Ohio Utica Development Dominated by One Operator, Chesapeake

While unconventional activity in Pennsylvania is waning, at least in the short term, activity in Ohio’s Utica Shale appears to be experiencing a period of robust growth.

While the number of permits in July is down from the month before, the overall trend in Ohio seems to correspond with the notion that drillers are turning to wet gas in these times of low prices for methane.

But when you want to talk about Ohio’s Utica, you are essentially talking about one company: Chesapeake Exploration, LLC. While Chesapeake also has the the most unconventional wells in Pennsylvania, there are many other drillers with substantial totals, such as Talisman and Range Resources. On the western side of the border, the industry is much less diversified:

Not only does Chesapeake hold 71 percent of the permits, but their total of 227 permits issued is over 15 times more than their nearest competitor in Ohio’s Utica, HG Energy.