Pennsylvania Shale Gas Output to More Than Double This Year - Study

- Pennsylvania Shale Gas Output to More Than Double This Year - Study

Thursday, July 21, 2011
Dow Jones Newswires
HOUSTON
by Ryan Dezember

Natural gas production from Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale should reach the equivalent of 3.5 billion cubic feet per day this year, more than double 2010's output, according to new research by a trio of Pennsylvania State University professors.

The study, released Wednesday, further estimates that production in the state from the deeply-buried rock formation will rise to the equivalent of 6.7 billion cubic feet per day in 2012 and 17.5 bcfe in 2020.

That level of production would make the Pennsylvania basin the largest supplier of natural gas in the U.S., able to meet about 25% of the country's demand, said Kathryn Klaber, who heads the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an oil and gas industry advocacy group.

The Marcellus Shale underlies parts of several Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states but production is centered in Pennsylvania.

In 2010 1,405 wells were drilled there, yielding the equivalent of 1.3 billion cubic feet of gas per day, according to the study. The professors, who obtained data from producers through the advocacy group, said that 2,300 wells are planned to be drilled this year and forecast that the number will steadily rise to about 2,500 a year by 2020.

While producers have focused on Pennsylvania with some forays into Ohio and West Virginia, several are eying an expansion into New York.

Many initially believed that southwest Pennsylvania held the most productive fields. But a string of recently drilled wells in northern Pennsylvania have made exploration in New York -- where a ban on hydraulic fracturing, the controversial technique needed to crack open the energy-bearing rock, was recently lifted -- more attractive.

Twenty-four of Pennsylvania's 25 highest producing wells are in counties that border New York, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

In May, Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas said two of its wells in that border area are producing nearly 30 million cubic feet of natural gas per day -- significantly more than any previous Pennsylvania wells.

Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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Poll: Pennsylvania Voters Say, 'Drill, Baby, Drill'

- Poll: Pennsylvania Voters Say, 'Drill, Baby, Drill'

Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
by Brad Bumsted, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Pennsylvania voters, by a more than 2-1 margin, say the economic benefits of gas drilling in the Marcellus shale outweigh the environmental impacts, a statewide poll shows.

They also believe by a 69-24 percent margin that companies doing the drilling should be taxed, according to the poll of 1,277 registered voters by Quinnipiac University. The poll released today has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points

"'Drill, baby drill' is the call from Pennsylvania voters and 'tax, baby tax,' is the follow-up as voters see natural gas drilling in the Marcellus shale as an economic plus more than an environmental negative," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the university's polling institute.

Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, who advocates regulated drilling but opposes a tax, saw his still-low approval rating begin to stabilize in the poll. His approval rating was 39 percent with 23 percent undecided, the poll found. Thirty-eight percent disapproved.

There's a growing gender gap with women disapproving of the job Corbett is doing by a 43-30 percent margin, the poll said. He took office in January and has proposed budget cuts to make up a $4.2 billion state deficit.

"Gov. Tom Corbett gets a mixed overall approval rating, despite getting a negative approval rating for his handling of the budget. Voters like him personally more than they do his policies," Malloy said.

"The good news for the governor is that his numbers apparently stabilized after falling off sharply in our last poll in April. Also, he is not in the negative territory like other Republican governors such as Florida Gov. (Rick) Scott and Ohio Gov. (John) Kasich," Malloy said.

A May 25 Quinnipiac poll found just 29 percent of Florida voters approve of the job Scott is doing, compared to 57 percent who disapprove. Kasich has an approval rating of 38 percent, with a 49 percent disapproval rate, according to a May 18 Quinnipiac poll.

Copyright (c) 2011, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

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Western Pennsylvania Firefighters Trained in Natural-Gas Blazes

- Western Pennsylvania Firefighters Trained in Natural-Gas Blazes

Monday, May 16, 2011
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
by Craig Smith, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

When it comes to natural-gas fires, what lies beneath worries firefighters.

"It's what you can't see," said New Castle fire Chief Thomas A. Maciarello.

More than 50 firefighters from 16 Western Pennsylvania fire departments recently completed specialized training on battling natural-gas fires, such as the one that ignited in February at a Marcellus shale drilling site in Washington County.

"It's essential firefighters understand how to respond to a natural-gas fire because many times they are the first at the scene," said Carol Fox, president of Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, which conducted the training at company facilities in Ellwood City in Lawrence County and Waynesburg in Greene County.

Fire departments don't often practice responding to such fires because they occur so infrequently, Maciarello and Mt. Lebanon fire Chief Nicholas Sohyda said.

"We have several gas transmission lines, underground vaults, brick gas houses, some near schools," Sohyda said. "It's not a high-frequency event. ... But there is the potential to have a little bit more significant incident."

The training "gives us an idea of what we can do," Maciarello said.

In addition to well fires, firefighters were trained in extinguishing fires caused by natural gas migrating to the surface; fires at an above-ground regulator station or meter; and fires in excavation pits.

Columbia Gas, with local headquarters in Canonsburg, serves about 400,000 customers in 26 counties. It is one of the 10 energy-distribution companies of NiSource Inc., which serves 3.8 million natural-gas and electric customers in nine states.

This fall, Columbia Gas will provide similar training to fire departments in eastern and central Pennsylvania.

Copyright (c) 2011, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

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Chesapeake Shuts Pennsylvania Gas Wells

Chesapeake Shuts Pennsylvania Gas Wells

Friday, April 22, 2011
Dow Jones Newswires

Chesapeake on Thursday suspended the controversial drilling method of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," at all of its wells throughout Pennsylvania until it determines the cause of this week's spill in the northern part of the state, the Associated Press reported.

The company -- the biggest driller of natural gas in the shale formations of Pennsylvania -- said crews had significantly reduced the flow of chemical-laced water from its out-of-control well near Canton, in Bradford County, Pa.

Chesapeake spokesman Brian Grove said the exact cause of Tuesday night's breach wasn't known, but the leak was located in a wellhead connection.

Thousands of gallons of drilling fluids were spilled. They escaped containment, crossed over farm fields and went into nearby Towanda Creek.

Grove told the AP that initial testing of waterways in the area had shown "minimal impact, if any."

The spill forced the temporary evacuation of some families, but no one was injured.

Fracking involves blasting shale rock with a mix of water, sand and chemicals at high speeds to crack open gas-bearing rock.