The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) announced the first quarter of 2015 production results for Ohio’s horizontal shale wells today, proving that the Utica Shale is continuing to be a big player in American’s energy renaissance.

Ohio’s shale wells produced 4,401,687 barrels of oil and 183,585,256 Mcf (183 billion cubic feet) of natural gas. That means that oil production increased by more than 842,000 barrels and natural gas increased by more than 18 billion cubic feet compared to the fourth quarter of 2014. Even with rig counts falling in Ohio, the first quarter reported that 877 of 926 wells reported production, which resulted in a 12 percent increase for the first quarter. And that’s with 49 wells not producing as a result of infrastructure delays, according to ODNR.

ODNR also reported the following:

– The average amount of oil produced was 5,019 barrels.

– The average amount of gas produced was 209,333 Mcf.

– The average number of days in production was 80.

A closer look at the production reports also provides insight into how each county is doing and, as EID accurately predicted last year, Monroe, Noble, and Belmont Counties continue to soar in natural gas production. By comparison Guernsey County appears to be the oil window in Ohio.  Finally, kudos to Antero, Eclipse, Rice, American Energy Utica, and PDC who all took top spots as acreage winners in top production numbers this quarter.