The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) issued 12 new horizontal drilling permits recently, including two in Guernsey County and one in Noble County, according to the agency’s latest drilling update.

According to ODNR, the Guernsey permits were issued to Devon Energy Production Co., and the Noble permit was issued to the Antero Resources Appalachian Corp., bringing a total of 11 Utica permits in Guernsey and 12 in Noble. In Muskingum County, the permit count remains at three. Two were issued in Meigs Township to Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and one was issued in Madison Township to Enervest Operating LLC. Statewide, there are a total of 273 Utica permits, with 78 of those wells already drilled and 10 producing.

Meanwhile, Consol Energy Inc., based in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, announced drilling plans for Portage and four other Ohio counties. It already drilled its first Ohio well, in Tuscarawas County, and expects to add perhaps 15 more Ohio wells this year on its nearly 200,000 acres. The company is focusing its drilling on nearly 87,000 acres in five Ohio counties: Portage, Trumbull, Mahoning, Tuscarawas and Noble.

Currently, Consol has three rigs operating in Ohio. Two are horizontal drilling rigs in Rootstown Township and in Noble County, and one is a vertical rig in Mahoning County. Its partner, New York-based Hess Corp., will develop wells on nearly 76,000 acres in Guernsey, Belmont, Jefferson and Harrison counties. Hess paid $594 million to Consol to create the partnership and to tap into the Utica shale under eastern Ohio and plans to drill six Ohio wells in 2012.

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