Never mind that hydraulic fracturing was once again linked to an earthquake, this time a 4.0 tremor in Ohio on New Year’s Eve, the year 2012 kicked off in impressive fashion for the shale industry, which has been revolutionized by the controversial drilling practice. Undaunted by the environmental and geological challenges, two oil giants signed [...]
The town of Dimrock in northeastern Pennsylvania was propelled into the public eye by the documentary, “Gasland”. In the movie, producer Josh Fox profiled families able to light their tap water on fire as well, suffering from numerous health issues and fearing their well water had been contaminated, all purportedly from shale gas drilling in [...]
In a move directed at increasing its unconventional footprint, Norway’s Statoil is acquiring Texas-based oil company Brigham Exploration for $4.4bn. The deal will provide Statoil with unconventional or ‘tight’ oil production via Brigham’s 375,000 acre holding in the Bakken shale region in North Dakota. “Entering the Bakken and Three Forks tight-oil plays and taking on [...]
Pennsylvania plans to implement numerous recommendations of the Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission, including changes to enhance environmental standards, an impact fee, and a plan to help move Pennsylvania toward energy independence. “This natural resource will fuel our generating plants, heat our homes and power our state’s economic engine for generations to come,” Governor Tom Corbett [...]
According to a Quinnipiac University poll, New Yorkers are almost evenly split over natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale formation that lies under the state. About 45 percent favor drilling because of economic benefits and 41 percent oppose it because of environmental risks, according to the survey of 1,016 registered voters released today. The [...]
A Carnegie Mellon University study concludes that climate-change-producing pollution from Marcellus Shale gas development and combustion is significantly lower than that from the mining and burning of coal. According to the study, published Aug. 5 in the peer-reviewed “Environmental Research Letters,” greenhouse gas emissions from Marcellus gas used to generate electricity would be 20 percent [...]
Noble Energy announced that it has formed a strategic joint venture worth $3.4 billion with Consol Energy to explore and develop acreage in the fast-growing Marcellus shale gas play in the US. The joint venture involves Noble acquiring a 50% interest at $1.07 billion in 663,350 net undeveloped acres in south-west Pennsylvania and north-west West [...]
Endeavour International Corp., has entered into an agreement to acquire Marcellus shale assets in north-central Pennsylvania from SM Energy Co. SM Energy is selling its entire leasehold position in a play consisting of 42,000 net acres adjacent to the Endeavour’s existing Marcellus acreage and includes a pipeline and related facilities for aggregate consideration of $110 [...]
Pennsylvania’s top health official want to see is gas drilling poses a health risk. Department of Health Secretary Eli Avila said his agency needs resources to create a registry for tracking whether spikes in illnesses could be related to shale gas drilling. That request came to the Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission came as the panel [...]
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge is asking natural gas companies operating in the Marcellus Shale to improve their “public image.” Ridge, who now serves as a consultant to the natural gas industry, urges the companies to make their public image better if they wish to be “warmly embraced” by the public, not just “grudgingly accepted.” [...]
