Back in 2011, Ohio’s then-state geologist Larry Wickstrom had never been more optimistic about the future of his state. Marcellus operators had begun to try their luck with horizontal drilling in the Buckeye slice of the Utica Basin. This, at a time when Ohio—one of the nation’s hardest hit states battling high inflation and chronic unemployment—needed a reason to believe an economic recovery could soon be on the way given the extraordinary success in the Marcellus. “(The Utica) is a liquid’s rich play,” Wickstrom remarked then. “It is yet to be seen how big the oil window is.”

Reese Energy Consulting today is following the latest news from the Ohio Utica, where oil production volumes are creating mighty buzz. Okla. City-based Chesapeake Energy in 2011 held court in the Utica, amassing 1.25 million net acres mostly in the volatile oil window and valuing its Utica assets at between $15 billion and $20 billion. WTI was $90 per barrel then and on track to hit $108 four years later.  

Flash forward to 2017. Chesapeake’s Ohio crude production had measurably declined to 10 MBPD just as a new startup targeting Ohio crude landed $1 billion in PE capital. One year later, Houston-based Encino Energy snapped up Chesapeake’s Utica position for $2 billion. Since that acquisition six years ago—in addition to its own development program—Encino now reigns as the state’s largest oil producer and second-largest gas producer. The company also continues to strike paydirt in the form of crude oil, natural gas, and NGLs in an area once deemed “Uticulous”. Ohio crude oil output in 1Q this year reported 79.42 MBPD among producers that also include Houston-based EOG Resources, which recently said the Utica oil window will “compete with the best plays in America,” and is “very comparable to the Permian on a production-per-foot basis.”