Full Title: Potential Development of the Natural Gas Resources in the Marcellus Shale
Author(s): National Park Service
Publisher(s): National Park Service
Publication Date: December 1, 2008
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Oil and gas industry interest is increasing as this geologic formation becomes better understood. While early (2002) United States Geological Survey (USGS) reports stated that the Marcellus Shale contained an estimated 1.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, subsequent exploration and recent efforts of oil and gas companies to produce gas from the shale have lead experts to believe that as much as 31 trillion cubic feet of gas may be recoverable from the Marcellus formation. This translates to being enough gas to meet the needs of the entire United States for over one year. Given innovations in drilling technologies from horizontal drilling to hydraulic fracturing, the economics of extracting gas from the Marcellus Shale have improved dramatically over the last few years.