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Trenton-Black River (TBR)
The Trenton-Black River (TBR) is a geological formation. It extends underneath the Appalachian Basin, from Kentucky through Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania and into upstate New York and the Provinces of southwestern Ontario and southern Quebec.

Contracting note: One can obtain an interest in TBR that would be separate from Marcellus Shale and other sections.

Companies Actively Drilling

 * Anschutz Exploration Corp
 * Canadian Quantum Energy
 * Canbriam Energy
 * Continental Resources
 * Corridor Resources Inc
 * East Resources
 * Epsilon Energy Ltd
 * Fortuna Energy Inc.
 * Junex Inc
 * MegaEnegy Inc
 * Pennsylvania General Energy Corp
 * Petrolia
 * Petrolympic
 * Questerre Energy Corporation
 * Savoy Energy LP
 * Talisman Energy Inc.
 * Tyche Energy Inc.
 * West Bay Exploration

Reported Leasing Land

 * Altai Resources Inc.
 * Empire Energy USA LLC
 * Lenape Resources, Inc
 * Mooncor Oil & Gas Corp

Drilling Hotspots

 * Chautauqua County, New York
 * Chemung County, New York
 * Hillsdale County, Mich. (oil)
 * Roane County, West Virginia
 * Steuben County, New York
 * St. Lawrence Lowlands

Marcellus Shale (MS)
During 2008, very active leasing activity took place in the first half of the year by companies speculating on eventual production of prolific amounts of natural gas from the Marcellus shale. It was part of a larger development of shale oil and gas plays throughout North America sometimes referred to as the shale sweepstakes. There are still many research issues related to the exploration of this formation. During the first half of 2009, leasing activity had been greatly reduced, as natural-gas prices fell around one-third from January until early July, due to the on-going economic meltdown. Nevertheless, most of the companies were at least continuing their reconnaissance of prospective areas and a few had even increased planned drilling. During 2009, natgas production from the Marcellus shale rose from virtually nothing to about 1% of total U.S. production.

In excess of twenty major oil and gas companies had invested over $700 million during 2008 in developing the Marcellus Shale play. Up to half of the total was in Pennsylvania with New York State in second place. Gas exploration and production in the US had been shifting to the Marcellus and Barnett shales due to higher yields that were possible, availability of pipeline capacity, and the closeness of the fields to large metropolitan markets. These factors made the Marcellus and Barnett plays more profitable when compared to other alternatives.

Investment continued during 2009, but on a much reduced scale than had originally been planned due to a gas glut, less than favorable economic conditions and unfolding environmental concerns about drilling. Despite these overall restraining influences, according to one (possibly optimistic) estimate 800 Marcellus wells were expected to be drilled during 2009; that would represent an increase of more than 400% over the previous year. Year          # wells        #wells drilled    permitted 2008            196           519 2009             763         1,985 2010 (thru June) 564         1,172 Southwest            Northeast County  # wells      County    # wells Washington 259       Bradford    309 Greene     150       Tioga       261 Susquehanna 134
 * Update #1: A mid-October report noted that 184 horizontal drilling permits were issued in September, 2009 alone compared to 91 in August. The largest number of permits had been issued in the Pennsylvania counties of Bradford (36), Clinton (15), Greene (14), Lackawanna (11), Lycoming (14) Tioga (31) and Washington (23).
 * Update #2: As of October 30, 2009 Pennsylvania's DEP had issued 1,592 Marcellus drilling permits year-to-date. This compares to only 476 for the entire year of 2008. Through the end of October, 433 Marcellus shale wells had been drilled during 2009 in Pennsylvania. That was more than double the 195 wells drilled the entire previous year. Over one third of the permitting activity had been in the three northeastern Pennsylvania counties of Bradford, Susquehanna, and Tioga.
 * Update #3: According to a mid-November, 2009 report 50 rigs were in the process of working the Marcellus shale.
 * Update #4: 741 Marcellus shale wells were drilled in Pennsylvania during 2009. 1,350 new wells were expected in 2010.
 * Update #5: Weak natural gas prices and oversupply continued from 2009 into the first half of 2010.
 * Update #6: A July, 2010 report, quoting PDEP, gave the following Marcellus shale growth stats:
 * Update #7: A news item in October, 2010 noted that 1,681 Marcellus shale wells had been drilled by mid-2010 with production of 1.4 Bcf/d. 101 drilling rigs had been deployed in the formation. Leading counties in the play were:


