Up Close and Personal With 4th Quarter Utica Shale Production Data

As we mentioned earlier on the blog, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources released the shale production numbers for the fourth quarter of 2014. The numbers reveal that production continues to climb as infrastructure gets in place.

How quickly is production increasing? Consider this: in the 4th quarter of 2014 Chesapeake Energy produced more gas from its Utica shale wells than was produced from all of the shale wells combined in the 1st quarter of 2014. So the increase over the course of the past year has been impressive.

There were also a couple of interesting figures in examining the top oil wells. In the third quarter of 2014 the top nine oil wells were all located in Noble County. Five of those wells were owned by Antero Resources, while the top four wells were all owned by CNX Gas Company. However, in the fourth quarter only one of the top 10 oil-producing wells is located in Noble County, and it is the only well owned by Antero that appears among the top 10 oil wells. CNX doesn't have any of the top 10 oil wells.

Let's take a closer look by breaking down the various numbers.

First, how does the fourth quarter compare to the first three quarters of 2014?

QUARTER	# OF WELLS	OIL	GAS	DAYS	OIL/DAY	OIL/WELL	GAS/DAY	GAS/WELL
First	476	1,950,979	67,333,945	28,019	70	4,099	2,403	141,458
Second	562	2,467,283	88,673,741	37,922	65	4,390	2,338	157,782
Third	717	3,013,667	132,017,386	50,858	59	4,203	2,596	184,125
Fourth	828	3,558,836	164,815,008	62,527	57	4,298	2,636	199,052

And how do those yearly numbers compared to previous years?

YEAR	OIL	GAS
2011	46,326	2,561,524
2012	635,874	12,831,292
2013	3,677,734	100,119,054
2014	10,990,765	452,840,080
TOTALS	15,350,699	568,351,950

So 71.5% of the oil produced from shale over the past four years in Ohio was produced in 2014, and 79.6% of the gas from the past four years was produced in 2014. Despite reduced gas prices and the drop in oil prices during the final quarter, the numbers show how the Utica shale is taking off.

Here are some more figures from the fourth quarter of 2014 for your perusing pleasure.

TOP 10 OIL WELLS

OPERATOR	COUNTY	WELL NAME	WELL NO.	OIL	DAYS
AMERICAN ENERGY UTICA LLC	GUERNSEY	SHUGERT DADDY WLS GR	3H	56,496	92
AMERICAN ENERGY UTICA LLC	GUERNSEY	SHUGERT DADDY WLS GR	1H	55,234	92
AMERICAN ENERGY UTICA LLC	GUERNSEY	SHUGERT DADDY E WLS GR	5H	51,968	87
CHESAPEAKE EXPLORATION LLC	CARROLL	SMELTZ 23-13-5	1H	28,106	92
AMERICAN ENERGY UTICA LLC	HARRISON	JONES N NTG HR	3H	27,136	92
CHESAPEAKE EXPLORATION LLC	CARROLL	GF FARMS 25-14-5	10H	26,689	89
ANTERO RESOURCES CORPORATION	NOBLE	VORHIES UNIT	1H	25,638	92
R E GAS DEVELOPMENT LLC	CARROLL	JENKINS UNIT	4H	25,188	92
CHESAPEAKE EXPLORATION LLC	HARRISON	DODSON 28-11-5	6H	25,145	91
CHESAPEAKE EXPLORATION LLC	HARRISON	DODSON 28-11-5	8H	23,556	91

TOP 10 GAS WELLS

OPERATOR	COUNTY	WELL NAME	WELL NO.	GAS	DAYS
ECLIPSE RESOURCES I LP	MONROE	SHROYER UNIT	2H	1,895,281	92
ECLIPSE RESOURCES I LP	MONROE	SHROYER UNIT	4H	1,833,001	92
RICE DRILLING D LLC	BELMONT	BLUE THUNDER	10H	1,446,714	92
RICE DRILLING D LLC	BELMONT	BLUE THUNDER	12H	1,445,821	92
ANTERO RESOURCES CORPORATION	MONROE	MCDOUGAL UNIT	1H	1,383,860	85
RICE DRILLING D LLC	BELMONT	BIGFOOT	9H	1,325,905	92
ANTERO RESOURCES CORPORATION	MONROE	MCDOUGAL UNIT	2H	1,293,468	85
ANTERO RESOURCES CORPORATION	MONROE	GARY UNIT	3H	975,488	92
GULFPORT ENERGY CORPORATION	BELMONT	WESLEY	1-8H	919,065	90
GULFPORT ENERGY CORPORATION	BELMONT	WESLEY	2-8H	917,128	90

