Shale drilling appears to be ramping up, as the wells in that phase increase

SALEM, Ohio — Drilling appears to be taking center stage in Harrison and Belmont counties.

According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, there are now 68 wells in some sort of drilling phase, which increased  from 52 in July. And in Belmont County, seven wells went from the permitted stage to a drilling phase.

Carroll County

The leader for the number of permits issued continues to be Carroll County. There were nine permits issued in Lee Township, three in Augusta and one in Perry Township. All of the permits were issued to Chesapeake Energy.

Harrison County

Harrison County followed with a total of nine permits issued during August, according to the ODNR. Four permits were issued in Rumley Township to Chesapeake Energy. Three permits were issued in Freeport Township to Chevron Appalachia, LLC.

Single permits were issued in North Township to Chesapeake and one in Short Creek Township to Hess Ohio Development LLC.

Noble County

In Noble County, there were four permits issued in Center Township to CNX Gas Company, and three were issued in Seneca Township to Antero Resources Corporation. There were also three permits issued in Marion Township to CNX Gas Company LLC.

Columbiana County

In Columbiana County, seven permits were issued in August. Three permits were in Unity Township to Atlas Noble LLC. (Atlas Noble LLC is new to the permit list in Columbiana County. They do have four permits in Harrison County, however, the ODNR has no record of the wells being drilled.)

Two permits were issued to the Hilcorp Energy Corporation in Salem Township and single permits were issued in Franklin and Hanover townships to Chesapeake Energy.

Guernsey

There were four permits issued in Guernsey County — two in Oxford and two in Wills Township. All of the permits were issued to Chesapeake Energy.

Monroe County

Three permits were issued in Monroe County. Two of them were issued in Bethel Township to Hall Drilling Oil and Gas LLC. A third permit was issued to Antero Resources Corporation in Seneca Township.

There were two new permits issued in both Trumbull and Washington counties.

Two permits were in Adams Township in Washington County to PDC Energy, Inc.

In Trumbull County, single permits were issued in Vernon and Johnston townships. Brammer Engineering Inc. was issued the permit in Vernon Township and BP America Production Co. was issued the permit in Johnston Township.

A single permit was issued in Tuscarawas County. Enervest Operating LLC has plans to drill a well in Clay Township.

Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued 517 permits during August and 119 wells were drilled.

In Allegheny County, there were five permits issued and one horizontal well drilled.

Meanwhile in Armstrong County, there were 10 permits issued and zero wells drilled.

In Beaver County, there were two permits issued and one well drilled.

In northeastern Pennsylvania, in Bradford County, where the Marcellus shale boom is reported to have started, there were seven wells drilled and 30 permits issued during August.

Greene and Washington

The drilling boom continues to grow in Greene and Washington counties. In Greene County, there were nine wells drilled and 28 permits issued, according to the DEP. In Washington County, there were 26 wells drilled during August and 28 permits issued for new wells.

In western Pennsylvania, there were five permits issued for drilling in Mercer and one in Lawrence County. There was one unconventional or horizontal well drilled in Mercer County.

Year to date

In 2013, the DEP has issued a total of 1,924 permits. Bradford led the pack with 344 permits; Butler with 111; 150 in Greene County; Mercer and Lawrence counties each with 15; 224 in Washington and 363 in Susquehanna County (near Bradford County).

West Virginia

Four counties in the Farm and Dairy circulation area were issued new horizontal drilling permits by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection during August. All of the permits issued were for drilling the in Marcellus shale layer.

There were three permits issued in Ohio County to Chesapeake Appalachia, LLC. The permits were issued to two different farms.

In Marshall County, the DEP issued three permits for three different farms. The permits were issued to Noble Energy Inc. and Chesapeake Appalachia, LLC.

Trans Energy, Inc., Chesapeake Appalachia, LLC and DAC Energy LLC. received well permits in Wetzel County during August.

And in Tyler County, two permits were issued to Antero Resources Corporation for two separate wells.

So far, the DEP has received 300 permit applications for horizontal wells and 273 permits were issued.

Producing wells

The DEP is reporting one producing well in Hancock County, 19 in Brooke County, 91 in Marshall County, 36 in Ohio County and 100 in Wetzel County.