CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

While the larger energy companies that formerly drilled for natural gas in the Trenton-Black River formation have abandoned those activities for the more favorable drilling rules in Pennsylvania, smaller companies are creeping back in to drill in the Southern Tier.

With names like Anschutz Exploration and Epsilon Energy USA and MegaEnergy Operating Inc., the drilling companies are not only continuing to explore the Trenton-Black River (TBR) formation, which lies at depths of 10,000 to 12,000 feet -- beneath the Marcellus and Utica shale -- they are also sinking their drill bits in the Oriskany sandstone formation.

Found just above the TBR, Oriskany sandstone was formed about 400 million years ago and runs roughly from West Virginia and into Pennsylvania and New York. Geologists estimate it holds about 11 billion cubic feet of gas.

While a good well in a sandstone formation like the Oriskany may produce between 500,000 and 1 million cubic feet of gas per day, a well in Marcellus Shale will likely produce 10 times that amount, geologists say.

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