PRODUCTION BY COUNTY

COUNTY	# OF WELLS	OIL	GAS	DAYS	OIL/DAY	OIL/WELL	GAS/DAY	GAS/WELL
BELMONT	73	74,843	41,246,558	5,266	14	1,025	7,833	565,021
CARROLL	329	1,235,477	49,885,933	27,534	45	3,755	1,812	151,629
COLUMBIANA	53	76,485	9,101,670	3,963	19	1,443	2,297	171,730
COSHOCTON	1	0	0	92	0	0	0	0
GUERNSEY	59	510,721	3,782,862	3,716	137	8,656	1,018	64,116
HARRISON	141	1,127,070	21,949,321	10,616	106	7,993	2,068	155,669
JEFFERSON	16	0	1,864,656	631	0	0	2,955	116,541
MAHONING	13	5,006	1,380,562	889	6	385	1,553	106,197
MONROE	55	48,580	23,569,503	3,688	13	883	6,391	428,536
MORGAN	2	32,769	137,704	184	178	16,385	748	68,852
MUSKINGUM	1	854	14,974	92	9	854	163	14,974
NOBLE	61	427,441	11,158,756	4,431	96	7,007	2,518	182,930
PORTAGE	4	103	20,687	92	1	26	225	5,172
STARK	2	2,046	34,043	179	11	1,023	190	17,022
TRUMBULL	7	5,020	244,541	620	8	717	394	34,934
TUSCARAWAS	4	6,790	59,254	173	39	1,698	343	14,814
WASHINGTON	7	5,631	363,984	361	16	804	1,008	51,998
TOTALS/AVGS	828	3,558,836	164,815,008	62,527	57	4,298	2,636	199,052

PRODUCTION BY OPERATOR

OPERATOR	# OF WELLS	OIL	GAS	DAYS	OIL/DAY	OIL/WELL	GAS/DAY	GAS/WELL
AMERICAN ENERGY UTICA LLC	39	305,036	4,929,458	1,691	180	7,821	2,915	126,396
ANTERO RESOURCES CORPORATION	58	322,291	21,033,396	4,541	71	11,779	4,632	362,645
ARTEX OIL COMPANY	6	4,062	100,723	457	9	677	220	16,787
ATLAS NOBLE LLC	8	25,040	1,432,814	736	34	3,130	1,947	179,101
CARRIZO (UTICA) LLC	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
CHESAPEAKE APPALACHIA LLC	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
CHESAPEAKE EXPLORATION LLC	437	1,766,298	67,464,012	35,115	50	4,042	1,921	154,380
CHEVRON APPALACHIA LLC	2	8,328	64,507	184	45	4,164	351	32,254
CNX GAS COMPANY LLC	26	112,967	2,691,242	1,415	80	4,345	1,902	103,509
ECLIPSE RESOURCES I LP	29	248,298	8,365,895	2,009	124	8,562	4,164	288,479
ENERVEST OPERATING L	4	4,845	62,785	368	13	1,211	171	15,696
EQT PRODUCTION COMPANY	6	40,932	232,027	546	75	6,822	425	38,671
GULFPORT ENERGY CORPORATION	101	320,292	41,421,006	7,688	42	3,171	5,388	410,109
HALCON OPERATING COMPANY INC	8	6,681	289,564	709	9	835	408	36,196
HESS OHIO DEVELOPMENTS LLC	25	95,074	5,308,788	1,619	59	3,803	3,279	212,352
HILCORP ENERGY COMPANY	8	0	1,407,478	725	0	0	1,941	175,935
MOUNTAINEER KEYSTONE LLC	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
NGO DEVELOPMENT CORP.	1	0	0	92	0	0	0	0
PDC ENERGY INC	19	108,160	834,044	1,406	77	5,693	593	43,897
R E GAS DEVELOPMENT LLC	25	151,720	3,082,516	2,300	66	6,069	1,340	123,301
RICE DRILLING D LLC	3	0	4,218,440	276	0	0	15,284	1,406,147
STATOIL USA ONSHORE PROP INC	4	3,127	0	40	76	782	0	0
TRIAD HUNTER LLC	9	22,083	694,985	291	76	2,454	2,388	77,221
XTO ENERGY INC.	5	13,601	1,181,329	319	43	2,720	3,703	236,266