While recession, regulation, and environmental impacts are having immediate effects on the drive to drill into the deep reserves of the Marcellus Shale, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the vision of what's below the surface is enormous.
Pennsylvania State University geoscientist Dr. Terry Engelder was upbeat last week in telling those attending the first Pennsylvania Natural Gas Summit in State College that there are 363 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas in the Marcellus shale, enough to supply all of the nation's natural gas needs for 14 years.
That estimate, based on recent deep-well-production reports and better geologic data, is seven times larger than his earlier projections.
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