Horizontal Drilling

Overview

The Office of Oil and Gas welcomes you to this page, which is dedicated to providing information about permitting activity related to horizontal well development which falls under the Natural Gas Horizontal Well Control Act. The Act defines a horizontal well as “any well site, other than a coalbed methane well, drilled using a horizontal drilling method, and which disturbs three acres or more of surface, excluding pipelines, gathering lines and roads, or utilizes more than two hundred ten thousand gallons of water in any thirty day period.”

This page provides information related to horizontal well permit applications, including the name of the applicant, approximate location of the well, the well registration number and any public comments that have been submitted regarding the application. This page also allows users to sign up for email notification of horizontal well applications that have been submitted to the Office of Oil and Gas, as well as applications that have been approved.

To request a copy of a permit application, please use the following email address: DEP.OOG@wv.gov or send a letter to: Permit Review, Office of Oil and Gas, 601 57th St., SE, Charleston, WV, 25304. The telephone number is 304-926-0450. Written comments on permit applications can be mailed to the address above. Please reference the county, well number and operator.

Copies of permit applications may be reviewed at the WV Department of Environmental Protection headquarters, located at 601 57th St., SE, Charleston, WV., 25304 (304-926-0450). A charge of $15.00 will be included for full copies or scans of permit applications or issued permits.