Oil, gas production in 2012 double 2011’s output

Oil, gas production in 2012 double 2011’s output

COLUMBUS — Eighty-seven wells tapped into eastern Ohio’s underground shale formations have produced nearly 636,000 barrels of oil and 12.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas last year, nearly double the volume produced in 2011, according to a report released Thursday by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

The number of wells in the state’s Utica formation also grew to 87 from two.

The horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, wells accounted for 12 percent of the state’s total oil and 16 percent of its total gas production in 2012.

And state officials projected that total fracked production will outpace conventional vertical well production within three years.

“We believe Ohio is now at the beginning of a historic era of oil and gas production,” said Jim Zehringer, director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.