The land rush for natural gas-oil leases continued through the final days of 2011 in Northeast Ohio.Stark County Recorder Rick Campbell’s office was ultra-busy. Nearly 2,400 leases for gas-oil drilling in Ohio’s blackish Utica shale were filed in December alone.The county logged 2,165 leases in the 11 months from January through November, plus 2,398 leases in December, Campbell said.The total of 4,563 leases included the one-day record of 1,046 that Chesapeake Energy Corp. filed Dec. 5.For all of 2010, Campbell’s office recorded 1,113 gas-oil leases for Stark County. That number was surpassed in 2011 in just the two most-active Stark townships: Lake, 677, and Lexington 573.Portage County also had a record year with 2,202 gas-oil leases filed in 2011, Recorder Bonnie Howe said.The county filed 1,309 leases in 2010, she said.In prior years, Stark and Portage each typically handled about 200 gas-oil leases annually, county officials said.Oklahoma-based Chesapeake Energy was the biggest player in Stark County in 2011. The company filed 3,771 of the 4,563 gas leases — about 83 percent.Other active companies were Ohio Valley Land & Exploration LLC with 246 leases and RF Consulting with 195 leases.Leasing activity also grew in 2011 in Wayne County, Recorder Jane Carmichael said.“We haven’t been hit as hard as some counties, but our business has definitely increased” due to gas-oil leases, she said.In 2011, Wayne County recorded 377 new gas-oil leases and memorandums. The 2010 total was 64.Many of the landmen, the name given to people who research county records to find desirable land to lease, are still working in Wooster and other communities, Carmichael said.Some landmen are independents and offer their leases to the highest bidders. Some work for the big energy companies like Chesapeake and Texas-based EnerVest Ltd.In Medina County, the 2011 gas-oil lease total was 347, Recorder Colleen Swedyk said.That compares to the 2010 total of one lease, she said.“They’re moving our way,” she said with a laugh. “They’ve discovered our county.”Typically, three to five companies are encamped in her office doing research on existing gas-oil leases and land without leases, she said. That activity began about 12 months ago.In Summit County, gas-oil leases are lumped with car and appliance leases, so it is difficult to get a breakdown, said Nikki Sipe, a spokeswoman for Kristen Scalise, the county’s fiscal officer.Chesapeake Energy has a few dozen leases in Summit County, but the number is not significant, Sipe said.Acquiring gas-oil leases is the first step toward drilling wells for natural gas, oil and so-called wet gases: butane, propane and ethane, all of which are very lucrative.Landowners typically get a one-time lease-signing bonus that can, depending on location, top $6,000 an acre in eastern Ohio.Wells won’t be drilled on all leased land. The energy companies will test and select the best and most lucrative sites for drilling.Chesapeake Energy has invested about $2 billion in leasing 1.5 million acres in eastern Ohio. It has said it might drill as many as 12,000 wells in the Utica shale that lies in bands up to 300 feet thick more than 6,000 feet below ground. The company has said its holdings might produce tens of billions of dollars of revenue from drilling.Other gas and oil companies, including Anadarko E&P Co. LP and Devon Energy Production Co., are involved in the Utica shale.Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.