Chesapeake Energy to Drill for More Natural Gas in Utica

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Chesapeake Energy to Drill for More Natural Gas in Utica

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) is likely to finish drilling at Minch pad in Ohio County in mid-July.  The production of minerals is then scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of 2012, said the company’s spokeswoman Jacque Bland. The Wheeling Park Commission and the City of Wheeling will receive 14% royalties (7% each) from Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) for leasing the land.

Once the drilling is over, the company has to frack it by blasting large quantities of chemicals, water and sand deep down into the well to break the Marcellus (or in this case Utica) shale. Without fracking, the company cannot retrieve valuable oil and natural gas trapped within. Fracking has opened up a massive new energy resource, which is both cheap and in abundant supply in America. Natural gas prices are now 1/40th the price of oil, due to fracking.

Chesapeake will then establish a network of transmission lines to start yielding the gas.

Wheeling Park Commission, which oversees Oglebay and Wheeling Park, and Wheeling City Council, signed a drilling contract with Chesapeake in 2009. Earlier, the natural gas giant had planned to close the Oglebay Stables and establish its drilling pad between GC&P Road and W.Va 88. However, people filed complaints with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection against the drilling project, raising questions over the disposal of fracking liquids and wastage of water.

Finally, Chesapeake settled with Minch pad plan to drill for gas in Oglebay. The The Minch pad is spread over 543 acres in Oglebay Park. Chesapeake plans to access the natural gas through horizontal drilling. Though the company continues to drill at the Minch pad, it still hopes to get approval from the West Virginia DEP to drill at the earlier planned location between GC&P Road and W.Va 88, which is just 1500 feet away from the Wheeling Park High School. The application is still under review, and no progress has been reported.

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