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Background

More than a mile beneath parts of Pennsylvania lies a mostly untapped reservoir of natural gas.

Geologists and energy companies have known for decades about the gas in the Marcellus Shale, but only recently have figured out a way to extract it from the thick black rock about 6,000 feet underground.

Now gas drillers are looking to lease local land in an attempt to find and remove the gas, whose value increases as energy prices soar.

In January 2008 leases were being signed for values near $100 per acre. By May that value had increased to over $2000 per acre.

With lease values changing so rapidly, landowners are unsure at what price to accept a lease offer.

Kenneth L. Balliet, a forestry and business management educator with the Penn State Cooperative Extension, recently took a trip to Fort Worth to see the economic impacts of those deposits. He said leases are being signed for $18,000 per acre in areas where production has proven strong.

Though there are only about 20 wells in Pennsylvania so far, Balliet expects local production to eventually rival Texas’ Barnett Shale. He said a gas company confided it plans to spend $1 billion this year in leasing agreements in Pennsylvania.

That kind of investment could mean a big boost to the area's economy as a whole.

Primary Author

Rory Sweeney
rsweeney@timesleader.com

Natural Gas Leases - Marcellus Shale

Latest Headlines

December 6, 2009

Activists advocate gas drilling regulations

According to a state environmental advocacy group, Pennsylvania needs to do more to ensure that gas drilling creating profits today won’t end up like the coal mining of yesterday that left a costly environmental legacy for the next generation.

November 27, 2009

DEP mulls changing discharge standards

Anyone concerned with pollution threats from increased natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania has likely encountered the phrase, “total dissolved solids” and recognizes its potential to be a problem.

November 14, 2009

Large gas company eyes area for drilling

EnCana Corp., perhaps the largest natural-gas producer in North America, has chosen Luzerne County as its entry point into the Marcellus Shale, thanks to an exploratory agreement with WhitMar Exploration Co.

November 7, 2009

WVSA may treat wastewater from gas-drilling

The Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority is investigating the feasibility of treating wastewater created from natural-gas drilling.

November 6, 2009

Energy company vows it’s cautious

PLAINS TWP. – As negative issues arise related to natural-gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, at least one company is being careful to keep residents informed about the industry’s benefits and distance itself from concerns.

November 5, 2009

Pa. officials fine Texas drilling firm

DIMOCK — State regulators are fining a Houston-based company because its natural-gas drilling operations polluted residents’ water wells in northeastern Pennsylvania.

October 29, 2009

Banker: Marcellus Shale to boost region

WILKES-BARRE – The Marcellus Shale gas play will be “a game changer” for Northeastern Pennsylvania, bringing a “huge economic injection” and making life here very different a decade from now, an economist said Wednesday.

October 22, 2009

Cabot company fined for drilling-site spills

The state Department of Environmental Protection announced on Thursday that it has fined Cabot Oil and Gas $56,000 for three polluting spills at one of its natural gas drilling sites in Susquehanna County.

October 21, 2009

Drilling plan includes recycling

TUNKHANNOCK – As if responding to previous community criticism about a similar facility, company officials hoping to build a drilling-waste treatment plant near Meshoppen said Tuesday recycling water is part of their plans.

October 21, 2009

Lehman Twp. resident expresses concerns on drilling

LEHMAN TWP. – Chris Miller of Jackson Road voiced concerns Monday about the effects of possible gas drilling in the township.

October 16, 2009

Concerns about drilling raised in Lake Township

LAKE TWP – Concerns over gas drilling and a nuisance property brought two different groups to Wednesday’s supervisors meeting.

October 11, 2009

Dallas revising zoning to regulate gas drilling

There’s no natural-gas drilling in Dallas, but that’s not stopping the borough from deciding where it will allow drilling.

September 26, 2009

Wyoming County gas agreement called compromise

The lease that Chesapeake Energy is offering to Wyoming County Landowners group members is clearly a compromise between landowners and the company, according to an experienced gas-law attorney, but includes “many of the protections that we like to see for landowners are built into this lease.”

September 26, 2009

Susquehanna County gas driller ordered to stop

HARRISBURG— Citing three recent chemical spills at one well site, Pennsylvania regulators said Friday they had ordered Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. to halt its use of a drilling technique that uses liquids to fracture rock and release natural gas.

September 26, 2009

Gas lease signing set to begin today

Lease signing begins today for members of the Wyoming County Landowners group who have accepted a gas-drilling offer from Chesapeake Energy.

September 24, 2009

Spills bring violation notice to company

Cabot Oil and Gas has been issued a letter of violation for two liquid-gel spills last week at the company’s Heitsman natural-gas well pad in Susquehanna County, the state Department of Environmental Protection announced on Tuesday.

September 20, 2009

Deposit on the future

FAIRMOUNT TWP. – Scarring Michael Giamber’s 74-acre forested spread with gas wells and pipelines might seem like a nightmare to some, but that’s the fairytale ending for which he’s hoping.

September 19, 2009

Gas drilling may start in ’10

WhitMar Exploration Co., the only gas-drilling company so far to have leased substantially in Luzerne County, plans to begin drilling by the middle or latter part of next year, according to the company’s president.

September 18, 2009

Drilling gas gel spills at well

About 8,400 gallons of a gel used in drilling natural-gas wells was spilled on Wednesday at a well being drilled in Dimock Township for Cabot Oil & Gas, the state Department of Environmental Protection announced Thursday.