Utica Shale

Energy Companies | Halcon Resources | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Halcon CEO Floyd Wilson: “What’s the Utica?”
February 27, 2015February 27, 2015

In January, MDN told you the news that Halcon Resources, with with some 140,000 net acres in the Ohio Utica Shale, would not do any Utica drilling in 2015 (see Halcon Resources: Slashes Drilling Budget 50%, No Utica for 2015). Yesterday Halcon held an analyst/investor conference call to discuss the company’s 2014 results and 2015 projections. On the call was Floyd Wilson–the very straight-talking CEO of Halcon who once said he would drill no more, well, er, “substandard” wells in the Utica (see Halcon CEO Says No More S***** Wells in Northern OH Utica). The Utica came up precisely once on yesterday’s phone call. Here’s what the colorful Wilson said during a Q&A…
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Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy | Utica Shale

Gulfport Production Up 255%, Spending 96% of $ on Utica in 2015
February 26, 2015February 26, 2015

Gulfport Energy CEO Michael Moore said 2014 was “a transformation year” for the company. Indeed it was. Yesterday Gulfport issued their 2014 year in review and predictions for 2015. Gulfport drills in the Utica and in other shale plays. Combined production for the company in 2014 zoomed up 255% over 2013–most of it from the Utica. Gulfport drilled 85 Utica Shale wells in 2014, and they hooked up/put into production 63 Utica wells in 2014. In 2015 the company plans to spend between $545-$595 million on drilling–96% of that will be spent in the Utica Shale. Below is yesterday’s 2014/2015 update…
Read More “Gulfport Production Up 255%, Spending 96% of $ on Utica in 2015”
Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

OH Utica Hits 1,824 Permits – Top 10 Counties & Top 10 Drillers
February 25, 2015February 25, 2015

It’s been a while since we’ve “run the numbers” on the Utica Shale. As of February 21st, there have been a total of 1,824 Utica permits issued. Of that, 816 are currently online and producing. Below we share the numbers, including the top 10 counties by number of permits, and the top 10 companies by number of permits…
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Chesapeake Utilities | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Chesapeake Utilities Buys OH Midstream Co, Targets Shale Industry
February 25, 2015February 25, 2015

Chesapeake Utilities Corporation is a diversified energy company with businesses in natural gas distribution, transmission and marketing, electricity distribution, propane distribution and wholesale marketing, and “other related services.” The utility branch of Chesapeake serves 225,000 customers with natural gas, electricity or propane gas. Chesapeake Utilities employs approximately 800 people. And no, Chesapeake Utilities, headquartered in Delaware, has nothing to do with Chesapeake Energy, headquartered in Oklahoma. Chesapeake Utilities has decided it’s time to pursue the shale market, so they recently purchased a small midstream (i.e. pipeline) company in Ohio–Gatherco, Inc….
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Carrizo Oil & Gas | Energy Companies | Guernsey County | Ohio | Utica Shale

Carrizo Call Reveals Recent Results for Guernsey, OH Utica Well
February 25, 2015February 25, 2015

A few weeks ago Carrizo Oil & Gas announced they would not do any new drilling in the Marcellus/Utica in 2015 and instead pull back and concentrate on other plays–namely the Eagle Ford in Texas (see Carrizo Cuts Budget 35%, No Drilling Planned in Utica/Marcellus in 2015). In an analyst call yesterday Carrizo officials reiterated that strategy, saying they were still “early” to the play and lack of pipeline infrastructure played a role in their decision to suspend Utica drilling. They also had some interesting things to say about the production coming from a Utica well just brought online in Guernsey County and their future prospects for drilling in the condensate window of the play–whenever they return to the Utica…
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American Energy Partners | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Harrison County | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Utica Shale

Harrison County, OH Hauls in $1.6M in 2 Weeks from Utica Leases
February 24, 2015February 24, 2015

Even though the price of oil and natural gas is depressed, there are still lease deals happening–particularly in the Ohio Utica Shale region–that make your eyes pop out. Whoops! Just had to put an eyeball back in. It popped out at the latest lease numbers coming from Harrison County, OH where they’ve taken in $1.6 million over the past couple of weeks…
Read More “Harrison County, OH Hauls in $1.6M in 2 Weeks from Utica Leases”
Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Ohio Utica Shale Just Keeps Chugging Along – Issues Permit No. 1799
February 16, 2015February 16, 2015

