Seven Drilling Permits Issued for Ohio’s Utica Shale

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Seven permits were issued to energy companies during the week ended Jan. 28 for new horizontal wells in eastern Ohio’s Utica shale, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

ODNR awarded all seven permits to Canonsburg, Pa.-based Rice Drilling LLC. The wells are in Belmont County in the southern tier of the Utica play, the section of the Utica that has yielded the most oil and gas production.

As of Jan. 28, there are 1,486 producing horizontal wells in Ohio’s Utica shale play and a total of 1,894 wells drilled, ODNR reports. Since 2010, 2,366 permits for horizontal wells have been issued.

The rig count in Ohio’s Utica, that is the number of oil and gas rigs in operation during a given week, stood at 22, down two from the previous week, according to ODNR.

No new permits were issued last week for the Utica’s northern areas in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties during the week.

And no new horizontal permits were issued in western Pennsylvania, specifically in neighboring Mercer and Lawrence counties, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.