Economic Impact 59 - Marcellus Drilling News

The Economic Impact of Marcellus Drilling on PA Schools

April 11, 2012April 11, 2012

Penn State Cooperative Extension and Penn State University researchers continue their research into how the Marcellus Shale gas drilling boom affects the state. Recently they issued findings from a survey of 940 school districts across PA (see this MDN story). Earlier this week, they issued another report in their Marcellus Education Fact Sheet series, titled: “Marcellus Shale Gas Development and Pennsylvania School Districts: What Are the Implications for School Expenditures and Tax Revenues?” (full report embedded below).

Commodity Price | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Low NatGas Prices Translate to Electricity Rate Cut by Peco

April 4, 2012April 4, 2012

Yet another Pennsylvania utility is lowering rates customers pay—this time it’s a rate cut for electricity by Peco Energy which supplies the Philadelphia area. Low cost natural gas is being used in electrical generating plants and the utility is passing along the lower cost to produce electricity to its customers, thanks in part to an abundant supply of Marcellus Shale natural gas.

Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Ohio Petroleum Council Calls Utica/Marcellus “Game Changer”

April 3, 2012April 3, 2012

Terry Fleming, executive director of the Ohio Petroleum Council, recently visited the offices of The Daily Jeffersonian newspaper to talk about Utica and Marcellus drilling in the state. Among his comments were predictions about just how big the economic impact of shale drilling will become in Ohio over the next few years:

New Video: Women of the Marcellus

April 3, 2012April 3, 2012

MDN is really pleased to share a new video highlighting how Marcellus Shale development is impacting families in Pennsylvania. While many know about the economic impacts and consumer savings made possible by shale gas, this video highlights the personal stories of three families whose lives have been made materially better because of Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania.

Big Economic Impact of Midstream Projects in OH & PA

April 3, 2012April 3, 2012

A pair of stories about how the midstream is transforming western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio recently ran in the Youngstown, OH The Business Journal. Midstream refers to the infrastructure that gets natural gas to market, including pipelines and processing plants. Right now and for the foreseeable future, spending on midstream projects in Ohio is likely larger, from an economic impact standpoint, than exploration and production.

Commodity Price | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Pittsburgh Customers Get Another NatGas Rate Reduction

April 2, 2012April 2, 2012

The Pittsburgh area’s three largest natural gas utilities have just dropped their natural gas rates (again) for customers—this time up to 22 percent.

Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Washington County

Washington County, PA – HQ for Marcellus Drilling

April 2, 2012April 2, 2012

Western Pennsylvania’s Washington County is, in many ways, the epicenter for Marcellus drilling activity. Numerous companies either have their headquarters or their main Marcellus branch offices located in the county, and the rate of expansion continues to be high:

Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

Two PA Construction Companies Double in Size from Marcellus Work

March 29, 2012March 29, 2012

The Wilkes-Barre newspaper The Citizens’ Voice has an inspirational article in today’s edition about women working in jobs operating heavy equipment—not something you hear about often. As part of the story, we learn about the enormous impact Marcellus Shale drilling has had in the northeast Pennsylvania area on business in general, and on two construction-related businesses in particular:

Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

NY Universities to Buy Cheap PA Marcellus Shale Gas

March 29, 2012March 29, 2012

Oh the irony of it. New York State wants cheap natural gas—and in fact the state wants shale gas—but they won’t allow drilling. That doesn’t stop state officials from recognizing a good deal when they see it. So New York has struck a deal to buy shale gas from Pennsylvania for five NY state universities. Why? Because it’s cheap!

Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Wells Fargo Study: 60% of New PA Jobs from Gas Drilling

March 27, 2012March 27, 2012

jobs Wells Fargo Securities economists recently issued a report on the effects of Marcellus Shale drilling on Pennsylvania jobs (a copy of the 12-page report is embedded below). The report offers both an optimistic and pessimistic forecast of job growth, along with what they believe to be a realistic forecast. And all of their numbers are backed up with plenty of commentary so the reader understands why they predict what they predict. The bottom line?

Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Marcellus Revitalizes PA Company 150 Miles from Nearest Well

March 27, 2012March 27, 2012

PA State Senator Tim Solobay, a Democrat serving western PA’s 46th district, made the following report about the “broad-reaching economic impact” of Marcellus shale drilling and it’s power to revitalize businesses in the state:

Property Values Up in Marshall, WV; Dominion Invests $1.2B

March 23, 2012March 23, 2012

Dominion Transmission is investing nearly $1.2 billion in Marshall County, WV. Almost half of that—$500 million—will be spent on a new gas processing facility near Natrium (see this MDN story). Earlier this week, Dominion officials updated Marshall County commissioners on the progress of the new facility and other projects underway.

Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues

How Much Natural Gas Does the Marcellus Really Hold?

March 22, 2012March 22, 2012

The question of how much recoverable gas there is in the Marcellus will likely be a topic of debate for some years. In 2009, Penn State geosciences professor Dr. Terry Engelder estimated there’s around 489 trillion cubic feet of gas—the largest amount of recoverable gas of any shale play in the U.S. But in January of this year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the authoritative voice of the government for such data, estimated that the Marcellus has around 141 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas total.

Who’s right? We have two new reports presented at a research conference on Monday at Penn State University which confirm Dr. Engelder’s original estimate:

Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Let’s “just pull our pants down to get a cracker”

March 14, 2012March 14, 2012

In all of the seriousness surrounding the issue of shale gas drilling, sometimes you just need to smile and chuckle. This is one of those times. The headline of this post is a direct quote from Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Maloney from West Virginia. Here is the full quote in context as uttered by Maloney on the statewide radio show Metro News Talkline on Tuesday:

The (Long) Timeline for Building an Ethane Cracker Plant

March 13, 2012March 13, 2012

An article in today’s Pittsburgh Tribune-Review calls attention to what MDN pointed out yesterday about the Shell CEO comment that a decision on whether or not to build an ethane cracker plant in Appalachia is “years away” (see this MDN story). However, the T-R article adds some interesting information from Shell’s competitor Chevron about how many ethane cracker plants the region can support, and how long it takes to build a plant once the decision is made:

Shell’s Cracker Plant Actually “Years Away”?

March 12, 2012March 12, 2012

Are we still on track to find out in the next few weeks where Shell plans to build a multi-billion dollar ethane cracker plant? According to a Shell spokeswoman, yes. But in parsing the words of Shell’s CEO at a conference last week, even though the site may be announced, a “final decision” about investing in the site may still be “quite a few years away.” Here’s how it played out last week: