Poolside Energy · Ohio Mineral Market · Issue for September 24, 2026
State lands go for four times what federal lands brought
BLM leased the first federal minerals ever offered in Ohio for $11.1 million, an average of $3,996 an acre. Ohio’s June state auction blended $15,767. Plus: EOG calls the Encino deal a “home run”, Antero exits, and the northern counties start leasing again.
The short version
- BLM leased 2,777 federal acres under Wayne National Forest for $11,097,693 on September 15, the first such sale ever held in Ohio. Apex Energy took 25 of the 40 parcels.
- Ohio state land sold at $15,767 an acre in June. The federal tracts averaged $3,996.
- EOG produced 67 percent of Ohio’s oil last quarter. Ascent produced 41 percent of its gas.
- Antero is out of the Ohio Utica. Infinity Natural Resources and Northern Oil & Gas split the $1.2 billion package.
- NYMEX gas is back at $3.00. Appalachian gas still trades $1.25 under it for October.
BLM sells first federal oil and gas leases in Wayne National Forest
The Bureau of Land Management leased 2,777 acres of federal minerals under Wayne National Forest on September 15 for $11,097,693 in bonus bids and rentals. Forty of the 41 parcels offered drew a bid; the forty-first, a 63 acre tract, was withdrawn by BLM before bidding opened. The average came to about $3,996 an acre, and WOSU reported the top bid at close to $10,000 an acre on a Monroe County parcel.
The parcels lie in Monroe and Washington counties. Leases carry a 12.5 percent royalty, the statutory minimum after the Working Families Tax Cut Act reduced it from 16.67 percent, on a ten year primary term held by production in paying quantities. Signal Cincinnati identified the winning bidders as Gulfport Appalachia, Apex Energy, Magnum Producing, Texas Independent Exploration and OhioGasCo. Marcellus Drilling News later tallied the results by bidder: Apex Energy Operating III took 25 of the 40 parcels, close to two thirds of the acreage sold. The auction platform’s parcel results show where the money went: the Monroe County parcels north of Antioch and around Graysville drew $6,000 to $9,751 an acre, while the 513 acre Washington County block near New Matamoras went for $505 to $938. BLM already has the next Ohio sale on its calendar, a single 39.97 acre Monroe County parcel nominated for March 2027.
It was the first oil and gas lease sale ever held in Ohio’s only national forest. BLM opened scoping in January, closed comments in June and ran a protest window from July 17 to August 17 that drew more than 3,650 letters. The Center for Biological Diversity spent years litigating to stop the sale. The Ohio Environmental Council has said it expects to sue again, though no suit had been filed as of September 24. No well can be drilled until BLM approves an application for permit to drill, and the Ohio Oil and Gas Association’s Mike Chadsey told WOSU most pads will end up on adjacent private surface because of endangered species constraints.
What it means. Fourteen months from scoping to auction is the lead time to remember now that the next federal parcel has been nominated for March 2027.
Sources: BLM results · BLM sale notice · WOSU · Signal Cincinnati · Marcellus Drilling News on bidders · Parcel results · March 2027 nomination
State land brought four times as much three months earlier
The Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission approved 21 bids on about 15,320 acres of state ground on June 29 for $241.2 million in bonuses, a blended $15,767 an acre. Grenadier Energy III took roughly 8,236 acres for $131.8 million. Gulfport Appalachia bid $17,500 an acre, Ascent Resources $12,507, and Infinity Natural Resources $7,500 on 513 acres at Salt Fork State Park. The tracts include Egypt Valley and Jockey Hollow wildlife areas in Belmont, Guernsey and Harrison counties.
State leases carry a 12.5 percent base royalty fixed by ORC 155.34 plus an Additional Economic Incentive of 5.5 to 7.5 percent, paid without deduction for any pre-production or post-production cost. Senate Bill 219, signed earlier this year, cut the Commission’s decision window from 180 days to 90 and set a 60 day deadline to select the high bid.
What it means. Same formation, same year, four times the money and 1.5X the royalty. However, it is in a more established location.
Sources: Ohio Capital Journal · Statehouse News Bureau
Two operators account for most of what Ohio produces
Second quarter ODNR figures put EOG at 8,846,396 barrels, an average of 97,213 a day and 67 percent of all the oil Ohio produced. Ascent Resources led gas with 220.55 Bcf, 2.42 Bcf a day, or 41 percent of the state total.
Sources: Marcellus Drilling News · ODNR production reports
EOG says Encino wells now beat its own pre-deal assumptions
A year after closing the $5.6 billion purchase of Encino Acquisition Partners, EOG reported well costs down 20 percent from Encino’s baseline, double digit gains in drilling and completion speed, and activity more than tripled against pre-acquisition levels. EOG’s chief executive called the acquisition a home run on the second quarter call. Company wide, EOG posted record adjusted net income of $2.7 billion, or $5.07 a share, with $2.8 billion in free cash flow and record oil volumes of 548.8 thousand barrels a day.