The Ohio Utica Shale is a quiet engine that just keeps chugging along. Yes, companies are cutting their capital expenditure budgets–some by a lot–but you wouldn’t know that based on the number of permits being issued for Utica Shale wells. As of Feb 7, Ohio has issued 1,799 permits for Utica Shale wells. Of those, 1,348 wells have been drilled and 740 wells are online and producing. Below is the latest updated ODNR map showing where the permits/drilled/producing wells are located…
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Energy Companies | JKLM Energy | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Potter County | Utica Shale

Potter County, PA Hospital Leases Land to JKLM for Utica Drilling
February 13, 2015September 28, 2015

UPDATE: A sharp MDN reader tipped us with more of the details on this deal. The Cole property is 742.9 acres (located in the Townships of Eulalia and Sweden, and in the Borough of Coudersport); the lease signing bonus payment is reportedly $2,200 per acre, which makes the up-front payment to Cole Memorial a whopping $1,634,380; and the royalty is rumored to be 15%. Thanks to our great reader!

Cole Memorial Hospital in Coudersport (Potter County), PA has reportedly signed a lease with JKLM Energy to allow shale drilling on a “substantial amount” of hospital-owned property. What we don’t know about the deal is more than we do know. We don’t know how many acres. We don’t know how much the signing bonus was for. And we don’t know what royalty was agreed to. How’s that for good reporting? What we do know is that they signed a lease, JKLM has “ties” to Buffalo “Marcellus” Bills owner Terry Pegula. JKLM is potentially interested in the Utica layer and they will only be allowed to drill on non-hospital campus property…
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Columbiana County | Energy Companies | Hilcorp Energy | Lawrence County | Mahoning County | Mercer County | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Trumbull County | Utica Shale

Full Speed Ahead for Hilcorp in the Northern Utica in 2015
February 10, 2015February 10, 2015

In 2014 Hilcorp spent some $400 million on drilling in the *northern* Utica Shale play–an area that virtually everyone else has abandoned for the more alluring wet gas to be found in the southeaster portion of the play. According to Hilcorp, they are enjoying success in the northern Utica and that’s where they will continue to focus their efforts…
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Devon Energy | Energy Companies | Guernsey County | Ohio | Utica Shale | Wayne County (OH)

Devon Puts 2 Utica Wells Up for Sale, Not Happy with OH Utica
February 10, 2015February 10, 2015

Devon Energy has put Wayne County, OH’s lone Utica shale well up for sale, along with another Utica well they own in Guernsey County. To which we say we were surprised. We had forgotten Devon had drilled (or owned) any Utica wells in the first place. Perhaps the reason they’re dumping the Wayne County well, which the say has “future utility,” is because it hasn’t produced a thing–oil or natural gas. The well in Guernsey also appears to be a bust. Here’s the brief blurb we caught on Devon exiting the Utica…
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Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

EQT Shutters OH Utica Drilling, Still Likes PA/WV Utica Drilling
February 9, 2015February 9, 2015

On an earnings call with analysts last Thursday, EQT’s top management said that they are “writing off” their Ohio Utica Shale acreage, taking a $162 million hit. The acreage performed “significantly below expectations.” However, that doesn’t mean EQT is giving up on the Utica–just their Utica acreage in Ohio. EQT owns a LOT of acreage in southwest Pennsylvania and West Virginia (over 400,000 acres) with dry gas Utica under much of it–and they’re eyeing the Utica in those locations very closely. EQT is in the midst of drilling two dry gas Utica test wells–one in Greene County, PA, the other in Wetzel County, WV…
Read More “EQT Shutters OH Utica Drilling, Still Likes PA/WV Utica Drilling”
Guernsey County | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Supply Chain | Utica Shale

Small Fracking Co Leaving OH Utica, Heading South of the Border
February 9, 2015February 9, 2015

