BUSINESS DIGEST || Oil, gas production

Oil, gas production

COLUMBUS

Ohio’s Utica Shale produced more oil and natural gas in the third quarter of 2018 compared with the same quarter in 2017, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

ODNR reported that Ohio’s horizontal shale wells produced more than 5.5 million barrels of oil and more than 605 billion cubic feet of natural gas in Q3.

This represented a 31.44 percent increase in natural gas production over Q3 of 2017 and a 31.79 increase in oil production.

The quarterly report states there are 2,242 horizontal shale wells.

Vehicle sales

SANTA MONICA, CALIF.

Analysts with Edmunds forecasts that 1,607,724 new vehicles will be sold in the U.S. in December, bringing the estimated seasonally adjusted annual rate to 17.4 million vehicles sales.

Edmunds reports this would be a 16 percent increase over November sales and a 0.3 percent increase over December 2017.

The auto-industry analyst expects this month to be the second-best auto sales month of the year, pushing full-year auto sales for 2018 to 17.3 million, an increase over 2017’s 17.2 million.

“We’ve been saying all year that 2018 would be a down note for the auto industry, but it ended up defying the odds,” said Jeremy Acevedo, Edmunds’ manager of industry analysis. “Automakers are really pulling out all the stops in December to close the year on a high note, and car shoppers seem to be in a buying mood.”

Federal contracts

WASHINGTON

Salem-based Hunt Valve Co., doing business as Waeco Valve, received numerous federal contract awards the week of Dec. 14-20.

The company won the following awards: $354,165 federal contract from the Defense Logistics Agency for ball valves; $75,687 federal contract set aside for small business from the Defense Logistics Agency for globe valves; $63,105 federal contract from the Defense Logistics Agency for ball valves; and a $62,520 federal contract set aside for small business from the Defense Logistics Agency for check valves.

Also, Haltec Corp. of Salem won a $34,999 federal contract set aside for small business from the Defense Logistics Agency for pneumatic tire valves.

Ribbon cutting

BOARDMAN

The Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber has scheduled a ribbon-cutting event at Pendleton Quick Tax Service at 9 a.m. Jan. 3.

The tax-service business is located at 4927 Market St.

Staff/wire reports