SALEM, Ohio — The Ohio Department of Natural Resources issued only 16 new permits for oil and gas drilling in January. Of those 16, six went to well sites in Belmont County.
Two Belmont County permits were issued to Ascent Resources Utica for sites in Wheeling Township, and two to Ascent Resources for Richland Township well sites.
The ODNR issued a single permit in both Pultney and Mead townships to XTO Energy.
As of Jan. 30, there are now 316 total permits issued in Belmont County. There are 113 wells in some drilling phase and 123 wells are reported as producing.
Other permits
The ODNR issued four permits in both Harrison and Monroe counties.
In Harrison County, the four permits were issued for the same Ascent Resources Utica well pad in Nottingham Township .
To date, 380 permits have been issued in Harrison County, where there are now 215 producing wells and 106 wells in a drilling phase.
In Monroe County, two permits were issued in Seneca Township to Antero Resources Corporation, and two permits were issued in Perry Township to a newcomer, EM Energy Ohio.
In Monroe County, the ODNR has issued a total of 229 permits to date. There are 94 producing wells and 89 are in some sort of drilling phase.
Single permits
One permit was issued in both Guernsey and Jefferson counties.
In Guernsey County, the permit was issued in Millwood Township to Eclipse Resources.
The county has received a total of 195 permits to date, and 99 wells are producing, with another 56 listed in a drilling phase.
In Jefferson County, the permit was issued to Chesapeake Exploration for a well to be drilled in Springfield Township
Jefferson County now has received 62 permits to date, with 15 wells producing. There are also 29 wells drilled and awaiting completion or to be brought on line.
Across the state, as of Jan. 30, 2,129 permits have been issued to date, and 1,673 wells that have been drilled in Ohio. There are 14 rigs currently drilling in the Utica shale.
There are no rigs drilling in the Marcellus Shale and there were no new permits issued for that play in January.
Pennsylvania
Washington County led the state of Pennsylvania with the number of permits issued in January. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued 30 permits for new wells there.
The DEP report also shows that 26 wells were drilled in Washington County last month.
Greene County
The DEP also issued 25 permits in Greene County. Twenty permits were issued for new wells and five were issued for wells to be drilled deeper.
The DEP reported there were two wells drilled in Greene County during January.
Other counties
In Butler County, the DEP issued 11 new permits for wells to be drilled; two Beaver County sites received permits, and in Mercer County, the DEP granted permission for one new shale well to be drilled.
Bradford County
The surprise was in Bradford County where the Marcellus shale boom is said to have begun over 10 years ago. The DEP only issued a total of three permits in Bradford County. One permit was for a new well and two granted permission for a driller to drill an existing well deeper.
Overall, the DEP issued 126 well permits during January. Of those permits, 114 were issued for new wells and 12 were issued so that the wells can be drilled deeper.
DEP reports 43 unconventional (shale) wells were drilled in Pennsylvania since the beginning of the year.
West Virginia
In West Virginia, 10 permits were granted in the Northern Panhandle, and Wetzel and Tyler counties. All of the permits issued were for drilling in the Marcellus shale.
In Brooke County, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection issued two new permits to the SWN Production Company, on land owned by James K. Seabright and Martha May.
In Ohio County, the DEP issued two permits, also to the SWN Production Company. The permits were issued for land owned by Gary and Terry Kestner.
The DEP issued three permits in Marshall County for land owned by Richard Woods and Nancy Wiley. The permits were issued to Chevron Appalachia,
In Wetzel County, the DEP issued two permits for the same piece of property. The permits were issued to the SWN Production Company, on land owned by Constance A. Taylor.
There were three Marcellus shale permits issued in Tyler County. Two of the permits were issued to the EQT Production Company on land owned by Vivian J. Wells. A single permit also issued to the EQT Production Company was issued to Donna Peter.
