Utica

Consol Energy Inc. began its shift toward liquids in the first quarter, moving into the wet-gas portions of the Marcellus and Utica shales of southwestern Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.

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.

While its investments with Chesapeake Energy Corp. in Barnett and Utica shale gas and oil plays have been widely publicized, Paris-based Total SA also is quietly investing in a major research and development (R&D) project looking at in-ground ways to develop oil shale, an unrealized dream of energy independence that the industry and some policymakers have flirted with for decades.

After three years of exponential growth, the Marcellus Shale is showing signs of plateauing this year.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is urging state lawmakers to enact tougher regulations on the oil and gas industry, including higher penalties for violations and requiring operators to not only disclose what chemicals are used for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) but also their precise formulations.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich said the state should be prudent in developing the Marcellus and Utica shales, maintaining tough environmental regulations while looking to attract jobs and investment.

Two anchor shippers have signed binding agreements for capacity on Texas Eastern Transmission LP’s (Tetco) TEAM 2014 expansion project to carry gas from Appalachia’s shale plays to the Northeast, Midwest and southern United States, the Spectra Energy Corp. pipeline said.

The Marcellus Shale is the “best gas play” in the United States and at current price levels, “the only basin where dry gas should be drilled,” analysts with Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH) advised in a new report.

Election Day in Pennsylvania turned out to be a mixed bag over the issue of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the Marcellus and Utica shales, with voters soundly defeating referendums that would have banned the practice in Peters Township and the City of Warren, but overwhelmingly supporting a similar measure in the Borough of State College.