 * Update #8: By October, 2010, PDEP was reporting that 1,099 Marcellus shale wells had been drilled in Pennsylvania from January 1 through September 30, 2010. This number had grown to 1,257 by mid-November. This represented 2,395 Marcellus wells overall that had been drilled since the start of the play.
 * Update #9: The final tally for permits issued during 2010 in Pennsylvania was 3,314 with over 1,000 wells drilled. As of April, 2011, 590 permits had been issued year-to-date and 300 wells drilled.
 * Update #10: A final PDEP tally for 2011 indicated over 2,200 producing Marcellus shale wells in Pennsylvania--that is, 500 more producing than in the first half of the year. Production was 40% higher during the second half of the year than in the earlier reporting period. Pennsylvania Marcellus production amounted to roughly 1.04 Tcf during 2011. Several companies announced production cut-backs due to the very low prices of natural gas. Rigs were being transferred by several companies away from dry gas areas such as Bradford County to wet gas areas of the state and to other plays.
 * Update #11: During 2010, 1,644 Marcellus shale wells were drilled in Pennsylvania. In 2011, an additional 2,046 were drilled. The rate of drilling appeared to be slowing in 2012 due to a continuation of depressed natural gas prices.

Companies Actively Drilling

 * AB Resources LLC
 * Alta Resources LLC
 * Anadarko Exploration & Production Company
 * Antero Resources
 * Arbor Resources of Michigan
 * Atlas Energy
 * Baker Gas
 * Belden & Blake Corporation
 * BLX Inc
 * Cabot Oil and Gas Corp
 * Carrizo Oil and Gas
 * Chesapeake Energy
 * Chevron Corp
 * Chief Oil and Gas
 * CONSOL Energy Inc
 * Devon Energy
 * Dominion Exploration and Production Inc
 * Dominion Gas
 * Drilling Appalachian Corp
 * East Resources
 * E & L Drilling
 * EnCana Corp
 * Energy Corporation of America
 * Enerplus
 * EOG Resources
 * Epsilon Energy Ltd
 * EQT Corporation
 * EXCO Resources, Inc
 * Exxon Mobil Corp
 * Flatirons Resources LLC
 * Fortuna Energy Inc
 * Gastar Exploration Ltd
 * Gastem
 * Grenadier Energy Partners, LLC
 * Guardian Exploration LLC
 * Hanley and Bird, Inc
 * Hess Corp
 * Huntley & Huntley, Inc
 * Interstate Gas Marketing Inc
 * J.F. Deem Oil and Gas
 * Magnum Hunter Resources Corp
 * Marathon Oil Corporation
 * MDS Energy
 * MegaEnergy Inc
 * Mid-East Gas Inc./M.M. & V Energy LLC
 * Mountain V
 * National Fuel
 * Newfield Exploration Co
 * Noble Energy Inc
 * Norse Energy
 * North Coast Energy
 * NOVUS Exploration, LLC
 * PC Exploration
 * PDC Energy
 * PDC Mountaineer, LLC
 * Penneco Oil Company
 * Penn Virginia Corporation
 * Pennsylvania General Energy Corp
 * Phillips Resources, Inc
 * PostRock
 * Quest Resource Corporation
 * Range Resources
 * Rex Energy Corporation
 * Rice Energy LLC
 * Rimrock Energy LLC
 * Royal Dutch Shell
 * Samson Investment Company
 * Seneca Energy Production Company
 * SM Energy Company
 * Snyder Brothers Inc.
 * Southwestern Energy Company
 * South Jersey Industries
 * Statoil-Hydro
 * Stone Energy Corporation
 * Talisman Energy Inc
 * The Williams Companies, Inc
 * Trans Energy Inc
 * Triana Energy
 * Turm Oil
 * Ultra Petroleum Corp
 * Unit Corp
 * U.S. Energy Development Corp
 * Victory Energy Corporation
 * Vista Resources
 * Waco Oil and Gas
 * XTO Energy

Reported Leasing Land

 * Admiral Bay Resources, Inc
 * Adventure Energy, Inc
 * Alpha Natural Resources
 * Altima Resources Ltd
 * Citrus Energy
 * Continental Resources
 * Champlain Resources Inc
 * Dale Property Services Penn, LLC
 * Denex
 * D&L Energy Group
 * Duncan Land & Energy
 * ECCO Energy Corp.
 * Eclipse Resources
 * ElexCo Land Services Inc
 * Empire Energy USA LLC
 * Endeavour International Corp
 * Endless Mountain Energy LLC
 * Epic Energy Resources
 * Everest Exploration Co, LLC
 * GFI Oil & Gas
 * Great Lakes Energy Partners
 * Hall Drilling, LLC
 * Honor Resources Co
 * Hunt Oil USA Inc.
 * Inflection Energy LLC
 * J. Howard Bass & Associates
 * Keeton Group LLC
 * Knapp Acquisitions & Production, LLC
 * Kriebel Resources Co
 * Little Pine Resources
 * LLAMA Horizontal Drilling Technologies, Inc
 * Lodge Energy
 * Mason Dixon Energy Inc
 * Mesa Energy Holdings, Inc
 * Miller Energy Inc
 * Northeast Natural Energy
 * Northern Oil and Gas, Inc
 * PDC Mountaineer, LLC
 * Running Foxes Petroleum
 * Schreiner Oil & Gas, Inc
 * Stryker Energy
 * Sylvan Energy
 * Tenaska Resources, LLC
 * Texas Keystone
 * Unbridled Energy Corp
 * Vandalia Energy Partners
 * Vavco
 * Velocity Energy Inc
 * Westmont Resources Inc
 * WhitMar Exploration Co
 * William J. McIntire Coal, Oil and Gas Co
 * Zone Oil & Gas

