Clinton Sandstone 3/12/2015

COLUMBUS: Experimental horizontal wells in Ohio and surrounding states show great promise as a way for drillers to tap into the much-drilled Clinton sandstone, industry representatives say.

Such wells are three times more costly than comparable vertical-only wells, but the horizontal wells are seven to eight times more productive, said Mark Lytle, CEO emeritus of Wooster-based Buckeye Oil Producing Co.

The new wells are “not monster gas wells,” but his company was very surprised at the volume of natural gas that was tapped, he said.

His company has drilled a horizontal well in the Berea sandstone in West Virginia and hopes to drill one Clinton sandstone well in Ohio this year, he said Thursday at the Ohio Oil and Gas Association’s winter meeting. The three-day program attracted more than 1,000 people and it wraps up on Friday.

David Hill, the president of the OOGA, hailed Lytel and the two other panelists, Greg Mason of the Newark-based Energy Cooperative, and Bob Trevail of Pennsylvania-based Dallas Energy LLC, for being pioneers in drilling the Clinton and other shallow sandstones.

Such horizontal wells may well be the future of Ohio drilling, Hill said.

He said it is very encouraging that the new wells are reaching leftover natural gas and oil.

Lytle’s company drilled its first Clinton sandstone well in Holmes County in 2011. The company has added the two West Virginia wells — one is in production and the second should be producing in the near future, he said.

Mason’s company has drilled one shallow horizontal well in Coshocton County. That well has produced more natural gas than expected, he said. He said he hopes to drill three new wells this year, if the commodity prices rise. Trevail’s company has drilled successfully near Bradford, Pa.

Mason said the new drilling was 10 times more expensive than vertical wells, but the production results were 20 times greater than a vertical well.

A Texas-based company, Enervest Energy Ltd., began drilling horizontal wells in the Clinton sandstone in Stark County late last year. Those wells are about 4,600 feet deep with 1,500-foot laterals.

The results of those 10 initial wells looked promising, but the company has released little information about its exploration.

The Clinton sandstone has been heavily drilled three times, most recently in the 1970s and 1980s. It lies under 25 Ohio counties including the entire Akron-Canton area.

About three-fourths of all oil and gas produced in Ohio from 1985 to 2009 came from vertical-only Clinton sandstone wells.

The new horizontal wells cost from $1 million to $3 million per well, far less than the bigger Utica shale wells that cost from $6 million to $10 million per well.

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Permalink Reply by lance on March 14, 2015 at 7:43am

How much deeper is the Utica than the Clinton? And can those drilling Utica tie into the Clinton formation with the same hole?

Permalink Reply by Den on March 14, 2015 at 10:16am

clinton is shallow, around 1000'.    those are easy to drill, and most are drilled just in order to hold leases for deep wells later.

Permalink Reply by james david lamm on March 14, 2015 at 11:06am

Clinton sand is around 2,500 feet at lake erie . 4,700 feet in stark county and 5,000 ft in carrol and tusck . about 1,000 higher than the Utica. burea wells are very shallow in the fact that the burea sand in stark county is about 700 feet down  it is a dud

Permalink Reply by Robert Bond on March 14, 2015 at 11:31am

Here in Trumbull county some of the Clinton wells are 40 years old and still producing.  They are over 4000 feet deep.

Permalink Reply by james david lamm on March 15, 2015 at 9:44am

rumor has it that Total gave a driller lots of funds to drill horizontal Clinton wells in ohio not saying no more 

Permalink Reply by James Vanderink on March 15, 2015 at 3:01pm
Robert, I have an old Logan Fuel Gas Clinton on one our farms still producing gas into the Columbia Gas line that was drilled in 1908.
Permalink Reply by Robert Bond on March 15, 2015 at 3:09pm

Wow that has been quite  a well.  We have 2 Clinton wells from the 1970's on our farm here in Lordstown.

Permalink Reply by James Vanderink on March 15, 2015 at 3:31pm
Yep, sure the production is minimal but true. My grandson was just back there today and it still exists. Pressure will run the furnace and Hot water heater until the outside temp gets to the 0-10 degree range. At that point the HW tank sounds like it is going explode. Grandson has a outside wood burner to back up. Licking County. Good Clinton gas out that way.
Permalink Reply by Tony Yurina on March 30, 2015 at 3:58pm

James,

I believe Logan Fuel Gas was acquired by Ohio Fuel Gas Company, who was later transformed into the Columbia Gas Transmission Pipeline Company & Columbia Gas of Ohio. 

That was some good pipe to still be holding 107 years later, and the well still producing a domestic gas supply.  

Permalink Reply by Den on March 30, 2015 at 1:16pm

Sorry, I was confusing clinton for another shale layer.  clinton is much deeper.

046aqwyftq0soPermalink Reply by 046aqwyftq0so on March 17, 2015 at 11:38am

This is cool! 

Permalink Reply by Frank Walker on March 31, 2015 at 1:12am

I dunno; maybe it depends.  Not so certain Hillary and Bill would want their name on this.

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