Seneca Resources has sold off its Gulf of Mexico oil and gas properties in order to concentrate more on the Marcellus Shale. From a press announcement yesterday:
Seneca Resources Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of National Fuel Gas Company, announced that it has entered into an agreement to sell its offshore Gulf of Mexico oil and natural gas producing properties for $70 million.
Kane Borough Sewer Authority in McKean County, Pennsylvania is planning to sell (sell!) sewer effluent to Seneca Resources for drilling gas wells. Seneca is the oil and gas drilling division of National Fuel Gas Company. Effluent is the treated water discharged from sewage treatment plants.
According to a report given by Phil Lingenfelter, the foreman for the [Kane Borough] sewage treatment plants, more than 700,000 gallons of effluent is discharged daily from the two plants in “dry weather.”
Jim Salvamoser, chairman of the five-member authority, endorses the plan to sell the effluent to Seneca Resources.
“I think it’s a good idea,” Salvamoser said Monday. “It may give us a good source of revenue.”
Lingenfelter said he still is talking with Seneca about the proposal. He said a price for the effluent has not been set. He said the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has been made aware of the proposal and has not ruled against the effluent sale.
“DEP thinks it’s a great idea,” he told the authority.*
Seneca has already drilled one gas well in the area and is now drilling another, with plans to drill more wells in the near future.
There are many municipal sewage treatment facilities located throughout the northeast and mid-Atlantic in the Marcellus Shale. Perhaps some other enterprising managers can tap this new revenue source for their cities and towns.
*Kane Republican (Mar 16) – Kane plans to sell sewer effluent for well drilling