COLUMBUS — After a look at some statistics compiled and released by the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, there is no doubt an oil and gas boom is taking shape in the Ohio.

The Ohio Oil and Gas Association released the DeBrosse Memorial Report March 7, which details the oil and gas drilling activity in 2012. The OOGA is a trade group that educates and promotes on behalf of the state’s oil and gas industry.

Wells drilled

According to the OOGA, Chesapeake Exploration drilled 158 wells in Ohio in 2012. Oxford Oil drilled the second highest number of wells at 69, and third was Knox Energy Inc., however those do not appear to be shale gas wells.

The report also detailed the footage drilled in 2012. According to the OOGA, Chesapeake Exploration drilled more than a million feet underground, or 1.60 million feet. By comparison, the company with the drilled total closest to Chesapeake, Enervest Operating LLC., drilled 184,008 feet last year.

County breakdown

The report also detailed the drilling in each county, although it is not clear how much of the footage includes drilling through the Utica shale.

In Carroll County when the report was written, there were 81 wells drilled, with a total vertical and horizontal footage drilled of 989,218 feet.

In Columbiana County, there were 285,976 feet drilled and in Jefferson County, 254,109 feet.

Some other counties with a notable amount of drilling in 2012 include: Stark, 253,905; Noble, 232,019; Harrison, 199,770; Monroe 155,525; Guernsey, 117,871 and Mahoning, 110,843.

Horizontal drilling

OOGA also compiled the horizontal drilling lengths by county. In Jefferson Count, the horizontal legs drilled total 16,640 feet.

Other county numbers included: Harrison, a total of 16,439 feet drilled horizontally; Carroll, 14,800; Columbiana, 14,844; Noble, 14,516; Monroe, 14,686; Belmont, 14,250; Portage, 14,221; Stark, 13,525; Muskingum, 12,871; Tuscarawas, 12,342; Guernsey, 11,778; and Mahoning, 9,958.

The OOGA also reported that in 2010, there were 1.71 million feet drilled, 1.99 million feet drilled in 2011 and 3.53 million feet drilled in 2012.

In 2011, the OOGA reported that 17 percent of the wells drilled were exploratory. In 2012, 54 percent were under development and 46 percent were considered exploratory.

Well status

According to the OOGA, there are a total of 543 Utica shale wells in some sort of status and 346 of those are Chesapeake Exploration wells.

A total of 73 Utica shale wells are producing and 154 more have been drilled. Of those 154, OOGA reports 125 of those belong to Chesapeake Exploration.

There have been a total of 11 wells plugged, with three belonging to Chesapeake Exploration and three to Devon Energy Production.

Gulfport Energy

Gulfport Energy Corporation is second in Ohio drilling right now, with a total of 31 wells in some sort of status, according to the OOGA.

Gulfport has three wells in production and has been issued 18 more permits by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Four are in the process of being drilled and five have already been drilled.

Hess Ohio Resources LLC is the third in the state for the number of wells, followed by CNX and Antero Appalachian Corporation.

Hess Ohio Resources LLC. has three producing wells and 13 total permits. CNX has one Utica shale well producing and nine total permits.

There are seven wells drilled and waiting for the fracking process. Fracking or fracked is actually short for hydraulic fracturing, a process commonly used in oil development that cracks open rock layers to free natural gas.

Production reports

Ohio law requires the owner of any well capable of producing oil and gas to report the production to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources by March 31. The data will give an idea of what wells are producing in each county. The report is due out sometime during the week of April 1.

(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.)