Hilcorp Energy Co. has reached a lease agreement with Fairfield Township, OH, for the mineral rights beneath one-quarter acre of a cemetery there, where its lateral will run from nearby private property and skirt just underneath the cemetery. Located in Columbiana County, about 23 miles south of Youngstown, Fairfield signed a lease with a $500 bonus and a 15% royalty on production from the Hilcorp well pad, which is on property roughly 5,000 feet from the Bunker Hill Cemetery. Shale operators in the state have previously drilled near cemeteries, while several offers have been turned down by township officials in eastern Ohio. Hilcorp has 38 horizontal Utica permits in Ohio, with most in Columbiana County.