WARREN, Ohio – Oil production skyrocketed throughout eastern Ohio’s Utica/Point Pleasant shale formation during 2025, helped along by consistent yields in areas such as Columbiana County, according to the most recent data from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

Total oil production from horizontal wells in the Utica/Point Pleasant hit a state record of more than 48 million barrels last year, compared with 34.5 million barrels in 2024 – an increase of 39%, ODNR data show.

Moreover, oil volumes during 2025 stand nearly three times higher than in 2021, when the state yielded approximately just 16.4 million barrels.

Natural gas production, meanwhile, remained relatively stable at just more than 2 trillion cubic feet in 2025, according to ODNR.

Utica’s Northern Tier

Helping oil production in recent years are wells drilled in the northern tier of the Utica/Point Pleasant – Columbiana County, for example – which have elicited strong returns in a region that was once regarded strictly as a dry and wet gas play. 

Oil produced from wells in Columbiana County stood at 1.431 million barrels in 2025 – or 3% of total state production – a drop of 4.2% compared with results a year earlier. In 2024, the county’s approximately 200 horizontal wells yielded 1.494 million barrels  – or 4.3% of the state’s total production – the first time the county surpassed 1 million barrels for a year.

All of the oil-producing wells in the county are owned by Houston-based EOG Resources’ affiliate EOG Ohio LLC. Last year, EOG acquired Encino Acquisition Partners’ Utica/Point Pleasant assets for $5.6 billion.

The most promising well in Columbiana County is EOG’s Kitzmiller KNX 10H well in Knox Township. That well yielded a total of 376,345 barrels of oil in 2025 and 61,221 barrels in the fourth quarter. During the second quarter, that well ranked as the third most productive oil well in the state, pumping out 162,621 barrels over 91 days.

Equally strong is a sister well at the Kitzmiller pad that produced 51,377 barrels during the fourth quarter and 318,401 barrels through all of last year.

According to ODNR, Columbiana County reports 197 horizontal wells as of the fourth quarter of 2025. Of these wells, EOG owns 92, Hilcorp Energy Co. operates 89, and Pin Oak Energy Co. and Geopetro LLC operate eight apiece.

Meanwhile, natural gas production from Columbiana County wells dropped year-over-year, according to ODNR records. In 2025, the county’s wells produced nearly 84.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas, compared with 92.3 billion cubic feet in 2024. 

Still, wells such as the Kitzmiller 10H recorded impressive results with natural gas production in 2025. During the third quarter, for example, the well yielded 1.075 billion cubic feet of gas and produced another 591.5 million cubic feet during the fourth quarter. 

Collectively, Columbiana County’s wells produced 18.979 billion cubic feet during the fourth quarter, according to ODNR. 

Among the most surprising finds last year in the Utica/Point Pleasant came in Mahoning County, where oil and natural gas production has historically been weak. 

EOG’s Wehr Valley Spring Farm well at the corner of Leffingwell Road and state Route 45 in Ellsworth Township produced 69,660 barrels of oil since it was first commissioned in the second half of 2025. The well yielded 40,489 barrels in the third quarter over 84 days and produced another 26,246 barrels during the fourth quarter, ODNR data show.

Wells in Trumbull County have thus far yielded negligible oil and gas since production began more than a decade ago.

Strong Wells Further South

Much of the attention in eastern Ohio’s Utica was initially focused on geology in the southern tier of the play, as exploration companies tapped vast reservoirs of both natural gas and oil in regions such as Carroll, Guernsey and Harrison counties.

EOG’s Folsam CR well in Carroll County, for example, produced 195,194 barrels of oil during the second quarter, along with 953.5 million cubic feet of natural gas. In all, wells across Carroll County produced 12.342 million barrels of oil in 2025.

Harrison County produced even more. Last year, wells drilled in that county pumped out more than 13 million barrels of oil.

Wells in Belmont County, on the other hand, produced little oil but yielded nearly 500 billion cubic feet of natural gas in 2025, approximately one-quarter of the state’s entire production.

Pictured at top: The Wehr Spring Valley Farm well in Ellsworth Township.