SALEM, Ohio — In December, Carroll County continued its streak as the county with the most shale gas drilling permits issued, but not all of them were to Chesapeake Exploration.

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Carroll County

According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources permit records from December, there were eight permits issued to well sites in Carroll County.

Two of the permits were issued to RE Gas Development LLC. in Washington Township. Another permit was issued in Washington Township, to Chesapeake Exploration.

Two permits were issued for well sites in Center Township to Chesapeake Exploration, which also received permits for a site in August and one in Fox townships.

Harrison County

Harrison County sites received seven permits. One permit was issued to Atlas Noble LLC. in North Township and another was issued to Gulfport Energy Corporation in Washington Township.

Three permits were issued in Stock Township to Chesapeake Exploration, and two were issued to the same company in Rumley Township.

Monroe County

Drilling interest seems to be heating up in Monroe County, as three separate companies received permits during December.

One permit was issued in Green Township in Monroe County to Eclipse Resources LP. Antero Resources Appalachian Corp. received a permit for a well in Seneca Township; and XTO Energy Inc. was issued a permit for a well in Switzerland Township.

Portage County

In Portage County, there were four permits issued to Mountaineer Keystone LLC in Nelson Township.

Noble County

In Noble County, two separate companies were issued permits to drill. CNX Gas Co. LLC received a permit for a site in Enoch Township, and Antero Reserve Appalachian Corporation received one in Seneca Township.

Single permits

In Belmont County, one permit was issued to Gulfport Energy Corporation for a well in Somerset Township. And in Mahoning County, a permit was issued for a well site in Poland Township to the Hilcorp Energy Co.

Another permit was issued to Chesapeake Exploration for a well site in Franklin Township in Columbiana County. PDC Energy Inc. received a permit for a Richland Township site in Guernsey County.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection was also busy issuing permits for oil and gas wells.

In Bradford County, where the shale boom is speculated to have began, there were 47 permits issued during December.

The other top four counties with permits issued were Susquehanna County, 37; Washington Township, 31; and Lycoming with 23 permits during December.

In the immediate Farm and Dairy reading area, Beaver County was issued five permits, and a total of 23 permits were issued in Butler County. One permit was issued in Lawrence County and two were issued in Mercer County.

December totals

A total of 226 permits were issued by the Pennsylvania DEP during December.

According to the Pennsylvania DEP, there were 2,635 permits issued from Jan. 1, 2012- Dec. 31, 2012.

2012 totals

Bradford County led the state with the number of permits issued for shale wells with a total of 393. Lycoming had 351 permits issued and 325 wells were permitted in Washington County.

A total of 28 permits were issued in 2012 in Allegheny County; Armstrong, 49; Beaver, 49; Butler, 102; Greene County, 147; Lawrence County, 35; and Mercer County, 11.

(Reporter Kristy Foster Seachrist welcomes feedback by phone at 800-837-3419 or by e-mail at kfoster@farmanddairy.com. You can also follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/fosterk96.)