**EOG Resources: Pioneering Expansion in Ohio Utica Shale**
In a recent address to the Barclays CEO Energy-Power Conference, Jeff Leitzell, Chief Operating Officer of EOG Resources Inc., shared insights into the company’s bullish outlook for its Ohio Utica shale operation. Despite the possibility of an unexpected setback, the operation is poised to receive increased capital investment in 2025, echoeding earlier positive sentiments by EOG leaders during the company’s second-quarter earnings call.
**Strategic Growth and Exceptional Performance**
EOG’s Ohio Utica shale venture, which encompasses 445,000 net acres in eastern Ohio, has been yielding outstanding results. The early phases of development have focused on approximately 225,000 net acres that are producing volatile oil. Leitzell highlighted that these efforts have met or exceededexpected type curves, with no significant misses.
“This success has been across all three areas of our Utica holdings,” Leitzell noted. “On that 225,000 acres, we’re just about there. Everything kind of came in the way we want without any misses.”
**Expansion Plans and Investment**
Given the positive trajectory of the operation, EOG is planning to significantly increase its development work. By 2025, the company intends to add more wells to this year’s initial 20 net wells, a figure more than triple the number of wells drilled in 2023. While specific dollar details were not provided regarding the total 2024 capital expenditure budget of $6.2 billion, it is evident that Ohio spending will soon become a substantial component of EOG’s overall outlays.
“Absolutely, it has the opportunity to be a foundational play akin to our core Delaware Basin and Eagle Ford assets,” Leitzell emphasized. “It’s on the pathway to be there.”
**Organic Growth Over Mergers & Acquisitions**
EOG’s approach to the Utica shale play aligns with its broader strategy of focusing on organic growth rather