Utica Shale

Energy Companies | EV Energy Partners | Lease & Royalty Payments | Utica Shale

EV Energy Partners About to Shed Utica Acreage
December 18, 2012December 18, 2012

Landowners in the Utica Shale who signed with EV Energy Partners, take note: Your lease may soon be reassigned.

An article on the Seeking Alpha website takes a close look at EV Energy Partners (EVEP) and their large Utica Shale investments. EVEP is structured as a “master limited partnership” or MLP. The focus for an MLP is distributing (via quarterly payments called distributions) most of the profit made by the company to its partners/shareholders. Because of its MLP structure, long-term development of “speculative” plays like the Utica is not in line with the company’s mission, so EVEP is looking to shed most of it’s Utica Shale leases—and they’re doing it soon…

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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Portage County | Seismic Testing | Utica Shale

More Drilling on the Way in Portage County, OH?
December 17, 2012December 17, 2012

There hasn’t been much in the way of Utica Shale permits or drilling in Portage County, Ohio—yet. At least compared to other Ohio counties. At last official tally, Portage has seen 14 permits so far (see this MDN story).

That may about to change. Why would we think so? Because of orange cables strung along roadways throughout the county…

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BP | Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Ohio | Utica Shale

BP Continues to Expand in Ohio’s Utica Shale
December 12, 2012December 12, 2012

BP continues to expand its footprint in Ohio’s Utica Shale. Lately, the company has been purchasing leases in Columbiana County:

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Energy Companies | Guernsey County | Ohio | PDC Energy | PDC Mountaineer | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

PDC Energy: Production from 1st Utica Well, 2013 Forecast
December 12, 2012December 12, 2012

PDC Energy issued their 2013 forecast yesterday, along with an impressive production report on their first Utica Shale well, drilled in Guernsey County, OH. They plan to spend $53 million next year to drill and complete five horizontal Utica Shale wells in Ohio. Part of that budget will also be spent on additional acreage to lease—acreage contiguous to their existing leased acreage. (Landowners who are not yet leased, here’s an opportunity for you.)

PDC also has a joint venture in the Marcellus Shale and plans to allocate $48 million for its 50% share toward drilling and completing 14 wells and certain midstream infrastructure projects (pipelines/processing) .

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Chesapeake Energy | Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Ohio | Utica Shale

Utica Shale Drilling in Columbiana County, OH Slows
December 10, 2012December 10, 2012

Is Columbiana County, Ohio’s Utica Shale drilling cooling down? That’s what a recent article seems to indicate. There were only two new permits sought in the past month, both from Chesapeake Energy.

Here’s the lowdown on Columbiana’s drilling activity since 2010:

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

$10 Billion+ in Utica Shale Infrastructure Coming to Ohio
December 10, 2012December 10, 2012

The Akron Beacon Journal ran an excellent round-up article on Sunday looking at the mammoth infrastructure investments (pipelines, processing facilities, etc.) being made in Ohio’s Utica and Marcellus Shale region—like in excess of $10 billion of investments already under way or planned for the near future.

Here’s a quick overview:

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Athens County | Ohio | Utica Shale

Samples Provide First Clue to Utica Underneath Athens, OH
December 7, 2012December 7, 2012

Although we don’t have a great deal of information about the Utica Shale in Athens County, Ohio, a recently drilled vertical well targeting the Medina sandstone formation reached all the way down to the Utica.

Samples from that well give us some inkling of what may lie below Athens in the Utica layer, and whether or not the Utica would be productive in that area (hint: it’s good news):

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Carroll County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy | Harrison County | Ohio | Utica Shale

Latest Permits Issued in Ohio’s Utica Shale, Week of Nov 25
December 5, 2012December 5, 2012

Here’s where the latest round permits have been issued for Utica Shale drilling by the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources, for the week of Nov. 25, 2012:

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Energy Services | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Processing Plants | Utica East Ohio Midstream | Utica Shale

Ohio RR Company Signs Deal with Utica East to Ship NGLs
December 3, 2012December 3, 2012

Utica East Ohio Midstream’s new $900 million natural gas liquids (NGL) processing plant in Scio, Ohio is about to become connected—but not by pipelines alone. Genesee & Wyoming announced today that their subsidiary, Columbus & Ohio River Rail Road Company has signed a long-term agreement with Utica East to ship some 10,000 carloads of NGLs annually. The new NGL processing plant is due to go online in May 2013.

