The Columbus Dispatch is reporting on a recent decision by the Ohio Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management to unitize property in Portage and Stark Counties, Ohio, under Revised Code 1509.28. Unitization is a means of combining acreage to efficiently develop the underlying resources while at the same time meeting Ohio's minimum spacing and acreage requirements. This is the first time it has been used since 1994. "Tom Stewart, vice president of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, said the law is intended to stop a few holdouts from thwarting a majority of landowners who want to legally exploit their oil and gas interests." Interestingly, the state had some of its property unitized like other landowners in this matter.
[Disclosure: The Vorys firm represented the applicant in this matter.]