According to Midwest Energy News, the growing interest in drilling for oil in Ohio’s Utica Shale may offset the decline in gas-centric interests, in the state.

Nearly 86 percent of active rigs in the Utica play were directed toward drilling for shale oil, according to a report published by Baker Hughes Inc. Though there’s an increase in oil-drilling rigs, Aubrey McClendon, chief executive of Chesapeake Energy Corp., said the Utica will probably not see a huge amount of production growth in oil.

It’s a matter of labeling

Rig operators are the ones responsible for labeling a well as ‘gas’ or ‘oil.’ Some industry experts think the reason for an uptick in ‘oil’ wells may be more about Wall Street than actual production. With natural gas at historic lows, some rig operators report they’re looking for oil.

Midwest Energy News interviewed Luke Larson of LCI energy Insight:

“For the most part, the delineation between oil and gas rigs is a weak relationship,” said Luke Larson of LCI Energy Insight, a supplier of gas and oil analysis to EIA.

“It’s pretty much irrelevant what the rig is designated. Nobody is going after dry gas. Of course they’re going to call as many [of them] oil rigs as they can. I hate to say that, but it’s reality.”

Regardless of whether a well is labeled ‘gas’ or ‘oil’, Ohio is now on par with Pennsylvania and West Virginia for shale gas development. Ohio now has 27 rigs in the drilling process with some 436 drilling permits issued.

» Via: Midwest Energy News › In Ohio, Utica Shale rig counts may be skewed to favor oil