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Energy Companies | Halcon Resources | Lease & Royalty Payments | Mahoning County | Ohio | Trumbull County | Utica Shale

Halcon Resources Responds to Lordstown, OH Landowners Group
November 30, 2012November 30, 2012

A few weeks ago MDN told you about a new landowners group in Lordstown, Ohio, formed in response to requests from Halcon Resources who is asking landowners in the area to sign modifications to existing 20-50 year-old leases on their property to allow for Utica Shale drilling (see this MDN story). At the time the new Lordstown Regional Landowners Group represented 5,000 of the 31,000 acres in Trumbull and Mahoning counties (Ohio) Halcon had recently purchased the rights to.

Apparently the movement has picked up steam and Halcon issued a press statement yesterday saying they want to cooperate with landowners to make them money on royalties, but stopped short of saying they would renegotiate leases, which is the aim of the landowners group.

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Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Hilcorp Energy | Ohio | Utica Shale

Hilcorp Energy Plans New Utica Well in Salem Township, OH
November 29, 2012November 29, 2012

Hilcorp Energy plans to drill a Utica Shale well in Salem Township (Columbiana County), Ohio. Last night at the Salem Township trustee meeting a Hilcorp rep requested information about certain roads and made the comment that they plan to drill soon.

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Harrison County | Noble County | Ohio | Utica Shale

5 More Permits Issued in Ohio Utica Shale Last Week
November 29, 2012November 29, 2012

The latest Utica Shale well permits issued (by county) through Nov. 24, courtesy our friends at the Akron Beacon Journal:

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Belmont County | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Gulfport Energy | MarkWest Energy | Ohio | Utica Shale

Gulfport’s New Utica Well Produces Mind-blowing 28.5 Mmcf/d!
November 28, 2012November 28, 2012

First we had the “Alpha Dog” Utica Shale well from Gulfport Energy, the Wagner 1-H well producing 14 million cubic feet of natural gas per day (see this MDN story). Then we had an even bigger success with Gulfport’s Shugert 1-1H, which MDN dubbed the “King of Utica Shale wells” producing a whopping 20 million cubic feet of gas per day (see this MDN story). We’re running out of metaphors to use! Yesterday Gulfport reported a flow rate of 28.5 million cubic feet per day on the Shugert 1-12H well (in Belmont County, OH), sister well to the 1-1H. Wow! Shall we call the 1-12H the Emperor Utica Shale well? It certainly ascends to the throne as the top-most producing well in the Utica.

In the same announcement from yesterday Gulfport said it has made its first sales in the Utica Shale via MarkWest Energy. Here is the full press release with details on the Shugert 1-12H and MarkWest:

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Energy Companies | Forest County | Pennsylvania | Seneca Resources | Utica Shale

Seneca Resources Targets Utica Shale – in Western PA
November 28, 2012November 28, 2012

You mostly hear about about drillers targeting the Utica Shale formation in eastern Ohio. But the Utica is much larger than just portions of Ohio—it underlies much of New York and Pennsylvania as well. Yesterday Seneca Resources (the drilling division of National Fuel Gas Company) issued an update that details how they are testing the Utica in western Pennsylvania, which lies beneath most of their leased Marcellus acreage.

Here’s what Seneca reported on initial results from a well drilled in Forest County, PA:

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Chesapeake Energy | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Research | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

EIA Report: Rig Count in Utica Shale Doubles in One Year
November 21, 2012November 21, 2012

Yesterday the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) provided a detailed update on shale drilling activity in the Utica Shale. They found that the number of drilling rigs in the Utica has doubled from October of last year to October of this year. Also of keen interest: 86% of the active rigs in the Utica (now) are targeting shale oil. Last October the number of 15% of active rigs—which shows a remarkable shift in the Utica. Although the report says “shale oil,” MDN takes that to mean “wet gas,” or shale oil and natural gas liquids. The report finds that Chesapeake Energy continues to be the Big Kahuna in the Utica Shale with 39% of all new well starts in Ohio year-to-date.

Here’s the full EIA Utica Shale update posted yesterday (along with some great charts):

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Carroll County | Chesapeake Energy | Columbiana County | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Chesapeake Says 3 OH Counties are “Core of the Core” in Utica
November 21, 2012November 21, 2012

On the third quarter earnings call with analysts earlier this month, Chesapeake Energy officials were asked about the Utica Shale and their thoughts, now more than a year in, of how the Utica stacks up against the Eagle Ford, and how Chesapeake’s “core of the core” strategy is working in the Utica. Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon answered the question this way, identifying the three counties in Ohio that are “the core of the core” for the company:

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