How To Look Up Utica Shale Wells

Here are some tips on how to use the somewhat “clunky” feeling database search tool provided by the Ohio DNR to look up new Utica Shale – Point Pleasant wells. This system should be easier for the public to use to find newly permitted Utica shale oil and gas wells, however it feels a bit like “DOS”, if you are old enough to remember that computer operating system. You must use “less than” and “greater than”, etc.  Sorry Ohio DNR, but it’s definitely not as user friendly as some other state’s systems.

First, depending on what information you want, you may be able to look at the Utica Shale Drilling Report, which goes all the way back to 2009,  Here in PDF format. It gives an overall view of drilling activity in the Utica Shale – Point Pleasant play up until the present.  For a weekly summary of new drilling permits in PDF form, see the Summary Of Weekly Drilling Permits
Since these are PDF documents, you can’t just click on the permit number or well number to open up more information. If you want more info on Utica shale wells in your county, you will have to use the following search tool.

Go to the Oil And Gas Database    You can find basic instruction from the Ohio DNR here: Basic Search Instructions

To find out what Utica shale drilling activity is happening in your county, start by clicking on the “plus sign” next to the yellow folder icon beside “Reports”. It will turn negative, and then offer a drop down menu containing reports for Completions, Corrections, County Engineer’s and Permit and Plug List.  Click on Permit and Plug List.

After clicking on “Permit And Plug List” you will see this menu:

(Click on my screen shot to enlarge.)

Once you have clicked on “Report,” a list of permits issued in that date range will come up. You can click on “Open Browser With Map Of Well Location” to see the permitted well on a Google Map. The flaw with this is that it only shows the well you searched for, not any adjacent ones. There is a GIS viewer which shows plugged, producing, permitted and other oil and gas wells. You can find it Here at the Ohio Geological Survey.  (Good luck if you don’t have blazing fast internet, otherwise you will get to watch the little gears turn for several minutes with each search you choose.)  You can use the menu on the right side of the map to choose “permitted locations”, etc, and the “Zoom To County” tool on the upper left side of the map to go to your county.

Note: This is just one way to search the Ohio DNR Oil and Gas Drilling Database. I hope this was helpful.