Ohio’s horizontal shale wells have produced more oil and natural gas through the first nine months of the year than all of Ohio’s wells produced in 2014, according to third quarter production data released Thursday by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR).

Production climbed higher in the third quarter, driven primarily by the Utica Shale. The state’s horizontal shale wells produced nearly 5.7 million bbl of oil during the period, while natural gas production increased to 245.7 Bcf. That’s up from the year-ago period when shale wells in the state produced a little more than 3 million bbl of oil and 132 Bcf of natural gas (see Shale Daily, Dec. 5, 2014).

Through the first nine months of this year, shale wells produced nearly 16 million bbl of oil and more than 651 Bcf of natural gas, up 111% and 126%, respectively, compared to the same period last year. In 2014, the state’s combined conventional and unconventional production was more than 15 million bbl of oil and 513 Bcf of natural gas.

ODNR’s 3Q2015 report lists 1,134 wells, 1,087 of which reported production results. Forty-seven wells reported no production as they were waiting on pipeline infrastructure. The average amount of oil produced per well during the quarter was 5,241 bbl, while the average amount of gas produced was about 226 MMcf during an average of 78 days in production.

In all, Ohio had permitted 2,087 Utica wells and 1,648 had been drilled through the end of November. Forty-four Marcellus wells had been permitted through the same time and 29 wells had been drilled. Ohio law does not require the separate reporting of natural gas liquids; gas totals include those volumes.