There may be a heckuva lot more natural gas to tap in the Utica and Marcellus shales, a new Forbes story suggests:
"The Utica and Marcellus shale natural gas plays based respectively in Ohio and Pennsylvania have provided 85-90% of U.S. shale gas production growth since start of 2012. Their ongoing drilling efficiency is a key driver.
"In fact, increases in shale drilling efficiency have contributed to the breakdown of traditional methods that use rig counts to estimate oil and natural gas production. Frequently mentioned is how renewables continue to evolve, but so does the oil and gas industry.
"The shale business in particular continues to advance: rig mobility, multi-pad drilling, and other rapid evolutions mean more gas using less rigs and resources.
"And there’s simply no sign of these giant plays in the Northeast slowing down, despite still lower prices in the region due to a lack of takeaway capacity.
" ... And the Utica and Marcellus both have so much more to offer. To illustrate, Ohio now has about 10 Tcf of proven gas, a 10-fold increase since 2009, and Pennsylvania has over 70 Tcf, a doubling since 2012 alone. Not even our very best experts at the U.S. Geological Survey can keep up."
Read the full story here.