Hess acquires more Ohio Utica shale acreage

Sept. 13, 2011

Hess Corp. acquired a private Houston area independent that held 85,000 net acres in eastern Ohio’s Utica shale prospective area.

Hess paid $750 million to acquire Marquette Exploration LLC, formed in 2006 in The Woodlands, Tex.

Hess will have full working interest in the leases in Jefferson, Harrison, and Belmont counties and expects to begin appraisal drilling in the fourth quarter of 2011. The Marquette and CONSOL Energy acquisitions provide Hess with a combined 185,000 net acres in the play (OGJ Online, Sept. 7, 2011).