On February 17, 2020, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice signed into law House Bill 4091, allowing for expedited oil and gas well permitting for horizontal wells. Under the bill, which amends W. Va. Code § 22-6A-7, operators may pay an additional fee to enter into an expedited permit application process for drilling certain horizontal wells. The additional expedited permit fee is $20,000 for the initial horizontal well and $10,000 for each additional well drilled on a single well pad at the same location. Within 45 days of the applicant’s submission of the permit application, the Secretary of Environmental Protection must issue or deny the permit. If there is no decision within 45 days, the Secretary is required to refund the applicant a pro-rated amount of the expedited application fee for each day with no decision, up to the 60th day, at which point the expedited fee would be fully refunded.
The bill also provides for an expedited permit modification process, allowing the operator to pay an expedited application fee of $5,000 for a modification to an existing permit. The Secretary must issue a decision on the modification within 20 days or refund the applicant a daily, pro-rated amount.
Half of the funds collected from the expedited applications will be used by the Department of Environmental Protection to cover the administrative costs of processing the applications. The remaining balance will be used for reclamation and plugging of orphaned oil and gas wells throughout the State.
The expedited permitting processes under the law do not apply to deep wells, so operators could only utilize these expedited processes for horizontal wells with target formations of the Marcellus Shale or shallower formations. The bill is effective ninety days from passage, on May 5, 2020.
The Akron Beacon Journal reports that Gulfport Energy Corp. of Oklahoma and Chesapeake Energy Corp. are producing increasing amounts of natural gas from Utica wells in Ohio and anticipate continued growth in 2014. Gulfport’s operations are led by its Irons 1-H well located in Belmont County; this well is producing over 30.3 million cubic feet of natural gas per day (making it the No. 2 best-producing well in Ohio). Chesapeake’s wells are averaging 164 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalent per day, making it the leading player in Ohio’s Utica Shale. Both companies intend to continue drilling in Ohio. Chesapeake’s Chief Executive Officer, Doug Lawler, stated that he “anticipate[s] our growth [in 2014] will be led by an increase in oil production from the Eagle Ford shale and an increase in natural gas and natural gas liquids from the Utica and Marcellus shales, which will benefit from new gas processing and pipeline takeaway capacity.” Gulfport officials have stated that the energy company anticipates spending up to $250 million on additional drilling leases in eastern Ohio in 2014.
Ohio officials notified companies that a federal chemical disclosure law trumps a 2001 state law requiring that information regarding chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process only be filed with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, a law intended to centralize information. Now, beginning September 21, 2013, to comply with federal law, a list of toxic chemicals used by Ohio shale drillers must be made available locally to governments. The new reporting parameters follow an April letter from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which made clear that Ohio’s chemical reporting laws do not supersede federal right-to-know requirements.
Three transactions involving Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale have reportedly totaled $882 million in the first quarter of 2013, the second-most for any formation in the country. Ohio’s Utica Shale formation was the subject of two deals worth $283 million, making it the third-most popular. PwC tracked energy deals worth more than $50 million and included acquisitions, investments or partnerships allowing companies to split the costs associated with oil and gas development. The first quarter results represent a significant drop for Marcellus Shale transactions from the first quarter of 2012, where three transactions were reportedly worth about $3 billion.