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Oil-company owner explains Utica Shale to Trumbull officials
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
First off, when talking about the gas boom that is starting to strike Northeast Ohio, the proper geological terminology for it is the Utica Shale.
It is the rock layer and gas reservoir that has the potential to create great growth and industry here, said William Kinney of Twinsburg, owner of Summit Petroleum.
The Utica Shale is about 6,000 to 8,000 feet down and is 200- to 300-feet thick, and its total organic carbon level is about 3 percent, making it attractive to drillers, Kinney said.
“That is going to have a significant impact,” Kinney said.
The Utica Shale in Columbiana County is more attractive than that in Trumbull and Mahoning counties, which is why it is bringing lease prices of $2,500 per acre in Columbiana County, while Trumbull rates are closer to $1,500 an acre, Kinney said.
The Marcellus Shale, the better-known term, is a rock layer that has produced a $4 billion gas industry east of here in Pennsylvania.
It is the second-largest natural-gas resource in the world, Kinney said.
But the part of the Marcellus Shale underground in the Mahoning Valley probably isn’t rich enough to mine, Kinney said.
“We don’t look for it to make a significant impact,” Kinney said.
The only area near here with Marcellus Shale of sufficient quality is along the Ohio River, just south of Steubenville, Kinney explained. There it is barely thick enough — 50- to 60-feet thick.
Bob Rea, president of The Associated Landowners of the Ohio Valley, which represents more than 200 landowners in Columbiana County, said Kinney is right. Drillers working in Columbiana County are leasing land that will be used to access the Utica Shale, not the Marcellus.
Kinney gave a presentation to the members of the Trumbull County Planning Commission on Tuesday at the request of board member Jerry Henn.
Planning-commission members agreed last month that the commission should do what it can to prepare for the arrival of well-drillers to take proper advantage of the opportunities that gas drilling will present.
Kinney said he suggests the area develop businesses to supply equipment and supplies to well-drilling companies, but there may not be much anyone can do to encourage or discourage the drillers from coming here.
“They’re here now,” Kinney said. “It would be harder to stop them.”
Kinney has several of the older-style vertical wells in Trumbull County and has drilled those types of wells in other parts of Northeast Ohio for 25 years.
He’s been working with venture partners and taking steps to get involved in horizontal drilling in the Utica Shale, he said. Utica Shale is present in the eastern two-thirds of Ohio, Kinney said.
Currently, there are about a half-dozen Utica Shale wells in Ohio and about a dozen Marcellus wells, Kinney said.
One of the assets of the Utica Shale is that it contains a lot of “wet gas” or oil, Kinney said, meaning it has a lot of ethane, butane, propane and other big- molecule hydrocarbons.