Marcellus

The Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) is opening about one-sixth of a game reserve in Bradford County, in the heart of the Marcellus Shale, to oil and natural gas leasing.

Eagle Ford operator Paloma Partners II LLC revealed on Wednesday that it is being taken over by Marathon Oil Corp. for $750 million in cash.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) on Thursday finalized how the new unconventional natural gas drilling impact fee for Marcellus Shale operators enacted under Act 13, will be imposed, implemented and collected, but because of pending litigation, rules that govern oil and gas operations were not addressed.

A regional approach to siting drilling infrastructure in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale is needed to help minimize development in core forest and productive agricultural lands and to decrease potential risk to waterways, according to researchers at Pennsylvania State University. A study conducted by the university’s College of Agricultural Sciences found that shale gas development is causing rapid landscape change. “The development of new roads to support drilling could affect forest ecosystem integrity via increased fragmentation,” said Patrick Drohan, assistant professor of pedology. Drohan estimated that slightly more than half of the well pads in Pennsylvania are on agricultural land and most of the rest are on forestland. The study found that drilling is competing with food production for space on the landscape.

When the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed Act 13, its omnibus Marcellus Shale law, in February, it marked the end of three years of legislative wrangling and the beginning of a period of legal interpretation.

As oil and gas companies look to hire local workers in eastern Ohio’s booming Marcellus and Utica shales, local and company officials say they are keeping a cautious eye on the issue of drug abuse in the region.

Over the last year or so hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has become a headline issue, and how one feels about it depends to a good degree on who one is. Generally though, as fracking garners more scrutiny the belief that it is worth doing hasn’t wavered much, a recent poll found.

Days after visiting natural gas operations in the Marcellus Shale, Poland’s treasury minister said commercial shale gas production may begin in his country in 2014.

After getting a first hand look at hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale — and with a comprehensive study of the practice due out in her state later this spring — North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue on Wednesday said she believes fracking can be done safely.