SALEM, Ohio — Carroll County continues to be the drilling hub in the Utica shale in Ohio. During April, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources issued 24 permits for wells in Carroll County. All of the permits issued were to Chesapeake Exploration.

Carroll County

Lee Township led the month with a total of 10 permits issued for wells. Multiple permits were also issued in Loudon, Union, Perry and East townships. There was one permit issued for a site in Augusta Township.

Harrison County

Harrison County is also proving to be a popular place for drillers to construct Utica shale wells. The ODNR issued six permits for well sites during April.

According to the ODNR report, there were three permits issued in Athens Township and two in both Monroe and Freeport townships.

The permits issued in Athens and Freeport townships were to Gulfport Energy Corporation. The permits issued in Monroe Township were to Chevron Appalachia LLC.

Belmont County

The ODNR issued three permits in Belmont County. All three were issued for well sites in Union Township to the Gulfport Energy Corporation.

Monroe and Washington. There were two permits issued in Monroe County and three in Washington County during April.

The permits issued in Monroe County are for well sites in Seneca Township. The permits were issued to the Antero Reserve Appalachian Corporation.

In Washington County, the ODNR issued two permits for three well sites in Aurelius and one in Adams townships.

PDC Energy Inc. was granted the permit for the well site in Adams Township. Triad Hunter, LLC. received the permits for Aurelius Township.

Single permits

Single site drilling permits were issued in Columbiana, Guernsey, Mahoning and Noble counties.

In Noble County, the permit was issued for a well site in Enoch Township to the CNX Gas Company LLC.

In Guernsey County, the permit was issued to Carrizo (Utica) LLC. for a well site in Richland Township.

In Columbiana County, the ODNR issued a permit for a well site in Franklin Township to Chesapeake Exploration, LLC.

A single permit was issued to Halcon Operating Company in Mahoning County for a site in Jackson Township.

In Ohio, there are a total of 627 horizontal permits issued to date, and so far, 310 wells have been drilled.

Pennsylvania

In Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection reported drillers applied for 39 permits during April in Bradford County where the Marcellus shale boom took off.

Western Pa.

In April, there were 10 permits issued for Butler County and seven in Beaver County. A single permit was issued for a well site in Lawrence County and four permits were issued in Mercer County.

A total of 24 permits were issued by the DEP for drilling in Washington County.

There were 18 permits issued for drilling sites in Greene County.

Drilling

According to the Pa. DEP, there were 103 unconventional gas wells drilled in Pennsylvania. These wells are either Marcellus shale or Utica shale wells.

A total of 13 wells were drilled in Washington County and 11 in Butler County.

Meanwhile, Bradford County reported six wells and Greene County reported eight wells drilled.

West Virginia

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection issued permits to drill through the Marcellus shale in Wetzel, Ohio and Marshall counties.

In Wetzel County, permits were issued for five locations.

A permit was issued to Chesapeake Appalachia, LLC for a location owned by Ridgetop Capital, LP.

HG Energy, LLC. received permits for drilling on a farm owned by Francis D. and Freeda M. Brown.

The Stone Energy Corporation was issued permits for a farm owned by the Stone Energy Corporation, and also permits for a farm owned by Lawrence Zumpetta.

In addition, EQT Production Company was issued permits for two sites. They include a farm owned by Kathy S. Edgell and one owned by Richard M. and Mary G. Underwood.

Ohio County

In Ohio County, the West Virginia DEP issued two separate permits to Chesapeake Appalachia LLC. for drilling on property owned by Clarence S. and Charolette Farmer and Carl J. and Grace A. Rotter.

Marshall County

The DEP also issued a permit to Chesapeake Appalachia for a farm owned by Van L. Aston in Marshall County.