Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Mar 20, 2012

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:

Natural gas industry high on future, despite current low prices
Washington Times
Despite looming federal regulations and rock-bottom market prices, leaders in the natural gas business are confident the shale boom that’s helped revitalize economies from Pennsylvania to Wyoming is only just getting started.

Krugman Drills A Dry Hole On Oil
Investor’s Business Daily
Energy: The economist at the newspaper of record defends the president’s energy policy of Solyndra, Chevy Volts and algae while dismissing the oil boom on private lands as a small-town hiccup with no impact on price.

Cecil Calls Special Meeting to Consider Marcellus Shale Legal Challenge
Patch.com
Cecil Township Board of Supervisors will meet at 9 a.m. Tuesday to consider whether or not to join other municipalities in a legal challenge to Act 13-the state’s new Marcellus Shale drilling law.

Allegheny County considers stricter gas drilling controls at airport land
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Allegheny County Council will move cautiously on a proposal to place stricter local controls on where natural gas wells can be drilled at Pittsburgh International Airport.

Pennsylvania Lt. Governor Cawley Says Marcellus Shale Creating Jobs in Steel Industry
Sys-Con Media
"Governor Corbett and I are focused on putting Pennsylvanians back to work and the responsible development of natural gas is playing a key role.A The need for high-quality steel in the drilling rigs, the platforms and the pipelines is creating jobs right here at U.S. Steel," said Cawley.

MarkWest Energy: Shale Play With A Fat Paycheck
Forbes.com
Master Limited Partnerships have been all the rage in the past year or so. MarkWest Energy is in the business of gathering, processing and transporting natural gas as well as the transportation, fractionation, storage and marketing of NGLs.

Shell’s Beaver County plant likely to spark tech jobs
Post-gazette.com
An ethylene cracking plant that Shell Oil Co. could build in Beaver County’s Potter Township may generate hundreds of technical jobs that would demand a chemistry-savvy workforce, experts said Friday.

Switch to U.S. shale gas a boon for Sarnia jobs
The London Free Press
Feedstock in the form of Marcellus shale ethane could be on its way to local Nova Chemicals operations as early as mid-2013, officials say.