Geology News
Marcellus Shale Current Events

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided not to overturn over 100 years of property transactions in a case involving the ownership of natural gas produced from the Marcellus Shale. Shale gas is not to be treated differently from natural gas produced from a conventional reservoir.

The United States Geological Survey has published: “Landscape Consequences of Natural Gas Extraction in Allegheny and Susquehanna Counties, Pennsylvania, 2004–2010″. This document explains metrics used to assess the disturbance caused by drilling pads, access roads, pipelines and other gas related activities.

Since 2008, foreign companies have entered into 21 joint ventures with U.S. acreage holders and operators, investing more than $26 billion in tight oil and shale gas plays.

The State of Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission has a new website that reveals information about the source and distribution of Marcellus Shale drilling impact fees.

“Natural gas production in Pennsylvania averaged 6.1 Bcf/d in 2012, up from 3.6 Bcf/d in 2011, according to Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection data released in February 2013. This 69% increase came in spite of a significant drop in the number of new natural gas wells started during the year.” Quoted from the Energy Information Administration’s Today in Energy.

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences reports that chemical spills associated with Marcellus Shale drilling have not significantly impacted Pennsylvania waterways.

Rising production from the Marcellus Shale could push the rock unit over the 10 billion cubic feet per day production milestone in 2013.

An article at the Akron Beacon Journal Online summarizes content related to economic activity attributed to the Marcellus Shale from the latest Federal Reserve Beige Book.

“Drill cuttings and other materials associated with oil and gas have occasionally triggered radiation monitors at landfills. DEP’s data indicates that less than half a percent of all drill cuttings produced by the Marcellus Shale industry in 2012 that were disposed of in landfills triggered radiation monitors. The cuttings did not contain levels of radioactivity that would be harmful to the public, and they were safely disposed of in the landfills.” Quoted from the DEP announcement.

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.

Consol Energy has reached an agreement that will allow it for drill for natural gas on 9,000 acres of land at the Pittsburgh International Airport. This isn’t the first time airport property has been drilled for natural gas. In 2006 land surrounding the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport was part of a drilling deal.

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 consumers.

This Ohio Department of Natural Resources document summarizes the potential sources of water for hydraulic fracturing in the Utica Shale and Marcellus Shale of eastern Ohio. Also included are basic regulations and the contact/regulatory authority for each water source.

“The “Geological Map of Garrett, Allegany and western Washington Counties in Maryland” is the first comprehensive geologic map of the region published in more than 50 years. [...] As residential, commercial and recreational development increases in the western portion of the State, and with the potential for the Marcellus Shale to serve as a natural gas resource, the updated map will provide necessary information on the geologic factors that affect and guide decisions about the wise use of the landscape and natural resources.” Quoted from the MGS press release.

New York is expected to complete their shale gas drilling regulations by the end of February 2013. However, uncertainties in that state may cause drilling to start slowly.

Leather cases and hammer holsters made by Gfeller are among the highest quality field tools that you will find. Their hammer holsters, field cases, brunton cases acid bottle holsters and lanyards are made so well that they often outlast the geologist.

For the past several years New York state government has not allowed hydraulic fracturing of the Marcellus Shale so Chesapeake Energy didn’t drill their leases. Chesapeake tried to use force majeure to keep their leases from expiring but a federal judge ruled against them.

Inaccurate News Reports about Newberry Caldera and Salton Buttes

Life Beneath the Seafloor

Not Caused by Fracking

Rare Earth Elements in Arizona?

Stolen Petroglyphs

Dispute: Natural Gas Under Natural Gas Storage Fields

Volcano Movies

You own property over a natural gas storage field that has been operated for decades. There is a shale unit below the storage field that could produce natural gas. Who controls that gas?

There are lots of natural gas storage fields in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Activity in the Marcellus Shale play has been an enormous boost to rail traffic. The railroad is hauling frac sand, water, chemicals, pipe, crane mats, natural gas liquids and more.

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.

If your ancestor sold a property in 1881 but retained ownership of 50% of the “minerals and petroleum oils” would you be entitled to a 50% share the natural gas in the Marcellus Shale in 2012? That is what the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is considering. Their decision could cause problems for lots of lease and royalty agreements that have made throughout history and across the state.

The percentage horizontal wells drilled for natural gas in Pennsylvania has been rising. Although a negligible number were drilled in 2007 and before, today over 80% of new wells are horizontal.

Although the number of new drilling permits is declining in Pennsylvania the state’s natural gas production rate is rising.

“This document quantifies the landscape changes and consequences of natural gas extraction for Bradford County and Washington County, Pennsylvania, between 2004 and 2010. Patterns of landscape disturbance related to natural gas extraction activities were collected and digitized [...] then used to measure changes in land cover and land use using the National Land Cover Database of 2001. A series of landscape metrics is used to quantify these changes and are included in this publication.” Quoted from the USGS publication release.

Over the past two years natural gas drillers have targeted wet gas regions where ethane and propane can be separated from the natural gas. These products sold for attractive prices. Now there is a glut of wet gas products and their prices have collapsed. Wet gas regions of the Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale have been heavily targeted.

USGS has published a report titled: Dissolved Methane in New York Groundwater. The study includes data collection to document the natural occurrence of methane in New York Aquifers.

Some homeowners in Pennsylvania have been surprised to learn that they can not refinance their homes when their property has been leased to a company planning to drill for Marcellus Shale gas.

Since early spring there has been a large divergence in natural gas prices at HenryHub and Tennessee Zone 4 Marcellus. The divergence has often been over $1/MMBtu demonstrating the glut of gas in the Marcellus region.

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.