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Raising Taxes on Ohio-Made Energy will Further Reduce Activity and Stifle Development.
Ohio Appellate Decision on Implied Duty to Develop Affirms Victory for Oil and Gas Producers
By: Bowles Rice LLP, Attorneys at Law, 1/22/2015
In this case, the landowners asked the Court ofCommon Pleas in Washington County, Ohio to declare two oil and gas leasesforfeited or abandoned as to formations below the Germantown Sands since therehad been no production of oil and gas below that formation. The trial court refused, finding instead infavor of the owner of the deep rights leasehold estate and holding there was noabandonment and no breach of the implied covenant to development becauseproduction in paying quantities occurred on the leased premises from shallowproducing wells drilled above the Germantown Sands. On appeal, the landowners contended the deeprights were separated from the shallow rights by a 1960 assignment of the leasewhich, they argued, created a new and distinct leasehold with its own independentobligations and duties to develop. TheFourth District Court of Appeals of Ohio rejected the argument.
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Boom in Energy Spurs Industry in the Rust Belt
By: Nelson D. Schwartz, The New York Times, 9/8/2014
The turnaround is part of a transformation spreading across the heartland of the nation, driven by a surge in domestic oil and gas production that is changing the economic calculus for old industries and downtrodden cities alike.
Here in Ohio, in an arc stretching south from Youngstown past Canton and into the rural parts of the state where much of the natural gas is being drawn from shale deep underground, entire sectors like manufacturing, hotels, real estate and even law are being reshaped. A series of recent economic indicators, including factory hiring, shows momentum building nationally in the manufacturing sector.
New energy production is “a real game-changer in terms of the U.S. economy,” said Katy George, who leads the global manufacturing practice at McKinsey & Company, the consulting firm. “It also creates an opportunity for regions of the country to renew themselves.”
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States enjoying gas, oil booms see consumer spending soar
By: Christopher S. Rugaber, The Columbus Dispatch, 8/8/2014
WASHINGTON — Consumer spending has soared since the Great Recession ended five years ago in states with oil and gas drilling booms and has lagged in states hit especially hard by the housing bust.
The figures come from a new annual report the government issued yesterday that for the first time reveals consumer spending on a state-by-state basis. The numbers point to substantial shifts in the economy since the recession ended.
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Shale gas invigorating the U.S. economy & will make America an arsenal of energy, says Dominion CEO
By: John Funk, The Plain Dealer, 6/27/2014
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The shale gas locked under Ohio and nearby states has the potential to change the course of history, a top utility executive said Friday.
In defense of shale development before a packed audience at the City Club of Cleveland, Thomas Farrell II, CEO of Dominion Resources, dismissed environmentalists, called wind and solar "niche players," and gave a full-throated argument that shale gas will not only make the nation energy independent but transform America into an "arsenal of energy."
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Shale drilling is fueling an investment boom in Ohio
By: Dan Shingler, Crain's Cleveland Business, 4/6/2014
A staggering $18.7 billion. That's the most recent accounting of the amount of money being invested in Ohio as a result of shale drilling.
The tally is based upon a recent report by the Columbus law firm Bricker & Eckler, which has been following infrastructure and other shale-related investments since early in 2013.
“We've spent a lot of time on this,” said Bricker & Eckler associate Matt Warnock, who works on shale-related legal issues in the Utica shale region. “This list has gone through three iterations already,” Warnock noted.
The first time that he worked on the list, about a year ago, there was about $12 billion in investments either made or committed to be made in Ohio. Since then, the number has continued to grow rapidly. It's not in dribs or drabs, either. There are no fewer than 12 projects that each represents an investment of $500 million or more on the current list of the Buckeye State's shale oil and gas investments.
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Ohio University Studies Shale Impact
By: Casey Jenkins - Staff Writer, The Intelligencer, 3/9/2014
ST. CLAIRSVILLE - Whether it is a drilling rig alongside Interstate 70, the large Oil & Gas Safety Supply store on National Road or the convoy of sand trucks on many secondary roads, those driving through Belmont County are sure to notice an impact from the Utica Shale boom.
"The impact we are seeing is dramatic," Belmont County Commissioner Mark Thomas said. "Over the next five years, the impact will create economic changes that no one has ever seen here."
It's not just Belmont County that stands to benefit from the shale boom, as a new study conducted by Ohio University's Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs polled 66 mayors and city managers, 16 county commissioners and 109 township trustees regarding how the shale industry is affecting their communities. The survey area included 17 counties, from as far north as Trumbull County to as far south as Washington County.
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Ohio’s oil, natural gas production in 2013 leap with Utica shale development
By Bob Downing - Beacon Journal staff writer, 3/6/2014
COLUMBUS: Oil production in Ohio nearly doubled from 2012 to 2013 and natural gas production grew in that time by nearly 2.5 times, according to new report.
The assessment came on Thursday from Peter MacKenzie of the 3,200-member Ohio Oil and Gas Association in a report released at his group’s 67th annual winter meeting.
Oil production in Ohio grew from 4.9 million barrels in 2012 to 9.7 million 42-gallon barrels in 2013, according to MacKenzie’s estimate.
Meanwhile, natural gas production climbed from about 83 billion cubic feet in 2012 to 203 billion cubic feet in 2013.
The new data in the DeBrosse Report “should get people’s attention,” MacKenzie told the audience. “They got my attention.”
There is growing evidence that Ohio really is “on the leading edge of a boom” in the Utica shale in eastern Ohio, he said.
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Gas and oil industry helps push expansion of runway at Cambridge Municipal Airport
By: Dan Davis, The Daily Jeffersonian Published, 2/28/2014
The Cambridge Municipal Airport is scheduled for a growth spurt.
Extension of the runway at the Brick Church Road facility is expected to culminate as early as 2016 when the pavement is laid, more than a quarter century after the project took flight ... but only if all the dominoes fall in the airport's favor.
"[Guernsey County Commissioner] Tom Laughman was part of our teleconference with the Federal Aviation Administration in 1991," said Airport Manager Terry Losego. "It's been going on for a long time."
That meeting set the wheels in motion, and momentum has gathered since, slowly at first then accelerating at a rapid pace as use of the airport soared.
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