Support Companies and Organizations

 * Aiello Bros. Oil and Gas Inc
 * Allegheny Ozone
 * Allied Technology
 * Appalachian Geophysical Services
 * AOP Clearwater
 * Aqua-Pure Ventures
 * Ashton Energy Group
 * Atlas Copco
 * Baker Hughes Oilfield Operations Inc
 * Basic Energy Services
 * BJ Services
 * Blue Sky Oilfield Services
 * Boyd Petrosearch
 * Bronco Drilling
 * Caiman Energy LLC
 * Capital City Energy Group, Inc
 * CGGVeritas
 * Columbia Gas Transmission
 * Complete Production Services Inc.
 * Conquest Seismic Services
 * Contractor Services of West Virginia
 * Dawson Geophysical Co
 * Delphi Midstream Partners, LLC
 * D & I Silica
 * Dominion Transmission Inc.
 * Dunn’s Tank Service
 * Ecosphere Technologies
 * El Paso Corporation
 * Energy and Minerals Group
 * Energy Services of America
 * Enterprise Products Partners LP
 * Equitrans Pipeline
 * ESG Solutions
 * Eureka Resources LLC
 * Evans Geophysical
 * Excel Geophysics
 * Express Energy Services
 * Expro
 * First American Spatial Solutions
 * Flint Energy Services
 * Flotek Industries, Inc
 * FMC Fluid Controls
 * Forbes Energy Services
 * Frac Biologics Inc
 * Frac Tech Services
 * GASFRAC Energy Services Inc
 * GasSearch Drilling Services Corporation
 * Geokinetics
 * GE Water & Process Technologies
 * Global Geophysical Services
 * GlobaLogix
 * Greenes Energy Group
 * Halliburton
 * Hart Resources Technology
 * Helmerich & Payne
 * Hotwell Services Inc
 * Inergy LP
 * JFK Oil Terminal
 * J-W Operating
 * Keystone Midstream Services
 * Kinder Morgan Energy Partners
 * K&L Gates
 * Laser Marcellus Gathering Co
 * Laurel Mountain Midstream LLC
 * Lufkin Industries Inc
 * M3 Midstream LLC
 * Mark West Energy
 * MarkWest Liberty Midstream and Resources
 * McJunkin Red Man Corp
 * MicroSeismic, Inc
 * Millennium Pipeline
 * National Oilwell Varco
 * NGInnovations Inc
 * NGP Midstream & Resources LP
 * NiSource
 * Object Reservoir, Inc
 * OMNI Energy Services Corp
 * Patterson-UTI Energy
 * Pioneer Drilling Co
 * Precision Drilling Trust
 * Pritchard Capital Partners
 * Prochemtech
 * PUMPCO Energy Services, Inc
 * Rain for Rent
 * Reserved Environmental Services
 * RigData
 * RigNet Inc
 * Schlumberger
 * Spectra Energy
 * Stallion Oilfield Services Ltd
 * Stream-Flo Industries Ltd
 * Superior Appalachian Pipeline LLC
 * Superior Well Services, Inc.
 * Targa Resources Inc
 * TerrAqua Resource Management
 * Trican Well Service Ltd
 * Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.
 * UGI Corporation
 * Union Drilling Inc
 * Universal Well Services
 * Valerus Compression Service
 * Weatherford International
 * West Penn Energy Services LLC
 * Welltec
 * Wescorp Energy
 * Williams Partners LP
 * Williams Transco
 * Wrangler Resources
 * Ziegenfuss Drilling
 * Zoom Resources

Environmental and Non-governmental Orgainzations

 * Allegheny Defense Project
 * American Clean Skies Foundation
 * Catskill Mountainkeeper
 * Damascus Citizens for Sustainability
 * Delaware Riverkeeper Network
 * Environmental Advocates of New York
 * Lower Delaware River Wild and Scenic Management Committee
 * Oil And Gas Accountability Project
 * PennEnvironment
 * PennFuture
 * Public Lands at Environmental Working Group
 * Riverkeeper Inc.
 * Trout Unlimited
 * West Virginia Highlands Conservancy

