Permitting Activity Up in the Southern End of Ohio’s Utica Shale Play

Several counties in the southern end of Ohio’s Utica Shale play, including Guernsey, Noble, Harrison and Belmont counties are showing big gains in the number of drilling permits filed by oil and gas companies.  More specifically, drilling permit activity gathered from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for October of 2013, showed totals anywhere from four to six times higher than in July of 2012. All four counties are south of Carroll County, which remains the leader for permits and drilling.