Krugliak, Wilkins, Griffiths & Dougherty Co., L.P.A. presents

 Editor:  Gregory W. Watts, Esq. and Ian R. Hoke, Esq.

Ohio.com

Oklahoma-based Gulfport Energy Corp. and a subsidiary of Pennsylvania-based Rice Energy Inc. have agreed to develop natural gas-gathering pipelines and water services to support Gulfport's drilling for natural gas in eastern Belmont and Monroe counties. Gulfport and Rice announced Thursday that they plan to invest approximately $520 million to develop gathering and compression assets and $120 million for water assets over the next six years.

Ohio.com
A group of U.S. drilling states, seismologists, academics and industry experts issued guidance Monday in a frank new report on handling human-induced earthquakes caused by hydraulic fracturing or the disposal of fracking wastewater.The 150-page report, produced by the StatesFirst initiative, represents perhaps the most candid discussion on the topic since tremors across the mid-continent - including in Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado and Ohio - began being linked to fracking and deep-injection wastewater disposal around 2009.

EINNews.com

A pioneering study led by West Virginia University, and financially supported by the Energy Department's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and 14 industry members of the Utica Shale Appalachian Basin Exploration Consortium, indicates that the newly explored Utica Shale, which underlies the better-known Marcellus Shale, could hold far more natural gas and oil than previously estimated. If the commercial potential of this play could be realized, it would be, geographically, the largest natural gas field in the United States. The two-year study estimates technically recoverable volumes of 782 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and nearly 2 billion barrels of oil. These results, which build upon and further refine previous estimates, far exceed a 2012 assessment conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey and highlight new potential for the Utica Shale.

MarketWatch.com
Antero completed and placed on line 25 horizontal Utica wells during the third quarter of 2015.  The average lateral length for the 25 wells was approximately 8,100 feet and the average stage length was approximately 180 feet. During the third quarter, Antero placed on line four wells on the Loraditch pad, the driest, most down dip Ohio Utica drilling completed by Antero to date. All four wells were placed under the Company's flowback management program and had a combined average 30-day rate of 64.0 MMcfe/d while rejecting ethane (15% liquids). The four Loraditch wells had an average flowing casing pressure of 3,400 psi per well for the 30 days.  Additionally, Antero has reached total depth and cased its first West Virginia Utica well in Tyler County.

BusinessJournalDaily.com
The announcement Thursday that South Field Energy LLC, plans to build a $1.1 billion, 1,100-megawatt natural gas electric generating plant in Columbiana County brings to six the number of similar plants slated for Ohio, adding up to a collective investment of $4.86 billion.

WallStreetJournal.com
Energy Transfer Equity  LP agreed to acquire  Williams  Cos. in a $32.6 billion deal that will create a massive U.S. network of natural-gas pipelines. In June, Williams had rejected a $48 billion offer from Energy Transfer. But since then shares of energy companies have been beaten down. Natural-gas prices have remained low, the price of oil the companies also transport has tumbled and the outlook for growth in the pipeline industry has dimmed.

Ohio.com
Chesapeake Energy Corp., the No. 1 player in Ohio's Utica Shale, said on Tuesday it has cut about 15 percent of its workforce, or 740 jobs, as depressed oil and gas prices force deeper cost cutting at the U.S. No. 2 natural gas producer, Reuters reported.

Ohio.com
A Medina County judge on Tuesday gave Nexus Gas Transmission LLC permission to survey on private property for its $2 billion natural gas pipeline across northern Ohio. The decision was released by Judge Christopher Collier in a lawsuit filed last July by the Texas-based company against 113 Medina County landowners. Ohio law gives the company the authority to survey for a pipeline, even if landowners do not approve, Collier said.

Ohio.com

Ohio had what could be a record week for new permits for Utica Shale wells with 33 permits being filed. That includes 19 permits for Belmont County, three in Guernsey County, five in Harrison County, three in Jefferson County and three in Monroe County. Overall, Ohio has approved 2,041 Utica Shale permits, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources reported. Of that total, 1,608 Utica wells have been drilled and 1,018 Utica wells are producing, through Oct. 10. Ohio has 24 rigs at work.