How much natural gas is in the Marcellus Shale?
Recent estimates of the volume of natural gas contained in the entire Marcellus Shale formation are around 1,500 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas. It is not yet known how much gas will be commercially recoverable from the Marcellus, but current expectations are around 262 TCF. To put this in perspective, the US consumes an avarage of 22 TCF of natural gas per year so the Marcellus could potentially provide a 10 year supply of natural gas to the nation using these current estimates. Why all the interest in the Marcellus Shale now? Geologists have known for decades about the gas in the Marcellus Shale, but the depth and tightness of the shale made gas exploration and extraction very difficult and expensive. Recent advancements in gas well development technology, specifically horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, have significantly increased commercial interest in the Marcellus. Another factor pushing interest in Marcellus shale is t he proximity of the formation to high n
Geologists estimate that the entire Marcellus Shale formation contains between 168 trillion to 516 trillion cubic feet of natural gas throughout its entire extent. It is not yet known how much gas will be commercially recoverable from the Marcellus in New York. To put this into context, New York State uses about 1.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas a year.
