“You Can’t Outsource Marcellus Shale”

Last week, DC leaders touted the national benefits of Pennsylvania shale reserves at a panel focusing on energy infrastructure at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference, stressing that “you can’t outsource pipelines, you can’t outsource Marcellus Shale.”

This week, the Shale Insight Conference in Pittsburgh correspondingly highlighted the role Pennsylvania is playing in the Marcellus shale boom. According to Daniel Raimi, a researcher for the think tank Resources for the Future, “Over the past decade, development of the Marcellus shale formation has capitulated Pennsylvania to become the second-largest producer of natural gas, trailing only Texas.”

Industry leaders converged at the two-day conference to about issues facing the natural gas industry and project forecasts for natural gas in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Panelists stressed the role of projects like the Mariner East 2 and Atlantic Sunrise pipelines in getting this gas to end users and capitalizing on the wealth of NGL reserves in the Marcellus and Utica shale formations.