Hilcorp Awarded New Drilling Permits in Lawrence County, Pa.

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection last week awarded Hilcorp Energy Co. four new permits to drill horizontal wells in Lawrence County, Pa.

Permit activity in this section of the Utica shale has all but dried up over the last several months because of plummeting oil prices.

Hilcorp received four permits Aug. 7 to drill in North Beaver Township at its North Beaver Development pad, just over the Mahoning County line, the DEP reports.

No new permits were issued for Mercer County, Pa., according to the DEP.

Meanwhile, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources last week issued just three permits to energy companies for horizontal wells, all of them in the southern portion of the Utica shale.

XTO Energy Inc., a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil, was issued a permit for a new well in Belmont County, while Chesapeake Exploration LLC and American Petroleum PRTR OH LLC were awarded a permit each for wells in Jefferson County.

No new permits were issued for wells in Trumbull, Mahoning or Columbiana counties, according to ODNR.

To date, there have been 1,568 wells drilled in eastern Ohio’s Utica shale, of which there are 935 wells in production.

However, the rig count in the Ohio portion of the Utica increased to 22 from 20 reported the previous week, according to ODNR data.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.