Despite its geologic reach, most of the oil and gas exploration and development activity in the Utica has thus far been focused in Eastern Ohio. But the boundaries have shifted slowly since early , with operators setting out to delineate the formation in Northern West Virginia and more recently in Southwest Pennsylvania see Shale Daily , March 26, The robust development in Ohio so far has been attributable to its wet and dry gas windows and the possibility of an oil window farther to the north.
The Utica is shallower in Ohio, meaning it is relatively less expensive to drill. The Keystone State has increasingly become a part of the Utica horizon. In late , the company said its Neal and Gee wells were drilled to a total depth of 14, and 15, feet, respectively.
The Gee well had an initial flowback rate of Months later, Seneca Resources Corp. Little is generally known about Utica mechanics that far east. Today, although a few small operators continue to explore the Utica in the area, it remains hamstrung by both a lack of takeaway and a waning appetite for risk amid depressed natural gas prices see Shale Daily , Oct. EQT has said it would suspend its Upper Devonian drilling program in and defer some Marcellus drilling to build a 10 well Utica program in Pennsylvania.
Range had two other Utica wells planned for Pennsylvania at the time of this writing, while Consol was preparing to hydraulically fracture its second and indicated it was thinking along the same lines as EQT. Still, the eye-popping initial production rates from the wells tested to date have financial analysts, company officials and industry onlookers concerned about decline rates.
It was the first such well drilled in Southwest Pennsylvania. That means that oil is still the coin of the realm. The question is, is that coin alluring enough to tempt the drillers in the Marcellus to alter their strategies and shift resources from parts of Pennsylvania to the oil-rich fields of Ohio? Another possibility is that both plays will expand in tandem or that depressed prices will cripple them both.
But regardless of the outcome, the Utica is already a bargaining chip in Pennsylvania as the state gropes for more effective ways to regulate the gas industry, and for ways to share in the wealth it is expected to generate. Ohio is a state with a long history of accommodating the oil and gas industry and a current administration that has enthusiastically welcomed the attention the drillers have lavished on it.
Ultimately, however, few experts dispute that it will be the Utica itself and the price of a barrel of oil on the commodities exchanges, far more than comparative costs or regulations, that will determine the way forward. It has everything to do with how much you can get for a barrel of oil versus 1, cubic feet of gas. He has won a number of journalism awards and is currently working on a comic novel set in Pennsylvania's coal country.
He lives in the woods of northeastern Pennsylvania with his wife, Kren, and four children, Miriam, Yona, Seneca and Liam. Email address. Generic filters Hidden label. Hidden label. Archive Contact Subscribe Advertise About. The Utica Shale A new and deeper shale is attracting interest. The process has also been on hold in Maryland due to public opposition and an in-depth review of risks and impacts; however, in November the state completed that work and issued regulations, signaling the possibility that drilling could move forward.
In the meantime, gas production has expanded in Pennsylvania and Ohio—giving rise to plans for a network of new pipelines and compressor stations region-wide to get the gas to market, as well as increasing volumes of waste that must be managed and disposed of.
Alongside a rapid increase in wells and political support for natural gas has been widespread public concern over health and environmental impacts—as well as a growing body of scientific research and documentation of water and air pollution from chemicals, well sites, infrastructure, and waste. Loopholes in several national laws , outdated state regulations, inadequate oversight , and lax enforcement , and have made drilling much easier for industry—and life much harder for communities.
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