SALEM, Ohio — Drilling in the Utica shale may have been slow in Jefferson County compared to other southeastern Ohio counties, but it’s gaining speed.
In April, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources issued 11 permits in Jefferson County, the largest number issued there in one month. There were seven permits issued in Ross Township, two in Springfield Township, and single permits issued in both Salem and Wells townships. All of the permits were issued to Chesapeake Exploration. There are now 70 permits granted in the county, with 26 drilled wells and 19 producing wells.
April 2016 infographics
Monroe County
Not far behind was Monroe County. The ODNR issued seven permits for drilling there in April.
Four permits were issued in Salem Township to Statoil USA Onshore Properties and three in Ohio Township to Triad Hunter LLC. There are now 238 permits issued in the county to date, and 76 of them are in some sort of drilling phase. There are 121 producing wells in the county.
Noble County
In Noble County, the ODNR issued six new permits. Five of the permits were issued in Beaver Township to Antero Resources Corporation and one in Marion Township to CNX Gas Co. LLC.
So far, the ODNR has issued 187 permits in Noble County, where there are now 33 drilled wells awaiting production and 109 wells in production.
Harrison County
The ODNR issued four permits in Harrison County during April. All four of the permits were issued in Stock Township to Eclipse Resources LLP.
The ODNR has recorded 380 permits issued in Harrison County, where there are now 251 producing wells and 75 wells in some sort of drilling phase.
Two permits
In Belmont County, the ODNR issued two permits. The permits were issued in Smith Township and Pultney Township, both to XTO Energy, Inc.
The ODNR report shows a total of 322 permits issued in the county. There are now 148 producing wells and another 112 wells are reported as being drilled.
Carroll County
Carroll County, which continues to lead the state with the largest number of permits issued in the Utica shale, received two more in April. There are now 505 permits issued in the county.The ODNR issued two permits in April in Brown Township to Chesapeake Exploration.There are now 34 wells in a drilling phase and 420 wells are now in production.
Columbiana County
The ODNR issued two permits in April in Columbiana County.The permits were issued in Franklin and Washington townships to Chesapeake Exploration.There are now a total of 2,164 permits issued in the state of Ohio in the Utica shale. Of those permits, 1,728 wells have been drilled, according to the ODNR.
Pennsylvania
Washington and Greene counties continue to be the hot spots in Pennsylvania for drilling into the Utica and Marcellus shale.
In April, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued 25 permits in Washington County, where the DEP has issued 126 permits since the beginning of the year. The DEP reported nine wells were drilled in shale in April in Washington County and 60 have been drilled so far.
There were a total of 88 permits issued in April and 18 wells were drilled in Pennsylvania. The DEP issued a total of 502 well permits so far in 2016 and 144 wells have been drilled this year.
Greene County
In Greene County, there were 14 permits issued in April and a total of 115 since January 1. However, drilling was slow in April with no new wells drilled. There have been 10 wells drilled there since the beginning of the year.
Butler County
The DEP issued six permits in April for new wells to be drilled in Butler County. So far, there have been 19 permits issued since January.
According to DEP records, there were two new wells drilled in April. Those two wells are the only new wells drilled since the beginning of 2016.
Beaver County
Although there has been no new wells drilled in Beaver County during 2016, the DEP issued one new shale permit there in April. So far, there have been three permits issued this year.
Westmoreland
The DEP issued four permits in April for new shale wells to be drilled in Westmoreland County. The DEP has issued a total of 18 permits to be drilled since the end of 2015, however, the DEP reported no new wells drilled since the beginning of the year.
West Virginia
In West Virginia, the Department of Environmental Protection only issued permits in Tyler County for drilling in the Marcellus shale. There were four permits issued to two different landowners. The permits were issued to Antero Resources Corporation.
