

French Company Total Says “Non, Merci” to More Utica Shale
September 24, 2012September 24, 2012

In December 2011, French energy giant Total purchased a 25 percent ownership stake in Chesapeake Energy’s Ohio Utica Shale leases for 10 Ohio counties for $2.3 billion. In May, Total paid Chesapeake another $2 billion for a 90% stake in 9,000 leases in Columbiana County, OH (see this MDN story).

It seemed like Total was going full speed ahead with purchases of shale acreage in the Utica Shale. Not any more.

Read More “French Company Total Says “Non, Merci” to More Utica Shale”