Rising production from the Marcellus Shale could push the rock unit over the 10 billion cubic feet per day production milestone in 2013.
More at Seeking Alpha.West Virginia Gas
Oil from the Marcellus in West Virginia
An article on the Ohio.com website reports that Chesapeake Energy has three wells in West Virginia that yield hundreds of barrels of oil per day from the Marcellus Shale. They are in the state’s northern panhandle.
More at Ohio.com.
Marcellus Slowdown in 2013?
Some experts believe that the pace of drilling and hiring in the Marcellus Shale natural gas play will slow during 2013. This will be a response to a lack of pipeline capacity and production capacity that either exceeds or is unavailable to new consum…
More at Washington Post.
Sissonville, WV: Gas Line Explosion
A natural gas pipeline explosion near Sissonville, West Virginia (about five miles north of Charleston on Route 77) destroyed homes and disrupted interstate traffic. Fortunately no one was seriously injured.
More at West Virginia Gazette.
Sandy Did Not Disrupt Marcellus Activity
Several companies involved in Marcellus Shale drilling and production report that they were not significantly disrupted by Hurricane Sandy.
More at Platts.com.
Dry Shale Gas Production Growth
Since January 2010, most of the increase in the dry shale gas production in the United States has been generated by the Marcellus Shale and the Haynesville Formation.
More at Energy Information Administration.
Marcellus Shale Organic Thickness Map
Ohio DNR has publised a regional organic-thickness map of the Marcellus Shale with additional organic-rich beds in the Hamilton Group. The map covers areas in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland and New York.
More at Ohio DNR.
State Governments Want Natural Gas Vehicles
Twenty-two states are soliciting bids for natural gas vehicles that will be used in state government auto pools.
More at Business Week.
No Premium for Appalachian Natural Gas
Spreads between Appalachian Index natural gas in southwest Pennsylvania — and the Henry Hub in the Gulf Coast are changing due mainly to growth in Marcellus production. Appalachian Index gas has historically been priced about $0.25 per MMBtu above He…
More at Energy Information Administration.
Marcellus Shale Slowdown
An article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette explores the slowdown in natural gas drilling experienced in most parts of the Marcellus Shale region. The drillers are not the only ones feeling the drop in activity.
More at Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
Appalachian Basin Cross Section
“Geologic cross section C–C′ is the third in a series of cross sections constructed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to document and improve understanding of the geologic framework and petroleum systems of the Appalachian basin.” Quoted from the USGS publication release.
More at USGS.
$4.7 Billion from Marcellus Gas?
An AP article reports that drillers produced about $4.7 billion worth of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania and West Virginia during 2011.
More at Manufacturing.net.
Geography of Marcellus Drilling in West Virginia
An article on TheIntelligencer.net website explains how the geography of natural gas drilling in West Virginia is shifting from the dry gas areas that consists of most of the state to a few counties in the northern panhandle where wells yield natural g…
More at TheIntelligencer.net.
Appalachian Natural Gas Targets for 2012
An article on the Platts.com website summarizes the 2012 drilling plans of Range Resources, EQT Production and Consol Energy.
More at Platts.com.
Marcellus Shale in 2012
An article on the Boston.com website explores possible developments related to the Marcellus Shale in 2012. A new lease environment, geographic shifts in activity, price directions and more.
More at Boston.com.
Pennsylvania Natural Gas Production is UP
The Energy Information Administration has a brief article on the rapid increase in natural gas production that has occurred in the northeastern United States since 2004. The largest gains were in northeastern Pennsylvania, southwestern Pennsylvania an…
More at Energy Information Administration.
Natural Gas Horizontal Wells Control Act
The West Virginia legislature passed a bill known as the “Natural Gas Horizontal Wells Control Act [1]” by a vote of 92-5 in the House of Delegates and by a vote of 33-0 in the Senate. It addresses reclamation, fees that will generate millions in revenue, disclosure to surface owners, hydraulic fracturing chemicals, and much more. A summary [2] can be read on the MarketWatch website.
[1] http://www.legis.state.wv.us/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=hb401%20eng.htm&yr=2011&sesstype=4X&i=401
[2] http://www.marketwatch.com/story/marcellus-bill-passes-west-virginia-legislature-in-landslide-ngis-shale-daily-reports-2011-12-14
Refinery for Utica Shale Crude Oil
Marathon Petroleum is preparing to refine oil produced from the Utica Shale of eastern Ohio and western Pennslyvania. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources estimates that the Utica Shale could yield between 1.3 and 5.5 billion barrels of crude.
More at West Virginia Business Journal.
Local Workers for Natural Gas Drilling?
