Anchor Drilling Fluids USA Inc. announced Monday that it has opened a drilling fluids production plant in Wellsville, OH, the first such facility in the state and designed to service oil and natural gas operators in the emerging Marcellus and Utica shales.

“This is an exciting day for Anchor and the state of Ohio,” said CEO Robert West. “After extensive groundwork with local and state officials and significant capital investment, we are proud to now be operational and serving our industry’s customers, hiring Ohio residents and contributing to local and state tax revenues.”

Tulsa-based Anchor said its new facility — located in the Columbiana County Port Authority’s Wellsville Intermodal Industrial Park — will have the capacity to produce and store up to 10,000 barrels of drilling fluids.

The company also said it was investing in an adjacent plant to produce barite (barium sulfate), a naturally occurring nontoxic mineral that increases the density of drilling fluids. According to Anchor, the investment with Cimbar Performance Minerals has created the only barite plant in the northeast United States.

“The Utica Shale reportedly has recoverable reserves of [more than] 940 million bbl of oil and 38 Tcf of natural gas,” said President Phil West. “Development of this U.S. energy resource will significantly contribute to long-term economic growth and job creation in Ohio and the region.”

Anchor is the largest independent producer of drilling fluids in the United States, with operations in several states. In the Marcellus and Utica shales, it has a district office in Cranberry Township, PA, and a warehouse in Horseheads, NY.