Ohio

12 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 23 – 29

For the week of Dec 23 – 29, permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica took a dive, which isn’t surprising given it was the end of the year. There were only 12 new permits issued for Dec. 23 – 29, less than half the 27 issued the week before. The Keystone State (PA) issued seven new…

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Superlight Crude Production Takes Off in Eastern Ohio’s Utica Shale

We’ve been covering the emergence of Ohio Utica oil over the past couple of years (see our Utica oil stories here). Other news outlets are beginning to notice the oily Utica. The experts at RBN Energy published a post on Friday announcing, “Condensate Production Takes Off in Eastern Ohio’s Utica Shale.” Condensate is another word…

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ODNR Seeks $6M from Austin Master Services to Cover Cleanup Costs

One of the significant stories of 2024 in the Ohio Utica was about Austin Master Services (AMS), a radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), Ohio, that handles fracking waste (trucks it for disposal). AMS ran into trouble when it ran out of money. The Martins Ferry facility where waste is temporarily…

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PTT Investing $21.25B in 2025 to 2029, But Not in Ohio Cracker

This is your friendly (somewhat snarky) semi-regular reminder from MDN that the PTT ethane cracker project in Ohio is dead (see Facing Reality – PTT Ohio Cracker Plant Project is Dead). We periodically look for signs of life in the project, and it has been a flat line for YEARS. Nothing. Local and state leaders…

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27 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 16 – 22

For the week of Dec 16 – 22, permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica remained healthy. There were 27 new permits issued last week, up from 22 issued the week before. In something of an unusual twist, the Keystone State (PA) issued just four new permits, all of them to different drillers. PennEnergy Resources’ permit was…

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No Change in Either M-U Or National Baker Hughes Rig Counts

This is an interesting pattern we’ve not seen in a long time for the venerable Baker Hughes rig count. The national rig count and the count for the Marcellus/Utica remained the same for multiple weeks in a row. The national count was 589 active rigs last week (now four weeks in a row). The M-U…

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New Request to Frack Under Another 4,743 Acres of OH Wildlife Areas

An undisclosed shale driller has asked the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) to consider opening up an additional 4,360 acres of state-owned Egypt Valley Wildlife Area for shale drilling under the land. A new “nomination” for drilling was also sent to the OGLMC for 383 acres of Jockey Hollow Wildlife Area, located…

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22 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Dec 9 – 15

For the week of Dec 9 – 15, permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica remained healthy. There were 22 new permits issued last week, down just a bit from the 28 issued the week before. The Keystone State (PA) issued 17 new permits, with the bulk of them, 11, going to a single driller, PennEnergy Resources,…

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Details for Surface Owners re Diversified Deal to Plug Wells

In November, MDN told you that Diversified Energy and EQT Corporation had settled a class action lawsuit originally brought by several West Virginia landowners (see EQT, Diversified Settle WV Class Action Lawsuit re Old Wells). Diversified and EQT are ponying up $3.25 million each ($6.5 million total) with requirements for Diversified to plug more wells…

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Ohio Utica Shale Attracted $108 Billion Investment by End of 2023

JobsOhio, a private, nonprofit corporation that works on behalf of the state to drive job creation and new capital investment in Ohio by attracting business, contracts out economic research to Cleveland State University (CSU) to keep tabs on the Utica Shale industry. JobsOhio released the latest CSU updated report yesterday (full copy below), showing that…

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Return of the Wildcatters – Utica Oil Drillers Grow Organically

Oil wildcatting is the process of drilling exploratory wells in areas with little to no history of oil and gas production. Wildcatting is a high-risk activity that involves drilling in unproven or fully depleted areas. Wildcat wells are often drilled far from other wells and without the use of well logs or other geological data….

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Infinity Natural Resources Picks Up Another 7 Banks for Utica IPO

MDN reported that in early October that Infinity Natural Resources (INR) filed an IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) hoping to raise $100 million (see M-U Driller Infinity Natural Resources Files for $100 Million IPO). Citigroup, Raymond James, and RBC Capital Markets were the original Big Bank underwriters. At the end of November,…

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