In many parts of the Marcellus Shale gas play local residents are disappointed to see so many workers from over a thousand miles away getting high-paying jobs while local unemployment rates are very high. Letters similar to this one have been publishe…
More at Huntington News.net.
Hunting Safely in Natural Gas Country
The Marcellus Shale Coalition website has an article that provides safety advice for people who will be hunting in areas where natural gas drilling is taking place.
More at Marcellus Shale Coalition.
Utica Shale Gas Boom in Eastern Ohio
Natural gas companies have drilled a number of highly successful wells into the Utica Shale of eastern Ohio. Now, drilling, permitting, and acquisition activity is starting to boom.
More at Geology.com.
Natural Gas Leases in Conflict with Mortgages
Thousands of people across the United States have signed leases that give energy companies the right to drill on their land. However, many of these properties have mortgages that prohibit the property owner from entering into a mineral lease.
More at New York Times.
Government Revenue from the Marcellus Shale
State and local governments have either been collecting revenues from Marcellus Shale activities or wishing that they were collecting revenues. An article on Platts.com explores some of the ways that state and local governments are generating revenues.
More at Platts.
Who Will Get the Marcellus and Utica Shale Ethane?
Parts of the Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale contain worthy amounts of ethane which is a valuable feedstock for the plastics industry. Will it be shipped by pipeline to distant manufacturers or will local manufacturing industries develop?
More at Reuters.
Marcellus Shale: Separating Spin from Fact?
An Associated Press article examines how people who favor and oppose Marcellus Shale natural gas development have very different perceptions of problems and opportunities.
More at Associated Press @ Google.
Natural Gas Potential of the Upper Devonian Shale
A sequence of rocks above the Marcellus Shale, known as the “Upper Devonian Shales” might hold significant amounts of recoverable natural gas and natural gas liquids. From top to bottom the Upper Devonian Shales, Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale are the “stacked plays of the Appalachians”.
More at Platts.com.
Utica Shale Speculation?
Although data is only available for 16 wells drilled into a Utica Shale resource that has a geographic extent of 170,000 square miles, that is not stopping oil and gas companies from spending billions of dollars on acreage.
More at Wall Street Journal.
Natural Gas as a Chemical Industry Feedstock
An article in the Charleston Daily Mail explains how Marcellus Shale gas can be used as a source of energy and as a feedstock in the chemical manufacturing industry and how these might benefit the West Virginia economy.
More at Charleston Daily Mail.
Who Has the Power to Regulate Hydraulic Fracturing?
Communities in New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia have passed bans on hydraulic fracturing within their political boundaries. In some instances these bans have been overturned because the power to regulate of oil and gas drilling belongs to Stat…
More at Business Week.
Who Knows the Potential of the Utica Shale?
With just a small number of wells drilled into the Utica Shale using current technology, the potential of that rock unit remains unclear. However, a number of companies are placing big bets on the Utica – especially in Ohio.
More at Seeking Alpha.
Shell: An Ethylene Cracker Plant for the Marcellus Shale
Shell Oil Company is interested in developing a large-scale ethylene cracker plant somewhere over the Marcellus Shale of Pennsylvania, West Virginia or Ohio. The plant would process natural gas liquids into a variety of chemical products.
More at Pittsburgh Live.
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.
Consol Energy Sells Marcellus Shale Stake
Consol Energy has agreed to sell half of its 663,350 acres of Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania and West Virginia along with half of its existing wells to Noble Energy for $3.4 billion.
More in the Post-Gazette.com.
Judge: A City Does Not Have Jurisdiction over Natural Gas Drilling
In June 2011, the city of Morgantown, West Virginia banned hydraulic fracturing within a mile of the city limits. Northeast Natural Energy owned rights to some of the land under the city. Northeast said the action was a “taking”, Morgantown said that they were exercising “home rule”, but on Friday a Judge ruled that jurisdiction over drilling belongs to the State.
More at Forbes.com.
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.
Reconsidering the New Martinsville, WV Drilling Ban
The City Council of New Martinsville, West Virginia voted to ban Marcellus Shale gas drilling within their city limits. However, their next meeting was filled with people who objected to the ban. Now they plan to reconsider.
More at FuelFix.com.
EPA’s 1987 Report of Contamination Caused by Hydraulic Fracturing
Representatives of industry and government agencies often state that there has not been one documented case of hydraulic fracturing contaminating a private water supply well. However, an EPA report from 1987 links hydraulic fracturing with a contaminated water supply in Jackson County, West Virginia. Those opposed to hydraulic fracturing hope to get a lot of mileage out of that report. More in the New York Times.
