UTICA — Drilling is complete at the well being drilled by Devon Energy near Utica, and the drilling rig and equipment will be gone from the site by this weekend.
Chip Minty, media relations manager for Devon Energy, said Thursday that drilling has been completed, and that equipment has to be moved out of the way and the fracking equipment moved in.
The fracking, in which about 3 million gallons of water from the North Fork of the Licking River will be mixed with sand and chemicals and driven under high pressure into the Utica Shale formation, will take place in June, Minty said. The fracking process should take less than a week.
Probably about 20 percent of the “frack water” will return to the surface as “backflow” from the well. That will be collected and disposed of at licensed injection wells.
It is not clear how long it will take after that for Devon to determine how productive the well is.
Although the drilling equipment is being removed from the well site, Minty explained what some of the equipment is that can be seen in the aerial picture taken by John Seavolt.
The orange containers at the top of the picture and in the center near the drilling platform, contain drilling mud. The mud lubricates the drill bit and carries the drill cuttings back to the surface.
The white structure at the immediate left of the drilling rig is the “dog house,” where the controls for the drilling unit are located.