Investment in Ohio’s Utica Shale approaches $78B
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Total investment in Ohio’s Utica Shale is nearly $78 billion since tracking began in 2011, according to a new study by Cleveland State University.
Investment has grown by $7.7 billion through 2018 since the last report was completed in 2017, said the study from CSU’s Energy Policy Center at the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs.
The study was completed for JobsOhio, the state’s private economic development agency. Kallanish Energy reports
Drilling investments in Ohio were down slightly in the second half of 2018, compared to the first half, but total upstream investments were up, the report said.
Total shale-related investment in Ohio for the second half of 2018 was around $3.82 billion. Upstream activities in the second half of last year totaled $3.5 billion. A total of 117 new wells were drilled in that time, 40 fewer than in the first half 2018.
Longer laterals produced higher production and increased investment per well, the report said. The main drilling counties were Belmont, Monroe and Carroll.
Data indicates the volume of gas-equivalent shale production in the second half of 2018 was 17.7% higher than in the first half of the year, with total upstream spending in the second half 2018 exceeding that of the first half by roughly $173.4 million.
Ohio saw limited investment in midstream infrastructure in the second half 2018: about $231.8 million, with most of that money spent on gathering system build-outs. No new gas processing or fractionation facilities were added in Ohio in that time.
Two combined heat and power plants with a total capacity of 22.5 megawatts were built in Ohio. They represent an investment of $34.1 million. Ohio also got $3.8 million in compressed or liquefied natural gas refueling stations.
“As the upstream and midstream sectors continue to mature, our focus is to land more downstream investment,” said Matt Cybulski, director of energy and chemicals at JobsOhio, in a statement.
Such an approach helps companies already in Ohio to expand to take advantage of cheap natural gas and attracts new greenfield developments such as ethane crackers, methanol plants and other similar investments that produce construction and permanent in-plant jobs, he said.
The study is the fifth report on Ohio shale economics prepared by Cleveland State.
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