The Maryland House approved a bill that would create a 7.5% severance tax on “all natural gas, natural gas liquids, and other fluid hydrocarbons, not defined as oil, which are produced from a natural reservoir.”
More at Maryland House Bill 907.Maryland Gas
This Marcellus Pipeline Goes South
A $1 billion pipeline has been proposed that will deliver Marcellus Shale gas from northern Pennsylvania to markets in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, DC.
More at Philly.com.
Maryland: Marcellus Shale Severance Tax
Maryland’s Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Commission released a study that recommends a state severance tax on natural gas produced from the Marcellus Shale.
More at Platts.com.
Delaware River Basin Commission: Natural Gas Drilling Regulations
The Delaware River Basin Commission will vote on a new set of rules for natural gas drilling within the basin. If they are approved a moratorium on drilling in the basin will be lifted.
More at PhillyBurbs.com.
How Natural Gas is Taxed in 19 Different States
The Marshall University Center for Business and Economic Research has prepared: Taxation of Natural Gas: A Comparative Analysis. This publication reviews the many methods of taxing natural gas 19 different states. You might be surprised at how many …
More at Marshall University Center for Business and Economic Research.
Exporting Marcellus Shale LNG from Maryland?
Dominion Resources is seeking permission to condense natural gas produced from the Marcellus Shale into LNG (liquefied natural gas) for export from their Cove Point facility at Lusby, Maryland.
More at FuelFix.com.
USGS and EIA Marcellus Estimates Use Different Metrics
The United States Geological Survey and the Energy Information Administration have published significantly different estimates of the amount of natural gas contained in the Marcellus Shale. An article in NorthcentralPA.com reports that the estimate metrics are very different.
More in NorthcentralPA.com.
Shell: A Natural Gas Cracker Plant for the Marcellus Shale
Shell plans to build a world-scale ethylene chemical plant in the Appalachian area that will process ethane from Marcellus Shale natural gas into products for the chemical industry.
More at PennLive.com.
Disagreements over the Amount of Gas in the Marcellus Shale
The United States Geological Survey estimates that there are about 84 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale. Estimates from the Department of Energy put the amount of gas at 410 trillion cubic feet.
More at Bloomberg.com.
2011 Assessment of Marcellus Shale Gas Resources
“The Marcellus Shale contains about 84 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas and 3.4 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas liquids according to a new assessment by the U. S. Geological Survey.” Quoted from the USGS news release.
More at USGS.
Marcellus Shale Development Will Require Thousands of Miles of Pipelines
About three billion cubic feet of natural gas is being produced every day from the Marcellus Shale, an amount that is expected to grow significantly as more wells are drilled. Moving that gas to market will require thousands of miles of new pipelines,…
More at Business Week.
How Much Gas in the Utica Shale?
The Utica Shale has a larger geographic extent than both the Marcellus Shale of the Appalachian Basin and the Barnett Shale of Texas. It is also has a much larger total volume. Will its gas producing potential exceed that of the Marcellus and Barnett. An article on the Seeking Alpha blog explores this question.
“Triple Play” in the Appalachian Basin
John Pinkerton, CEO of Range Resources, explains the “Triple Play” in natural gas that can be had in parts of Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and West Virginia. Shale gas can be produced from the Upper Devonian Shale, the Marcellus Shale, and the Utica Shale – all from a single drill pad. More in the Star-Telegram Blogs.
Two Year Marcellus Shale Drilling Delay in Maryland?
The Baltimore Sun has an article reporting that Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley’s administration wants to delay Marcellus Shale drilling in Western Maryland for two years – which is needed for a study of drilling risks.
More Local Governments Try to Ban Natural Gas Activity
Local governments are starting to ban natural gas drilling within their areas of jurisdiction. Here’s another example from Maryland. Some people believe this is a “protection” and others believe it is a “taking”… but it will probably produce horizontal drilling on the outskirts of town. More at Bloomberg.com.
Utica Shale: The Natural Gas Giant Beneath the Marcellus
A rock layer below the Marcellus Shale could prove to be another incredible source of natural gas. The Utica Shale is thicker, more geographically extensive and has already proven its ability to support commercial production.
