During the third quarter of 2015, Ohio’s horizontal shale wells produced 5,696,780 barrels of oil and 245,747,686 Mcf (245 billion cu. ft.) of natural gas, according to figures released by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR).
Quarterly production continues to set new records as horizontal shale well production totals have increased by more than 100 percent from 2014’s third quarter totals. Additionally, Ohio’s horizontal shale wells have produced more oil and gas in the first nine months of this year than all of Ohio’s wells produced in 2014, ODNR said.
But according to Matt Huttenlock, Data Analyst at NavPort, the report released by the ODNR, though completely accurate, does not reference that some of the reported production leading to the record-breaking amounts has come from wells fracked in the previous year.
The production from new 2015 wells only makes up 15 percent of the reported 2015 production, while the remaining 85 percent of comes from wells fracked prior to Jan. 1, 2015, he said.
The true takeaway from the DNR report is not that Utica wells have all of the sudden become more productive, but that the number of 2014 completions combined with sustained completions in 2015, have led to the “record-setting” production totals in 2015.