It hardly seems worth mentioning, but we will anyway. Oilfield services company GoFrac LLC once had great hopes for the Utica Shale. GoFrac does frack jobs. Think of the company as a very (very) small Halliburton or Schlumberger. The company is based in Texas but a few years ago bought 90 acres in Cambridge (Guernsey County), OH with high hopes of hiring 250 people to work in the fracking fields of the Ohio Utica. No more. The company is closing up whatever presence they have had and leaving the northeast. Apparently, from their website (with a copyright of 2012 on it), they plan to go frack in Central and South America instead…
Read More “Small Fracking Co Leaving OH Utica, Heading South of the Border”
Energy Companies | Energy Services | EV Energy Partners | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica East Ohio Midstream | Utica Shale

EVEP Wants to Sell Interest in Utica East Ohio/More Utica Acreage
February 3, 2015February 3, 2015

EV Energy Partners (EVEP) is a master limited partnership, or MLP, which distributes profits to “unit holders” instead of plowing profits into more projects. They like to invest in mature, already drilled wells and pipeline companies–things that act like an annuity throwing off profit with very little risk. Over the years EVEP amassed a huge amount of acreage in Ohio–before the Utica was known–mostly for conventional (vertical only) wells. However, some of that property is in prime Utica territory–so EVEP has been looking, since 2009, to sell it. They reiterated that in November (see EVEP Selling More Ohio Utica Acreage in 2015). There’s another fleeting reference to selling more Utica leases in EVEP’s fourth quarter 2014/guidance for 2015 press release issued yesterday. The “new news” (for us) in yesterday’s announcement is that EVEP plans to sell their 21% interest in Utica East Ohio–a midstream/pipeline company operating in Ohio…
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Blue Racer Midstream | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Processing Plants | Utica Shale

Blue Racer Shelves Plans for Mahoning, OH Wet Gas Plant
February 2, 2015February 2, 2015

It was only last August that Blue Racer said they would build a new $70 million wet gas processing plant in Mahoning County, OH (see Blue Racer to Build New Wet Gas Plant in Mahoning County, OH). A Blue Racer Midstream executive backpedaled last Thursday at the Marcellus-Utica Midstream conference and said those plans are now shelved, indefinitiely. Why? That part of the shale play “hasn’t panned out yet” for the company…
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Energy Companies | Ohio | PDC Energy | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

PDC Energy’s Interesting 2014 – “Dynamite” in the Utica
January 30, 2015January 30, 2015

PDC Energy had an interesting 2014 in the Marcellus/Utica. During the year they sold off their 131,000-acre Marcellus Shale operation to Mountaineer Keystone for $500 million (see Major New Player in the Marcellus Emerges: Mountaineer Keystone). They entered the year intending to drill 18 Utica Shale wells (they came close). Along the way they had an accident and spilled drilling mud into a creek (see PDC Accident: Drilling Mud Spills into Creek in Morgan County, OH). During the year they fired (?) reassigned (?) their CEO back to the board and promoted the COO to be CEO (see Changing Chairs at PDC Energy: New President/CEO). And at the end of last year, the company announced they will push the pause button on new Utica drilling in 2015 (see PDC Energy Pushes Pause Button on OH Utica Drilling for 2015). Yesterday PDC provided a high level overview of 2014 (none of the above items mentioned) which includes a few brief statements about the Utica and Marcellus. One of the items their most excited about? A 4-well Utica pad called (we kid you not), “Dynamite”…
Read More “PDC Energy’s Interesting 2014 – “Dynamite” in the Utica”
Carrizo Oil & Gas | Energy Companies | Guernsey County | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Carrizo Cuts Budget 35%, No Drilling Planned in Utica/Marcellus in 2015
January 29, 2015January 29, 2015

Carrizo Oil & Gas is the latest Marcellus/Utica driller to cut their 2015 capital expenditures (capex) budget–by 35% over 2014. According to the Carrizo announcement below, they plan to spend $450-$470 million on drilling, most of it in the Eagle Ford (Texas) where they’re running three drilling rigs. They will spend only has much as they have to on “lease maintenance” in the Utica Shale–which we take to mean they’ll only do what they must to show they still intend to drill on leases that may soon expire. In the update below we get some numbers for Carrizo’s second Utica Shale well, in Guernsey County, OH. The update also indicates Carrizo continues to throttle back production in the Marcellus. It says nothing about new drilling in the Marcellus, so we presume there isn’t any planned for 2015…
Read More “Carrizo Cuts Budget 35%, No Drilling Planned in Utica/Marcellus in 2015”