Marcellus Shale Gas Play Profile

Marcellus Formation in the Appalachian Basin covers 2.4 million acres of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and parts of Ohio is a Middle Devonian-age black organic-rich shale. Marcellus is doing well with amazingly high flow rates with plans for 24 new and expanded pipeline projects in the next three years. Marcellus follows Fort Worth Barnett Shale's example, which has enjoyed a 3,000 percent rate of growth from 1998 to 2007.

It's very possible that Marcellus may surpass Barnett Shale in production, but it will take serious infrastructure work to make it happen. In 2008, a several geology professors estimated that Marcellus might hold over 500 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Several state environmental organizations present unique challenges to Marcellus in that they have more detailed requests especially in how they want to protect their resources. This forces companies working in Marcellus to adjust construction plans. Labor is an issue as companies coming from other shale plays need to search the region for people with expertise.

Companies working in Marcellus have experience in working with other shale plays such as Barnett, Eagle Ford, Fayetteville and Haynesville. This gives them experiences in dealing with some of Marcellus' current challenges including the inaccessibility to major highways, harsh weather, regulations and work force support.

Enbridge Inc and CNX Gas Corp. are experiencing recent successes in Marcellus Shale. Enbridge, a Canadian oil and gas company, plans to build a natural gas liquid (NGL) pipeline that runs from Marcellus in Southern Pennsylvania and Northern West Virginia all the way to an existing NGL infrastructure around Chicago.

CNX Gas Corp. reports its well in Green County, Pa. produces an average of 4.9 million cubic feet per day, reaching a peak production rate of 5.7 million cubic feet. The company plans to invest $110 million out of its $400 million capital budget into Marcellus Shale.

Research from Bentek Energy states that natural gas production in the Appalachian Basin will grow from 2.2 billion cubic feet per day to 4 to 6 million per day by 2014. At this rate, Marcellus could displace traditional gas supplies in the Northeast.