SALEM, Ohio — Belmont County was the hot spot for Utica shale well permits issued by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources in October. The ODNR issued 75 permits during October. Of those, 40 were issued for new wells in Belmont County. The permits were distributed among five townships and five drilling companies.
In Mead Township, three permits were issued to XTO Energy for three wells to be drilled on sites owned by a single property owner.
Six permits were issued for wells in York Township. One permit was issued to XTO Energy and five were issued to Ascent Resources Utica, which was formerly American Energy Partners.
In Wheeling Township, six permits were issued to Ascent Resources Utica on three different properties.
Four permits were issued in Richland Township to Ascent Resources Utica, and XTO Energy.
Rice Drilling also decided to drill two new wells in Goshen Township on the same piece of land.
The drilling rigs are also going to be busy in Pultney Township. XTO Energy received three permits during October for wells in that township. And Gulfport Energy also plans to drill 10 new wells. It received the permits to drill on two separate properties.
In Wayne Township, Eclipse Resources received six permits for drilling on the same property.
Monroe County
The ODNR issued 11 permits last month for sites in Monroe County . Four of those permits were issued to Antero Resources Corporation in Malaga Township. Three permits were issued to Triad Hunter, and Antero Resources Corporation for drilling in Seneca Township. And in Washington Township, one permit was issued to Ascent Resources Corporation.
Noble County
The ODNR issued 10 permits for new wells in Noble County during October. Of those, eight were issued to Antero Resources Corporation for two properties in Beaver Township and one property in Seneca Township. The remaining two were issued in Jefferson Township to Triad Hunter,
Harrison County
Ascent Resources Utica is also gearing up for production in Harrison County with five permits issued in October for new wells in Nottingham Township.
Three permits
The ODNR issued three permits each in Jefferson, Carroll and Guernsey counties.
In Guernsey County, the ODNR issued the permits for three wells to be drilled on one piece of property in Wills Township. The permits were issued to Ascent Resources Utica.
Ascent Resources Utica also plans on drilling three new wells on one piece of property in Mount Pleasant Township.
And Chesapeake Exploration received three permits for wells to be drilled on one landowner in Orange Township in Carroll County.
As a whole, there are now 2,065 permits issued in Ohio for horizontal drilling in the Utica shale. Of those, 1,629 are now in some drilling phase and 1,031 are now producing.
In October, 38 wells turned into some drilling phase. Of those 38, 20 of them are Ascent Resources Utica wells. The Farm and Dairy reached out to Ascent Resources Utica to find out why there is such a push for new permits and why so many are in a drilling phase already, but there was no comment from the company.
Pennsylvania
There were 139 wells permitted in Pennsylvania during October, of those 125 are for new wells and 14 requested permission to drill deeper.
The DEP issued 1,730 permits so far in 2015 and 1,518 of those permits were for new wells.
Washington County led the way in the number of permits issued by the Pa. Department of Environmental Protection during October.
The DEP issued 34 permits in Washington County; of those, 31 were for new wells and three are asking permission to drill deeper in an existing well. The DEP issued 262 permits in 2015 in the county, and 200 were for new shale wells. A total of 21 shale wells were drilled in Washington County during October.
Greene County
The DEP also issued 20 permits in Greene County. Of those, 17 are for new wells and three are requesting permission to drill deeper.
In Greene County, the DEP has issued 264 permits so far this year. The DEP reported four shale wells were drilled in October.
Bradford County
During October, the DEP issued 11 permits in Bradford County. Of those 11, eight are requesting permission for new wells and three are asking if they can drill deeper. In 2015, the DEP has issued 212 permits in Bradford County.
Only one shale well was drilled there this past month, according to the DEP.
Allegheny County
The shale moving is moving forward in Allegheny County. The DEP issued eight permits for new wells in Allegheny County. The DEP has issued a total of 41 permits for wells to be drilled since January.
Lawrence County
The DEP issued seven permits in Lawrence County during October. Four were issued for new oil and gas combination wells and three issued strictly for gas wells.
So far in 2015, the DEP has issued 38 permits in Lawrence County, 22 for combination of oil and gas wells, 14 for gas wells and two for multiple well bore types meaning different rock layers. The DEP reported four new shale wells were drilled in Lawrence County in October.
Butler County
Drillers applied for six new well permits in Butler County, all of them will be for new wells. Since January, the DEP has issued a total of 120 well permits.
Drilling may be slowing else where in Pennsylvania, but Butler County didn’t show it. There were 13 shale wells drilled in October.
Beaver County
Six permits were granted by the DEP in Beaver County. Of the six, two are for new wells and four are for permission to drill deeper in existing wells. The DEP has issued 38 new permits in the county since the beginning of the year.
West Virginia
Permitting also appears to have picked up in West Virginia during October.
The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection issued six Marcellus shale well permits in both Monongalia and Tyler Counties in October. In Monongalia County, the permits were issued to Northeast Natural Energy. In Tyler County, the permits were issued to Jay-Bee Oil and Gas and the EQT Production Company.
In Tyler County, the DEP also issued two permits to the Jay-Bee Oil and Gas company for Utica shale wells.
According to the DEP, there are 38 producing wells in the Marcellus shale in Tyler County.
Two permits
The DEP issued two permits in both Marshall and Ohio counties. The permits were issued in Marshall County and Ohio County to the SWN Production Company, and for Marcellus shale wells to be drilled.
The DEP reports that there are now 97 Marcellus shale wells producing in Marshall County and 40 in Ohio County.
Single permit
A single permit was issued in Wetzel County during October. The permit was issued to the SWN Production Company for a Marcellus shale well. According to the DEP, there are now 94 Marcellus shale wells producing in Wetzel County.
Other producing wells
The DEP reported one producing well in Hancock County, four in Pleasant County and 24 in Brooke County. All of them are Marcellus shale wells.
To check out what the shale future may include, check this story: http://www.farmanddairy.com/news/downturn-in-ma…e-acquisitions/297000.html.
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