Looking at the Past, Present, and Future of the Utica Shale

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From the Youngstown Vindicator:
If you are looking for the Valley’s shale gas boom – look elsewhere. 
Experts say geology and better business sent oil and gas companies to southern parts of the state. 
“They will eventually come back up here,” said Professor Jeffrey Dick, chairman of the department of geologic and environment sciences at Youngstown State University. 
“You just have to be patient.” 
THE BEGINNING 
In 2010, the Valley saw landmen arrive and offer landowners money to lease their property for oil and gas exploration. 
“There was sort of a gold rush mentality in 2009 and 2010 and a lot of it was the image portrayed by the companies,” said Atty. Alan D. Wenger, chairman of the oil and gas group for Harrington, Hoppe and Mitchell. “Our clientele understood that this is not a sure thing and they should protect themselves.” 
Wenger and others represented several landowners propositioned by landmen. 
“We literally had hundreds of landmen flooding in and going door to door,” he said. 
Then came the drilling and plans to place pipeline, which has settled down. 
Dealing with leasing companies is now focused in southern Ohio counties such as Belmont. 
Some focus has switched from handling leases to royalty payments, Wenger said.
Read the whole article by clicking here. 

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