Mahoning

Hilcorp Energy Co. has stopped stimulating two horizontal shale wells in western Pennsylvania as state regulators investigate what caused a small earthquake on Monday near the company’s operations, a Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) spokesperson said Wednesday.

The city council in Youngstown, OH, will vote to again to put an anti-fracking initiative on the November ballot, despite a recent decision by Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted to invalidate three similar petitions at the county level.

Same question, same answer. For the second time in six months, voters in Youngstown, OH, on Tuesday rejected, by about a 55-45% margin, an amendment to the city’s charter that would have banned hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and other activities that support shale development.

Halcon Resources Corp. will begin seismic testing to find Utica Shale oil and gas deposits in six townships of Mahoning County, OH, after local officials there approved a one-year road use maintenance agreement with the company.

Michael Guesman, an employee of Hardrock Excavating LLC, admitted Thursday that he dumped oilfield waste into a storm drain that empties into the Mahoning River near Youngstown, OH, a violation of the Clean Water Act (CWA) that prompted the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) to permanently revoke the operating permits for Hardrock and a second company also alleged to have violated the CWA.

Analysts believe operators in the Utica Shale will soon be able to bring many of their wells into production, thanks to progress in building new gathering lines, but they also caution that investors may have set their expectations too high for areas outside of the play’s core.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) has ordered Harch Environmental Resources Inc., a brine waste hauler, to cease operations in the state after finding evidence that the company illegally dumped oilfield waste at a farm in Belmont County. Regulators also took aim at Gulfport Energy Corp., which had contracted with the hauler.

The federal government and states would reach a compromise on regulation of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) if the parties agreed to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the issue, a Texas official told a House panel Wednesday.

The Ohio Oil and Gas Association (OOGA) reported at its annual winter meeting that in 2012 more wells were permitted and completed, and the state saw a substantial increase in the amount of footage drilled.