The Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Formation

The Marcellus shale formation is a widespread layer of gas bearing shale that was deposited millions of years ago the Devonian age in vast protected seas that once covered North America. Microscopic marine life that once lived in those seas decayed and formed oil and gas under heat and pressure. Subsequent rock layers were deposited on top of the Marcellus shale, trapping the hydrocarbons inside.

The Marcellus formation is located in the Appalachian Basin and stretches from New York through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland and West Virginia. It also extends under the Great Lakes, across into Canada in the province of Ontario. Until recently it had been overlooked since a vertical gas well drilled down through the shale would not give off enough gas to be economically feasible.

Now with horizontal drilling techniques, oil and gas companies can drill sideways across it and expose more surface area for gas to seep out. These methods were unavailable up until recently. New horizontal drilling techniques include LWD or logging while drilling equipment which can log the formation in real time to tell what kind of rock the drill bit is passing through. A gamma ray sensor indicates if the drill bit has passed down into unproductive beds of limestone or sandstone on non gas bearing shale.

This information is sent uphole as a series of pulses in real time, allowing the driller to keep the drill bit in the shale formation where the gas is, even if the bed of rock is thin. This allows companies to exploit relatively thin bed areas of the Marcellus that would otherwise not be productive without accurate LWD enhanced horizontal drilling techniques.

As of 2008 only a few water fractured horizontal wells were actually tapping the Marcellus formation. It is reported that at least one is currently producing more than 3 million cubic feet of natural gas daily. Although this rich resource has been know about for a long while, only until recently has it begun to be explored and exploited.

Currently there are scores of "land men" right now out scouring the countryside to buy up mineral rights from landowners as the boom is now on. If you are one of those fortunate to own land in the area, consult with an attorney before signing an oil and gas lease!

In 2007 professors Engelder and Lash, wrote a report that the Marcellus could hold 167 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. That report was based on very conservative estimates. Their own higher estimates suggest the Marcellus shale could hold as much as 500 trillion cubic feet of total gas and assuming a ten percent recovery factor, that mean almost 20 trillion cubic feet of marketable natural gas. It's like our own north slope of gas that has been sleeping right under our feet.

In a region of the United States that has seen its share of economic booms and busts the impact of the Marcellus Formation will undoubtedly be remarkable. In a similar gas bearing shale formation, the Barnett Shale of North Texas it was estimated by the Greater Ft. Worth Chamber Of Commerce that the impact of the development of that gas bearing formation has been equal to the building and operation of five Boeing aircraft plants.

In an area with very little in the way of oilfield infrastructure whole new industries will have to be grown from the ground up. From oilfield liquids transport, well location building, pipelines and compressor stations to the vast support network of service companies that keep the oilfield up and running.

Already directional drilling and mudlogging companies are opening up satellite offices in the areas of the Marcellus Formation.

As new wells are brought on line there will be a need for production employees to keep the wells up and running and maintain equipment. However the biggest economic impact will come during the drilling phase where the most up front money is spent.

As production comes on line the tax coffers of local municipalities and the state will be boosted, meaning billions of dollars over the coming years for education, roads, and social programs.

Residents will eventually see lower utility bills as cheaper gas is purchased locally for power generation and home distribution.

The estimated size of the Marcellus Formation is up to ten times larger than the Barnett Shale and is destined to have a far greater economic impact and implications on our energy future. Wit up to 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves the Marcellus Formation could indeed go a long way to helping the U.S. cure its addiction to foreign oil.

Why the Marcellus Formation is not a major news story is a mystery to the author but we will surely hear more about it in the coming months.

MAP OF THE MARCELLUS FORMATION You Tube Illustration of Directional Drilling

Info on the Barnett Shale Formation of North Texas and Oklahoma Rigzone.com Rig Count Page Schlumberger Dictionary Baker Hughes