Tagged: marcellus shale

There's a boom in natural gas production in the United States, a boom so big the market is having trouble absorbing it all.

The unusually warm weather this winter is one reason for the excess, since it reduced the need for people to burn gas to heat their homes. A bigger reason, however, is the huge increase in gas production made possible by new methods of coaxing gas out of shale rock formations.

Peter Ricchiuti, a professor at Tulane University in New Orleans and an expert on oil and gas production, says the normal supply-and-demand laws of economics aren't working as they used to in the industry.

In its Energy Outlook for 2012, the Department of Energy has reduced its estimate of unproven "technically recoverable reserve" (TRR) natural gas in the Marcellus Shale from 410 trillion cubic feet to 141 trillion cubic.

For those of you playing at home, 141 trillion down from 410 trillion represents a nearly one-third  two-thirds reduction in natural gas across the whole Marcellus Shale formation.

But it's still pretty far off from the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) competing estimate, of about 84 trillion cubic feet.

Pending well permit applications for high-volume hydraulic fracturing (2007-present):

If New York State allows hydrofracking, where would it happen?

With the help of officials from the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), we used the agency's searchable online oil and gas database to find out precisely where drilling companies have applied for hydrofracking permits.

So what does this map mean?

As New York State wrestles with how to handle natural gas drilling here, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is at the center of the debate.

The DEC has spent three years studying the controversial drilling practice known as hydraulic fracturing or hydrofracking, and may begin to issue permits to allow it as early as next year.

WMHT invited DEC Commissioner Joe Martens to our studios to take your questions about hydrofracking and how it will impact the state.

The full interview with Martens will be broadcast this weekend on New York NOW (check your local listings).

A television ad running in upstate New York has been warning residents that the state's water supply is headed for ruin.

"New York tap water has always been the best in the world," it says. "In places where gas companies are already using a dangerous process called fracking, like Pennsylvania, the water is cloudy and full of toxic chemicals."

A new panel made up of natural gas drillers, environmentalists, and local government officials re-convened yesterday in Albany to advise New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation about hydrofracking.

This was the second meeting of the 17 member advisory panel. They’re charged with making recommendations to the state about how to best handle hydrofracking, and all the issues that come with it - including the potential impact of hydrofracking on drinking water supplies.