Marcellus Shale Gas Resource : Development & Water Issues

Until relatively recently, natural gas-rich shale formations throughout the United States were not considered to have significant resource value because no technologies existed to economically recover the gas. Development and deployment of advanced drilling and reservoir stimulation methods have dramatically increased the gas production from these "unconventional gas shales". The Marcellus Shale formation potentially represents one of the largest unconventional natural gas resources in the United States, underlying much of West Virginia and Pennsylvania, southern New York, eastern Ohio, western Maryland, and Western Virginia. Directional drilling and "hydraulic fracturing" are essential to exploiting these low permeability shale gas resources. Although oil and gas developers have applied these technologies in conventional oil and natural gas fields for some time, recent improvements in both technologies have allowed them to be applied effectively to unconventional gas shales on an industrial scale. This book reviews the Marcellus Shale resource, development processes, and related surface water and groundwater issues.