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Chesapeake Files Application to Drill in Oregon Twp, PA

Wayne County, PA may see the first Chesapeake-drilled well as soon as late March:

Chesapeake Appalachia, a West Virginia subsidiary of the natural gas development giant Chesapeake Energy, filed a permit application last week for permission to drill a natural gas well on a Oregon Township property located near Fox Hill Road, according to state and county records obtained by the Wayne Independent.

As for the timing:

DEP spokesperson Mark Carmon said the agency has recently expedited the permit review process, creating a 45-day timetable to approve or deny.

Also from the article, StatoilHydro, a Norweigen-based energy company, has taken over some 590 leases from Chesapeake in Wayne County as part of a larger deal:

StatoilHydro, which is the second largest natural gas supplier to Europe, entered a joint venture with Chesapeake Energy in November. As part of the deal announced then, Chesapeake would relinquish 32 percent of its leases – 600,000 acres – in the Marcellus Shale area to StatoilHydro for $3.3 billion.

Wayne Independent: Oregon Twp may see natural gas drilled

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PA Gov. Ed Rendell Proposes Tax on Marcellus Shale Gas Production

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, in commenting on a serious budget shortfall in Pennsylvania, is proposing a new tax on gas production coming from wells tapping the Marcellus Shale formation.

The governor also said he will seek a “severance” tax, or extraction tax, on gas produced in the vast Marcellus Shale formation. Pennsylvania is the only gas-producing state without such a tax. The governor’s plan to establish one, at the level set by other states, would help to increase state revenue without adversely affecting gas exploration and extraction.

Scranton Times-Tribune: Grim, realistic across board.