Marcellus

Operations at two Northeast Natural Energy (NNE) natural gas wells in the Marcellus Shale near Morgantown, WV, have been delayed while the company awaits the arrival of a service rig.

The Appalachian region of southeastern Ohio provides supply chain companies with cost-effective and easy access to all of the states involved in the Marcellus and Utica shales, “while maximizing return on investment now and over the life of the shale gas reserves,” according to a white paper by the Ohio Business Development Coalition (OBDC). The state “is the ideal location” for Tier I and II suppliers to the shale gas industry, “offering a central location, logistics infrastructures, a skilled workforce and a favorable state tax structure,” according to the OBDC. Among the tax benefits touted by OBDC: Ohio does not tax products and services sold to customers outside the state.

Voters in New York still support natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale by a thin margin, 45-41%, because they believe the economic benefits outweigh environmental concerns, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll.

Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light released a position paper on Marcellus Shale drilling Sunday, outlining changes that need to be made before drilling could be viewed as acceptable through a moral compass. The organization said it would support shale drilling if it replaced coal and other fossil fuels quickly, if the state enacted a drilling tax and if overall community and environmental impacts were reduced. A copy of the document is available at www.paipl.org.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has given Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. permission to resume drilling at a Marcellus Shale natural gas well pad in Susquehanna County after an investigation found no elevated levels of methane in private drinking water wells.

Gasco Energy Inc. said Thursday it plans to drill two conventional test wells for oil this fall in the Green River Formation, part of the company’s plans to de-risk thousands of acres it holds in the Uinta Basin in eastern Utah.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has given Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. permission to resume drilling at a Marcellus Shale natural gas well pad in Susquehanna County after an investigation found no elevated levels of methane in private drinking water wells.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. are trying to determine if Marcellus Shale drilling is responsible for causing possible methane gas migration that impacted three private drinking water wells in Susquehanna County, and to find the source of a combustible gas bubbling from a local pond.

In an effort to ensure that air around Marcellus and Utica shale production sites is safe and to provide the shale industry “with the most efficient option to get operations up and running,” the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) said it is creating a new general permit.