Two Permits Issued for Wells in Columbiana County

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Ohio Department of Natural Resources issued two permits during the week ended Nov. 11 to Chesapeake Exploration LLC to drill two new wells in Columbiana County.

The wells are intended for the Paige pad in Franklin Township, the most productive well site in the northern tier of the Utica, according to the latest production reports from ODNR.

ODNR’s production record during the second quarter of 2017 show that two wells in operation at the Paige site collectively produced 669.1 million cubic feet of natural gas during the three months ended June 30.

The Paige 5H well was the best producing well in the county during the period, yielding 472.9 million cubic feet of gas. A second well at the site – the Paige 6H – produced 196.8 million cubic feet of gas over 67 days.

ODNR issued seven additional permits across the Utica during the week. Rice Drilling LLC secured six new permits for wells in Belmont Township, while Statoil USA Onshore secured a single permit for a well in Monroe County.

Permit activity in the northern Utica – which encompasses Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties – is traditionally light compared to southern Utica counties such as Belmont and Monroe, where the wells have proven more productive.

The Utica reported 24 rigs in operation for the week ended Nov. 11, according to ODNR. To date, ODNR has issued 2,674 permits for wells across eastern Ohio’s Utica, of which 2,174 are drilled and 1,713 are in production.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, natural gas output from the Appalachian region, which includes Ohio’s Utica and the Marcellus shale formation in Pennsylvania, is expected to increase by 394 million cubic feet per day during the month of December.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.