Exploration companies express interest in the region's natural gas deposits
Posted by CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE at 9:36 AMDeposits of natural gas in Albany, Schenectady and Schoharie counties are attractive to drillers, but it may be some time before those fields are tapped.
Deposits of so-called shale natural gas farther west and south through more rural areas of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and into West Virginia have been drilled and are more likely to be the site of future drilling.
In addition, fluctuations in natural gas prices--they now stand at about $8 per 1,000 cubic feet at the well head--will be the decisive factor for where and when a natural gas company decides to drill.
Prices of around $4 per 1,000 cubic feet would make drilling much less feasible, said Gary Lash, a professor at Fredonia State College and co-author of a new study on the shale natural gas deposits.
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