Oil and gas boom has not fizzled; new industries will continue to be attracted to Shale Crescent region

I am responding to the Marietta Times "Our Opinion" column published on Monday, Aug. 28 regarding the Ohio River Valley Institute's (ORVI) totally inaccurate conclusion that the oil and gas boom has fizzled. The readers' first tip that the report by ORVI may be biased against the oil and gas industry lies in their reference to the Shale Crescent region of Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania as "Frackalachia." ORVI failed to use the most accurate data on oil and gas production that can be readily obtained from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources website (https://ohiodnr.gov/static/documents/oil-gas/resources/2021-O%26G-Annual.pdf). Similar websites are available in West Virginia and Pennsylvania where the oil and gas boom has not fizzled out.

If the Times editorial staff had done a little homework and checked with local experts or the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, which collects quarterly data on oil and gas production and publishes quarterly and annual summaries of this data, they would have observed that oil production increased from 4,974,000 barrels in 2012, to 18,999,000 barrels in 2021. Similarly, gas production increased from 86,700,000 Mcf in 2012 to 2,259,425,000 Mcf in 2021.

These numbers are down slightly from 2018, the peak year for oil and gas production, but one can hardly say the industry has fizzled out. With oil selling at $60 to $80 a barrel and gas selling for $1.60 to $3.40 per Mcf during this same period of time, it is easy to see how cash flow from production increased from under $1 billion in 2012 to almost $9 billion in 2021. With the landowners' royalty share of these numbers averaging around 18%, it is pretty clear that they, along with the companies and the State of Ohio, have benefitted significantly from the oil and gas boom in Ohio. Note that this information was obtained from the 2021 Annual Report. The 2022 Annual Report has not yet been loaded on the ODNR website.

The Capital Journal reported (based on the ORVI report) that gas production deteriorated since 2008 and growth has gone from meager gains in 2008 to an absolute decline. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact that the Shale Crescent region is so richly blessed with an abundant supply of natural gas, new industries will continue to be attracted to the region where cheap energy abounds.