The Ohio rig count remained pretty constant through the end of 2015 and into the start of 2016. Typically, mineral owners and operators both like to see the rig count increase, but with a year like 2015, I’m sure both of the groups are just happy to not see another dramatic decrease like they saw in much of 2015. As a whole, Ohio did lose 1 rig from December 18th to January 8th, bringing the state total to 14 rigs. The counties of Belmont, Monroe, Guernsey and Noble have served as the core area for oil and gas production in Ohio. These counties also remained steady through the end of the year with Belmont and Monroe each have 7 and 4 rigs, respectively. Guernsey and Noble stayed constant as well, but that being said, neither Guernsey nor Noble had any rigs to lose considering both of the counties ended 2015 without a single rig in either county. With a lot of news coming out about a number large operators in regards to their current state of production and activity in Ohio. Gulfport, one of the largest operators in Ohio has said for the last couple of months about how they plan on significantly scaling back production in Ohio. Magnum Hunter Resources Corporation, who’s subsidiary company, Triad Hunter, a large Ohio operator, announced that they were filing for bankruptcy. Triad Hunter owns a little more than 124,000 net acres throughout the Utica Shale, roughly 57,000 of which are undeveloped and will likely stay that way time into the future. The outlook for Ohio mineral owners and operators in 2016 is looking more uncertain as 2016 gets underway. Rig counts will likely remain steady or even drop throughout the first quarter of 2016, as none of the Ohio area operators are planning to put down any new rigs in the coming months.
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