Natural Gas Found in Shale Could Fuel Economies to the West
Posted by CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE at 6:35 AMWhen domestic gas prices spiked during an energy crisis in the early 1980s, prospectors came into the western part of the Quad- state region to acquire drilling rights. With oil at $130 a barrel and natural gas prices headed above $11 per thousand cubic feet, they may return.
Exploration and production companies are looking for huge reserves of natural gas in Marcellus black shale in the northern Appalachian region. New drilling technologies for extracting gas from shale, coupled with historically high oil and natural gas prices, have triggered a land rush for drilling rights.
Marcellus shale, named after the town in New York where it was first gassed, is found mostly in western New York and Pennsylvania and much of West Virginia. The shale area also stretches into Garrett and Allegany counties of Maryland, Morgan County and western Berkeley County and western Frederick and Shenandoah counties.
Farmers in Lycoming County Pa., are reportedly being offered from $1,500 to $2,500 an acre for drilling rights, and if gas is found, they collect royalties.
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