Virginia

The West Virginia legislature overwhelmingly approved a landmark Marcellus Shale regulatory reform bill on Wednesday, opening a new chapter for natural gas development in the state.

A potential market for growing gas supplies from the Marcellus Shale — Eastern Canada — could be in jeopardy as resistance to U.S. sourced gas grows among Canadian producers while Canadian landowners object to pipeline plans and a pipeline flow reversal project stumbles with regulators.

Inspectors with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) are on pace to find more cementing and casing violations in the Marcellus Shale than before, but a spokesman for the agency said the uptick is the result of tighter regulations, not an industry problem.

Approximately 84 Tcf of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas and 3.4 billion bbl of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas liquids (NGL) are contained in the Marcellus Shale, according to a new assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

The West Virginia Legislature is unlikely to draft legislation on Marcellus Shale regulatory reform before the end of the year, according to a state senator with a key role in the process.

Natural gas production in West Virginia is continuing on an upward swing dating back to 2003, thanks in part to development in the Marcellus Shale, a report released this month by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said.

A judge in West Virginia has struck down the city of Morgantown’s ordinance banning hydraulic fracturing (fracking), ruling that the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has exclusive dominion over the regulation of natural gas drilling.

A bipartisan panel of 10 West Virginia lawmakers is using legislation that failed to clear both chambers of the legislature earlier this year as the starting point for trying to reach a consensus over Marcellus Shale regulatory reform.

A bipartisan panel of 10 West Virginia lawmakers is using legislation that failed to clear both chambers of the legislature earlier this year as the starting point for trying to reach a consensus over Marcellus Shale regulatory reform.