Oil and Gas Program History
The Division of Mineral Resources Management’s oil and gas programs were incorporated into the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) in 1965 to regulate drilling and production of Ohio’s oil and gas resources.
Current funding for division programs comes from five sources: permit fees, federal Underground Injection Control Program grant, severance taxes ($.10 bbl tax on oil and $.025 tax on natural gas), general revenue funds, and fines.
Most of Ohio’s 63,654 active wells are classified as “stripper” wells or wells that produce less than 10 barrels (42 gallons per barrel) of oil per day or less than 60 thousand cubic feet (mcf) of gas per day.
In 2007, Ohio wells produced more than 5.45 million barrels of oil and more than 88 billion cubic feet of natural gas. Market value for oil and gas production totaled nearly $1.021 billion dollars, exceeding the $1 billion mark for the third straight year and only the fourth time ever. Even though Ohio’s gas production accounts for only 11% of Ohio’s consumption, it is equivalent to the amount required to heat more than 1 million homes and businesses. In 2007, Ohio's natural gas and crude oil producers generated royalty payments to landowners amounting to over $126 million, and provided an additional $74 million per year in free "natural gas" to mineral interest owners.
In 2007, the Division of Mineral Resources Management:
- Released 2006 annual statements of production. This data (49,217 records) is available by county or for the entire state
- Issued 2,429 permits, including 1,322 permits to drill (a 6% increase) and 959 permits to plug (an increase of 8.7%)
- Performed more than 15,058 site inspections
- Witnessed over 90% of 598 plugging operations under Division jurisdiction
- Plugged 55 orphan wells, including 49 funded through the Landowner Grants Program
- Continued to receive favorable reviews by US EPA for management of the Underground Injection Control (UIC) Program
- Inspected brine injection wells once every eleven weeks on average, the highest inspection frequency for any UIC program in the nation
In 2007, the Ohio oil and gas industry:
- Drilled an estimated 1,068 oil and gas wells in 49 counties
- Monroe County was the most active county with 81 wells drilled
- Over 668 wells were drilled to the Clinton sandstone in 27 counties
- Oil production: 5,454,629 barrels
- Value of oil production: $369.2 million
- Gas production: 88,094,732 mcf
- Value of gas production: $651.9 million
Ohio’s Oil and Gas History
Perhaps the least known fact about the State of Ohio is its long and colorful history in the oil and gas industry, dating back to the mid-1800s. The first commercial production of oil in Ohio was discovered in Macksburg (Washington County) in 1860. As of 2007, the number of oil and gas wells drilled in Ohio reached 273,686 wells yielding 1.12 billion barrels of crude oil and more than 8.26 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Ohio remains a leading producer of oil and gas, ranking in the top half of all producing states in the nation. Research completed by ODNR’s Divisions of Mineral Resources Management and Geological Survey indicates that Ohio has significant remaining producible oil and gas reserves.
Following are additional facts and information which may be of interest to you regarding one of Ohio’s most precious, but little known, natural resources.
Ohio’s Oil and Gas History:
- Deepest well drilled in Ohio: 11,442 feet in 1967 (Noble County)
- Deepest producing well in Ohio: 8,794 feet in Harrison County
- First year of production: Oil - 1860; Gas - 1884
- Year and amount of peak production:
- Oil: 23,941,000 barrels in 1896
- Gas: 186.5 billion cubic feet in 1984
- Total number of wells drilled: 273,686; Ohio ranks 4th nationally behind Texas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.
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