Utica Shale Ohio

The Utica Shale is located across much of the Appalachian Basin in the Northeast U.S. The play covers a larger geographic area than the Marcellus Shale and is prospective for both oil and gas. The first Utica Shale production was established in 1934 in Pottawatomie County, NY, but more recently oil & gas activity has expanded across a wider area. Ohio has now found itself at the center of an oil & gas boom. The advent of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing completion technology in the past few years is now advancing development of the Utica Shale.

Utica Shale Companies

Significant producers within the Utica Shale are:

• Anschutz Exploration (Sold Acreage to Chesapeake)
• Atlas Energy (Acquired by Chevron)
• Chesapeake Energy
• Chevron
• Consol Energy
• East Resources (Acquired by Shell)
• Enervest
• Epsilon Energy
• EV Energy Partners
• Range Resources
• Shell

Utica Shale Geology

The Utica Shale is from the Ordivician age and is found approximately 2,000 feet below the Marcellus Shale in Ohio. Total depths to the base of the Utica range from 3,000 to 9,000 feet across Ohio. The Utica is a massive, organic rich thermally mature black to greyish shale. They variance in depth and thermal maturity across the play means the formation is prospective for dry gas, wet gas, NGLs, condensate and oil. The deposition of the Utica Shale followed lithospheric downwarping that is associated with tectonic loading. The shale terminates by shallow shelf carbonates. The thickness of the Utica Shale varies from 200 to 400 feet across the most prospective areas of Ohio.

Utica Shale Location

The Utica Shale is located in the following counties of Ohio:

• Ashland County Ohio
• Ashtabula County OH
• Athens County OH
• Belmont County OH
• Carroll County OH
• Columbiana County OH
• Coshocton County OH
• Cuyahoga County OH
• Delaware County OH
• Erie County OH
• Franklin County OH
• Gallia County OH
• Geauga County OH
• Guernsey County OH
• Harrison County OH
• Holmes County OH
• Huron County OH
• Jefferson County OH
• Knox County OH
• Lake County OH
• Lawrence County OH
• Licking County OH
• Lorain County OH
• Morrow County OH
• Mahoning County OH
• Medina County OH
• Meigs County OH
• Monroe County OH
• Morgan County OH
• Muskingum County OH
• Noble County OH
• Perry County OH
• Portage County OH
• Richland County OH
• Stark County OH
• Summit County OH
• Trumball County OH
• Tuscarawas County OH
• Washington County OH
• Wayne County OH

Additional Reading

• Oil & Gas 101 – General information for mineral rights owners.
• Utica Shale New York – Short article describing geology, location & counties within the Utica Shale of New York. Written for oil and gas mineral rights and royalty owners in NY.