Iryna Lendel, Ph.D., Assistant Director, Center for Economic Development Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, discusses how all pieces of the Utica Shale puzzles seem to favor Ohio:

"As the temperature drops and fall approaches, we start to think about the fall harvest. Falls is usually associated with picking apples, but this year we’re picking data from new Utica shale wells to see if it supports our projected economic outcomes for Ohio.

There are three pillars of data that were the basis of projections in a recent study, “The Economic Impact of the Ohio Shale,” conducted by Cleveland State University: drilling activity, production per well, and the decline curve of production over time.

As of Sept. 10, the number of wells drilled in Ohio reached 133, which shows that out of a projected 160 wells for 2012, as predicted by the study, 100 were already drilled the first eight months of this year. At least for the first projected year, expansion of drilling activity is going up to speed.

Let’s look at the big players in Ohio. Chesapeake remains the largest lease holder and the one with the most permits requested from ODNR (260 or 71% of all 367 horizontal permits issued in Ohio by September 10, 2012). The next three companies that hold at least 4% of total permits are HG Energy (16 permits), followed by Gulfport Energy and Enervest (13 each). We also see the entrance of The Big Four into the Utica via a series of dynamic acquisitions: BP, Exxon Mobil (XTO Energy), Shell, and Chevron, with Chevron becoming the third largest lease holder in the Utica Shale (with about 600,000 acres)."

READ THE REST: http://www.eidohio.org/utica-shale-reaps-its-rewards/