Oil, Gas Production Projected to Drop Across Utica, Marcellus

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Oil and gas production across the Appalachian Basin is expected to drop in February compared with January, according to the most recent drilling productivity report from the U.S. Energy Information Agency.

The Appalachian Basin constitutes the combined oil and gas-rich Utica/Point Pleasant and Marcellus shale formations across eastern Ohio, western and central Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

In January, wells across the basin produced an average of 147,000 barrels of oil per day, according to the EIA. In February, that number is expected to decline to 145,000 barrels per day, the report shows.

Columbiana County has emerged as a hot spot for oil production in eastern Ohio’s Utica/Point Pleasant shale through the first three quarters of 2023, records from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources show.

Through the first nine months of 2023 – the most recent production data available – horizontal wells across the county collectively produced 728,413 barrels of oil, data show.

Much of the oil production during the third quarter of 2023 came from a handful of newly drilled wells by EAP Ohio, a subsidiary of Houston-based Encino Energy Partners, which has offices in Carrollton.

Four EAP wells drilled at the Sanor Farms well pad in Knox Township yielded 258,739 barrels of oil. Three of those wells – the Sanor 6H, 8H and 10H – are ranked sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively, among the top 10 oil producers in the state, according to ODNR.

Natural gas production across the Utica/Point Pleasant and Marcellus shale is also expected to decline next month, according to the EIA.

In January, Appalachian wells yielded on average 35.642 billion cubic feet per day. That number is expected to drop by 159 million cubic feet per day to 35.483 billion.

The EIA reports that overall oil and gas production across all seven shale plays across the country will decline in February.

Just one shale play, the Permian Basin in Texas, is expected to increase oil production during February, with a boost of 5,000 barrels per day. Overall oil production across the shale regions is projected to drop by 2,000 barrels per day.

Natural gas production is expected to decline, too, the EIA reports. In January, shale wells across the country produced 99.076 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. In February, the number is expected to drop to 98.889 billion, or a decline of 187 million cubic feet per day.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.