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School of Environment and Natural Resources

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Hedonic Valuation of Oil and Gas Rights in Belmont County, Ohio

Apr 14, 2016, 2:30pm - 3:30pm
Location: 
333 Kottman Hall

Brian Cultice will present his honors presentation on Thursday (4/14) from 2:30 PM in 333 Kottman Hall. His presentation is Hedonic Valuation of Oil and Gas Rights in Belmont County, Ohio.
Faculty Advisor:  Elena Irwin

Description of research: Recent developments within the mineral extraction industry have led to an influx of natural gas exploration and production throughout the United States. Prior to 2014, the majority of shale gas development had been concentrated in the Marcellus (Pennsylvania), Barnett (Texas), Haynesville (Louisiana, Texas), and Eagle Ford (Texas) shale formations. From 2014 to the present day, however, shale gas production growth has occurred mostly within the Marcellus shale formation and the Utica shale formation, the latter of which is located underneath the state of Ohio. The potential regional economic impacts of shale gas development are disputed in the literature; however, for holders of oil and gas rights in the region, shale development can bring direct sources of revenue from the leasing of these rights to prospective drillers. Information on the ownership of mineral rights in Eastern Ohio is difficult to establish, as historical development of subsurf  ace resources led to the proliferation of split estates, parcels where the subsurface rights were split from the surface rights due to past leasing or sale of mineral rights. As more recent development has occurred in the region, prospective developers looking to secure sub-surface rights have identified owners and have begun to lease these rights, providing information on split estates. Using data on surface and subsurface rights transfers, this paper utilizes a hedonic analysis of land sales to attempt to discover the value of ownership of mineral rights for a given parcel of land in Belmont County, Ohio.