Chesapeake Sells Wells in Columbiana, Beaver Counties

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Chesapeake Appalachia LLC, a unit of Oklahoma-based Chesapeake Energy, has sold 27 Utica shale wells and 37,000 net acres in Columbiana County and Beaver County, Pa., to Geopetro LLC.

The sale was completed Oct. 27. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The package includes 22 wells that produced an average of 24 million cubic feet of gas per day during the first half of 2016. One well produces crude oil (condensate) and natural gas from the Upper Devonian shales (above the Marcellus shale), and the others produce primarily natural gas from the Utica, Geopetro said.

Also included in the acquisition are five non-producing wells and approximately 37,000 net acres that Geopetro described as “production/held by operations. The nonproducing wells are drilled and completed and are awaiting pipeline connection.”

In announcing the transaction, Geopetro noted that most active shale drillers have shifted away from Columbiana and Beaver counties.

“Drilling may return to these areas, but at this time, optimizing production from the existing wells will demonstrate how much hydrocarbon potential may be present,” the company said. “In the next few months, our focus will be on producing the existing wells. We hope that this will, in time, yield tangible benefits for all parties, whether their land is currently producing oil and gas or not.”

Geopetro describes the acquisition as “a tremendous growth opportunity” that alters its operations from conventional production in Central Ohio to primarily unconventional natural gas production. The company has been in the oil and gas production business since the late 1980’s.

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