Rig count doubles in Utica Shale from year ago

The number of rigs in the Utica Shale for the last week of October 2012 has doubled compared with the level for the same week in 2011.

The number of active oil and natural gas rigs in the Appalachian Basin’s Utica Shale for the last week of October 2012 has doubled compared with the level for the same week in 2011, according to a report by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). The growth in active oil-directed rigs has more than offset the declines in active gas-directed rigs. About 86%, or 24 out of 28 active rigs in the Utica play, were directed toward drilling for shale oil during the last week in October, whereas a year ago only 15% of rigs were targeting shale oil in the Utica, according to Baker Hughes.

The 28 active rigs in that area represent 2% of all active rigs in the US, according to data from the Baker Hughes US Rig Count Reports.

Chesapeake Energy Corp operated 13 rigs in Ohio for the week ending 26 October 2012, accounting for nearly half of all operating rigs in the Utica, according to Bentek Energy. This compares with only four Chesapeake rigs operating for the week ending 28 October 2011. Of the six other operators that had active rigs in 2011, only one still had an active rig in 2012, indicating that new operators, as well as Chesapeake, are carrying out the new drilling for shale oil in the Utica play. Chesapeake accounted for 112 of the 289 new well starts in Ohio recorded year-to-date for 2012, all of which were classified as having both oil and gas potential, according to Bentek.

View the Original article