ASHLAND – After drilling four wells in the area last year, Cabot Oil & Gas has announced plans to pause exploratory drilling in Ashland and Richland counties.
“We’ve hit the pause button,” said George Stark, director of external affairs for Cabot’s north region.
Stark said his company has collected plenty of data and now needs to “pull back” to evaluate the information it has gathered.
“By ceasing drilling operations, we are demonstrating we don’t see or feel a need to collect more data,” he said.
Stark did acknowledge that hitting pause is a big step, and comments made by Cabot CEO Dan Dinges seem to suggest the pause is unlikely to be temporary.
“After further evaluation of our remaining exploration prospect, we have determined that this area is unlikely to yield results that generate long-term value creation for our shareholders,” Dinges said, according to reporting by Jamison Cocklin, a senior editor at the trade publication National Gas Intelligence.
Dinges also reportedly told analysts in the company’s fourth quarter earnings call Feb. 22, “Right now, we have no interest in allocating any additional capital to exploration.”
The company was looking for fossil fuels– either oil or natural gas– below the Utica Shale formation.
After drilling about a mile below the ground vertically and then about two miles horizontally, Cabot uses a process called hydraulic fracturing to extract the fuels. The process involves pumping water, sand and additives into the well bore, forcing fluids into perforations in the well. That causes fractures in the rock formation which allow trapped gas to flow.
Asked whether Cabot failed to find the natural resources the company was looking for in Ashland and Richland counties, Stark responded by saying, “The data does show that we ought to hit the pause button. I’m not trying to parse my words, but I’m also trying not to be definitive one way or another. It’s not as simple as, ‘We did find it’ or ‘We didn’t find it.’ I’d love for it to be that simple, but it’s not.”
Cabot drilled one well in each of Ashland County’s Green, Mohican and Vermillion Townships as well as a fourth well in Monroe Township in Richland County. Hydraulic fracturing, a process commonly known as fracking, was done at some, but not all, of the wells, Stark said.
Cabot’s activity was met with skepticism among individuals in the community as well as criticism from environmental groups, like Tri-County Landowners Coalition and Hayesville Community on Fracked Gas.
Now that exploratory efforts have ceased, Stark said each of the well sites will be put back in a state that is beneficial to the landowner. As a condition of its lease agreements with landowners, Cabot is responsible for preparing the sites to be reclaimed.
Last August, Cabot opened an office at 31 W. Main Street in Jeromesville. Stark confirmed the company will close the office as soon as the monthly lease is up.
“I can tell you personally, it was a pleasure to work in Ashland County,” Stark said. “The community was very engaged and it was wonderful to talk to the landowners. I hope, and I think our actions show, we set about to do something very professional and we do it very professionally, and most importantly, we leave the area better.”
As examples, he cited improvements the company made to its local office as well as to roads leading to its drilling sites.
“We put our best foot forward, and in return we received a huge amount of respect and guidance, whether it was from the fire departments or community leaders, just across the board,” Stark said.
