SALEM, Ohio — Oil and gas drilling continues across the tri-state region, if drilling permits are any indication.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources granted 79 permits between Nov. 1 and Nov. 30. Monroe and Belmont counties led the pack with 19 permits issued in each county.
In Belmont County, seven permits were issued in Somerset Township to Gulfport Energy. Five permits were issued in Richland Township to American Energy Utica. In Warren and Smith townships, the ODNR issued three permits to Rice Drilling and Gulfport Energy.
In Belmont County, there are 42 wells in some sort of drilling phase and 54 producing wells.
Monroe County
The ODNR issued 19 permits in Monroe County during November. In Washington Township, five permits were issued, four to American Energy Utica and one to HG Energy.
Six drilling permits were issued in Seneca Township to Antero Resources Corporation, and six permits were issued in Sunsbury Township to Gulfport Energy. Two were issued in Switzerland Township to the CNX Gas Co.
In Monroe County, there are 75 drilled wells waiting to go into production and 31 producing wells.
Carroll County
In Carroll County, 16 permits were issued for new Utica shale wells. Seven permits were issued in Fox Township to Chesapeake exploration, five were issued in Washington Township to RE Gas Development, and four were issued in Union Township to Chesapeake Exploration.
Carroll County leads Ohio with the number of producing wells at 334. There are an additional 74 wells either being drilled or already drilled waiting to go online.
Guernsey County
Seven permits were issued in both Guernsey and Harrison counties during November.
Seven permits were issued by the ODNR in Guernsey, including four in Millwood Township to Chesapeake Exploration and three in Londonderry Township to American Energy Utica.
The county has 71 drilled unconventional wells and 39 producing wells.
Harrison County
The ODNR issued seven permits in Harrison County. Four of the permits were issued to Chesapeake Exploration in North Township, one in German Township to Chesapeake Exploration, one in Franklin Township to American Energy Utica and one in Washington Township to Chevron Appalachia. The ODNR reports there are 111 producing wells and 121 drilled wells in Harrison County.
Columbiana County
The ODNR issued six new permits for Columbiana County during November.
The permits were issued to Hilcorp Energy Company for two sites in Fairfield Township.
In Columbiana County, there are now 42 producing wells and 23 drilled wells, according to the ODNR.
Noble County
Gulfport Energy appears to be going strong and planning further drilling in southeastern Ohio. The ODNR issued three new permits in Beaver Township to the Gulfport Energy Corporation.
There are 56 wells drilled in Noble County awaiting production mode, mainly due to infrastructure that still needs to be built. There are 29 producing wells in Noble County.
Jefferson County
Smithfield Township appears to be heating up in the drilling phase of oil and gas exploration in Jefferson County. The ODNR issued two permits to American Energy Utica for wells to be drilled on a Smithfield Township property.
The ODNR reports there are 14 wells producing oil and gas in Jefferson County and 20 drilled wells.
The ODNR issued 1,652 permits for horizontal drilling in the Utica shale. So far, 1,204 wells have been drilled, as of Nov. 30. There were 53 rigs drilling in Ohio in the Utica shale as of Nov. 29.
Marcellus shale
The ODNR has issued 44 permits for horizontal drilling in the Marcellus shale. There are 27 Marcellus shale wells in Ohio. There were no permits issued in November.
Pennsylvania
Susquehanna and Washington counties led the state of Pennsylvania with the most permits issued for shale wells during November.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued 39 permits in Susquehanna County. So far in 2014, the DEP has issued 430 new permits for shale wells there.
Washington County
The DEP issued 26 permits in Washington County, which remains a booming drilling area in Pennsylvania. So far, the DEP has issued 371 permits in 2014.
Greene County
Another leader in the drilling boom in Pennsylvania is Greene County. The DEP issued 23 permits during November.
Since Jan. 1, the DEP has issued 423 permits.
Butler County
In Butler County, there were 17 permits issued by the DEP during November and 177 have been issued since the beginning of the year.
Allegheny County
The DEP issued 11 permits during November in Allegheny County Since the beginning of the year, the DEP has issued 49 permits in Allegheny County.
Beaver and Westmoreland
In Beaver County, the DEP issued three permits. There were 41 permits issued for drilling new wells in Beaver County since Jan. 1.
And in Westmoreland County, the DEP issued three permits during November. Since Jan. 1, there were 17 permits issued during 2014.
Lawrence County
In Lawrence County, the DEP issued a single permit in November. So far, 49 permits have been issued for shale wells in Lawrence County in 2014.
West Virginia
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection issued 37 shale drilling permits during November.
In the Utica shale, the DEP issued three permits for the same property in Wetzel County to the Stone Energy Corporation.
The most permits were issued in the Marcellus shale in West Virginia. The leader this month was Marshall County where 15 permits were issued. There were 13 issued to Chevron Appalachia., all on the same piece of property owned by Williams Ohio Valley Midstream. In addition, one permit was issued to Noble Energy Inc. for a piece of property owned by Steve and Ed Ward and one issued for minerals owned by the Consol Mining Co.
Wetzel County
The DEP issued eight new permits during November in Wetzel County. There were four permits issued to Stone Energy Corporation for mineral rights owned by Heath and Charmaine Starkweather.
An additional four permits were issued to the Statoil USA Onshore Properties, Inc. for property owned by Howard Henderson.
Tyler County
In Tyler County, the DEP issued seven permits during November. Four permits were issued to Noble Energy for wells to be drilled on property owned by Allen W. Seckman, et. al. In addition, single permits were issued to Statoil USA Onshore Properties, Inc., the EQT Production Company and one to Antero Resources Corporation. All of them were issued for drilling on different properties.
Monongalia County
Drilling appears to be going at full speed in Monongalia County with six new permits issued there. The permits were issued to Northeast Natural Energy for drilling on three separate properties with different owners.
Marion County
The DEP issued two permits in Marion County during November. The permits were issued to Trans Energy Inc. for property owned by Nathaniel C. Hibbs.
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