Sources: Marcellus Drilling News · EOG investor relations
Antero exits the Ohio Utica in a $1.2 billion split
Infinity Natural Resources and Northern Oil & Gas closed on upstream and midstream assets from Antero Resources and Antero Midstream in February, roughly 35,000 net acres with more than 100 gross undeveloped locations. Infinity took 60 percent as operator, Northern took 40 percent for $464.5 million and guided to about 65 MMcfe a day in 2026 with compound growth above 30 percent through the end of the decade.
Infinity reported first quarter production of 26,933 MMcfe, an average of 299.3 MMcfe a day, and brought four oil weighted wells online in the Ohio volatile oil window totaling about 53,000 lateral feet. It is guiding to $450 to $500 million of development capital and 345 to 375 MMcfe a day for the year. Ascent, which holds 378,500 net acres in Ohio plus 81,000 mineral acres, has been weighing an initial public offering or a sale since early 2025.
Sources: Northern Oil & Gas / Antero · Infinity Q1 2026 · Infinity / Antero close
Leasing returns to Mahoning, Columbiana and Trumbull
Counties written off after the first Utica cycle are seeing leasing and permits again, led by EOG and Hilcorp. Longer laterals and changes in fluid systems have made rock produce that did not pay in 2014. Hilcorp has four Fairfield Pegasus unitization applications in Columbiana. Three were heard in September and the fourth, Fairfield Pegasus Northwest, is set for October 7. Bright Rock Energy, a new name in the county, has its first two applications, Beardsley North and Beardsley South, set for October 22 and November 12.
Sources: Marcellus Drilling News
Appalachian gas price update
The front month NYMEX contract traded at $3.00 per MMBtu on September 24 after settling at $3.06 the day before, its highest mark since early July, on forecasts of a warm autumn, LNG feedgas averaging 18 Bcf a day in September and a storage surplus that has narrowed to 3 percent over the five year average. Appalachia has not followed. Eastern Gas South basis for October settled at minus $1.25 on September 18, with Cove Point LNG maintenance from September 20 to October 10 removing roughly 850 MMcf a day of regional demand inside the October contract, and the winter 2026-27 strip sits at minus $0.47, in the 96th percentile of its history. Data center load across the Northeast is the demand story pushing the other way, and Ohio has become one of its focal points, along with a political fight over fast tracked gas fired generation.
Sources: Trading Economics · AEGIS Appalachian basis · RBN Energy on data centers · EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook
On the unitization docket
Twenty hearings are set before the Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management through mid-November. September 30: Culbertson III (Gulfport, Belmont), Lightning A (EOG, Harrison) and Breitenstine W (Infinity, Guernsey and Noble). October 1: Vinny C, Kirk SE and Kirk SW (Ascent, Belmont and Guernsey). October 7: Fairfield Pegasus Northwest (Hilcorp, Columbiana) and Lambeau TWR North (EOG, Tuscarawas). October 8: Vinny E and Vinny W (Ascent, Belmont) and Wesley West (Gulfport, Belmont). October 14: Wesley East (Gulfport, Belmont). October 21: Chapman A (EOG, Guernsey), Vanfossen CAU NW (EOG, Carroll) and AP Trust SE MRF HR (Ascent, Harrison). October 22: Beardsley North (Bright Rock Energy, Columbiana). October 28: AP Trust E MRF HR (Ascent, Harrison). November 4: Folsam CHR SW (EOG, Carroll). November 12: Beardsley South (Bright Rock, Columbiana) and Leila SW LND GR (Ascent, Guernsey and Belmont). Chief’s orders entered in September on HWW A (EOG, Harrison), Downing N WYN JF (Ascent, Jefferson), R&D Cooper A (Noble) and Cobalt CBR B (EOG, Stark and Carroll). On September 3 the Chief revoked the order on EOG’s Chapman GY CEN South amendment under the clause that requires a well drilled to total depth within twelve months of approval.
Sources: ODNR Unitization Library · Mandatory pooling
Own minerals in Ohio?
If you hold mineral or royalty interests in the Utica and are weighing a lease offer or thinking about selling, Poolside Energy would like to hear from you. Write to connect@poolside.energy with your county and township and we will tell you where you stand: which operator is active, whether a unit is pending, and what comparable acreage has been leasing and selling for. No obligation. Say the word and we will add you to the mailing list for the next issue.
Joshua Prasatik is a registered Ohio Land Professional with fifteen years in the oil and gas industry tracing title, untangling heirship and closing complicated transactions across all major basins. He is co-founder of Poolside Energy, an oil and gas mineral aggregator that builds AI tools for lead generation, and principal of Cardinal OG Consulting, which handles title research and mineral and leasing acquisition projects. Figures here are as reported on the dates shown.