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Marcellus Shale

Marcellus Shale. Natural Gas in Pennyslvania. Where is Marcellus Shale in PA?. Marcellus Shale The contour lines tell thickness of the shale. Pink = 50 ft Green = 100 ft Purple = 150 ft Red = 200 ft. What is Marcellus Shale?. Shale – Sedimentary rock made from mud (clay and silt)

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Marcellus Shale

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  1. Marcellus Shale Natural Gas in Pennyslvania

  2. Where is Marcellus Shale in PA? • Marcellus Shale • The contour lines tell thickness of the shale. • Pink = 50 ft • Green = 100 ft • Purple = 150 ft • Red = 200 ft

  3. What is Marcellus Shale? • Shale – Sedimentary rock made from mud (clay and silt) • Black from high organic content (plant and animal remains) • Organic matter is source of gas

  4. What is Marcellus Shale? • High organic content means high gas potential. • Greater thickness means more gas potentially available. • Shale composition means very little connection between pore spaces that hold gas. • Fractures help gas flow within formation.

  5. Why does it contain Natural Gas? • When the shale was deposited as a mud, it was full of tiny pieces of organic material. • The same heat and pressure that turned the mud into shale also ‘cooked’ the organic material, creating natural gas.

  6. What is a Drill Rig? New Technology: Drilling HORIZONTALLY

  7. How do they extract the Gas? • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izg7ZWyWvgA

  8. Value of Gas Deposit • Estimated amount of recoverable gas is 516 TCF. (Trillion cubic feet) • US consumption of gas in 2006 = 21 TCF • Marcellus shale could support US consumption for 1-3 yrs.

  9. Pros and Cons of the Marcellus Shale Pros • Jobs in low-economic regions. • Improved local economy • A possible $15 billion in economic output and $2 billion in state tax revenue in a decade. Cons • Excess water consumption • Treatment of wastewater • Destruction of land • Contaminated ground water. • Release of Radiation

  10. Cost of Drilling • Consumption of water • Vertical well = 1.2 million gallons (28,000 barrels) of water VS. • Horizontal well = 3.5 million gallons (over 83,000 barrels) of water.

  11. Environmental Concerns • Hydraulic fracturing consists of pumping a fluid and a propping material such as sand down the well under high pressure to create fractures in the gas-bearing rock. • slickwater = a low-viscosity water-based fluid used to fracture the rock to release the gas. • The slickwaterfracs may include: friction reducers, biocides, surfactants and scale inhibitors. • Hydrochloric acid is also used as part of the fracturing process. Question: Could this get into the local drinking water?

  12. Environmental Concerns • Radioactivity: • The Marcellus is considered to be a “highly radioactive” shale. • Engelder is quoted as saying that he thinks the radioactivity is “in such low concentrations that it does not bother anyone.”

  13. Environmental Concerns • Each well requires approximately 1,000 truck trips to complete.  • Telescoping well casings must be surrounded by concrete to prevent leakage into ground water and aquifers.  • Each frack requires 4-8 million gallons of water, with about 40% of that coming back up as “flowback” – heavily contaminated hazardous waste.  • This is stored onsite or piped to “evaporation pits” until moved to an underground injection well, treated and re-used or (vast majority) treated and discharged to surface water.    

  14. Economical Advantages • Jobs in a low-economic region. • A possible $15 billion in economic output and $2 billion in state tax revenue in a decade. • The drilling activity will stimulate the PA economy, creating: • additional income earned from workers in the Marcellus industry • Income for those supporting it. • More income from royalties and taxes.

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