BP Invests In Ohio's Utica Shale

The latest sign energy companies are more interested in Ohio’s Utica Shale than Pennsylvania’s Marcellus play: an 84,000-acre leasing purchase by British Petroleum.
More from the Post-Gazette:

BP, the nation’s second-largest oil and gas producer, leased the Trumbull County acreage from the Associated Landowners of the Ohio Valley, a nonprofit group of landowners who joined together to market their properties. Terms of the agreement will be executed with each landowner and were not disclosed.
BP will target the Utica and Point Pleasant shale formations, which underlie much of Ohio and contain lucrative pockets of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids like ethane. The shale rocks have a depth of about 6,000 feet, and are of similar thickness to the Marcellus Shale that underlies most of Pennsylvania.

Yesterday, news broke that Pennsylvania’s rig count has dropped over the past year. That’s due to the fact most of Pennsylvania’s shale contains “dry” gas. With natural gas prices at record-low levels, companies are more interested in extracting “wet” gas, which contains minerals and materials that can be sold for higher profits. You can read more about the difference between the two gasses here.

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