Industry Organizations

 * Appalachia Shale Water Conservation and Management Committee
 * Energy In Depth - Northeast Marcellus Initiative
 * FracFocus
 * Gas Technology Institute
 * Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York
 * Independent Oil and Gas Association of Pennsylvania
 * Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia
 * Keystone Energy Forum
 * Marcellus Shale Coalition
 * Michigan Oil and Gas Association
 * Ohio Oil and Gas Association
 * Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association
 * Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Association
 * Quebec Oil and Gas Association
 * West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association

Engineering and Environmental Consultants

 * Environmental Noise Control
 * Princeton Hydro
 * RETTEW
 * Tetra Tech Inc

Governmental Organizations

 * Delaware River Basin Commission
 * Maryland Department of the Environment
 * Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
 * Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment
 * Morgantown Energy Technology Center (DOE)
 * New York City Department of Environmental Protection
 * New York Department of Environmental Conservation
 * New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
 * Ohio Division of Mineral Resources Management
 * Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
 * Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
 * Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
 * Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission
 * Pennsylvania Geological Survey
 * Ressources naturelles et Faune Québec
 * Susquehanna River Basin Commission
 * West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection

Landholders & Landowners' Groups

 * Allegheny National Forest
 * National Association of Royalty Owners
 * West Virginia Surface Owners' Rights Organization

Landowners' Coalitions

 * CNY
 * Joint of NY
 * Twin Tiers

Landowners' Services

 * Advance Royalty Solutions
 * Anthem Exploration & Production
 * Phillips Energy Partners

Universities And Research Institutes

 * Carnegie Mellon Univ. - Ctr. for Water Quality in Urban Environmental Systems (WaterQUEST)
 * Cornell Cooperative Extension
 * Keystone College - GATES Program
 * Lackawanna College - Gas Technology Program
 * Pennsylvania College of Technology
 * Penn State
 * Cooperative Extension - Natural Gas Impacts
 * Dept. of Energy and Mineral Engineering
 * Dickinson School of Law - Agricultural Law Resource and Reference Center
 * Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research
 * SUNY Fredonia Shale Research Institute
 * Univ. of Pittsburgh at Bradford- The Energy Institute
 * Westmoreland County Community College - Shalenet
 * Wilkes University Center for Environmental Quality

Gas Industry Publications

 * Marcellus Quarterly (MQ)
 * Platts Oilgram News
 * Rigzone

Broadcasts

 * American Entrepreneur
 * Drill'N Man

Consulting Organizations

 * Appalachian Producer Services
 * Bentek Energy
 * Cambridge Energy Research Associates
 * Charles Ryan Associates
 * Farnham & Associates, Inc
 * Mike Hogan
 * Navigant Consulting
 * Tristone Capital
 * Wood Mackenzie

Online/Social Networking Resources

 * Facebook Marcellus Shale Group
 * GoMarcellusShale.com
 * Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania - Gas Well Locations
 * MineralPlace.com
 * Pagaslease.com - Natural Gas Leasing Forum For Landowners

Blogs

 * Clean Water
 * Drill'N Man
 * Energy In Depth
 * Facts of the Day
 * Flowback
 * Fractracker
 * Haynesville Play
 * MarcellusFacts.com
 * Marcellus Shale Formation
 * PA Shale Gas Blog
 * Shale Environmental Technology Review
 * The Marcellus Effect
 * MSC Newsroom

Professional Organizations

 * Pennsylvania Council of Professional Geologists
 * Pittsburgh Geological Society

Utica Shale (US)
The Utica shale is located in central New York State and stretches north to the Province of Quebec, Canada. There is far less heard about it than the Marcellus shale, because the latter is a much larger formation stretching across several states.

Companies Actively Drilling

 * Altai Resources Inc
 * Canadian Quantum Energy
 * Canbriam Energy
 * Chesapeake Energy
 * CONSOL Energy Inc
 * Covalent Energy
 * Eloro Resources
 * EnCana Corp
 * Epsilon Energy Ltd
 * EQT Corporation
 * EV Energy Partners
 * Forest Oil Corporation
 * Gastem
 * Greencastle Resources
 * David Hill Inc
 * Junex Inc
 * Les Mines J.A.G
 * Molopo Australia
 * New York Shale Gas
 * Petrolia
 * Petrolympic
 * Petoskey Exploration LLC
 * Questerre Energy Corporation
 * Range Resources
 * Ressources et Énergie Squatex Inc
 * RJK Explorations
 * Talisman Energy Inc
 * Total E and P USA, Inc
 * Utica Energy

Reported Leasing Land

 * Atlas Energy
 * BreitBurn Energy Partners LP
 * DRGN Energy Inc
 * Empire Energy USA LLC
 * EV Energy Partners
 * Gulfport Energy Corp
 * J.A.G. Mines Ltd
 * MOLOPO Energy Limited
 * Mooncor Oil & Gas Corp
 * New York Shale Gas
 * O.I.L. Niagaran LLC
 * TransAmerican Energy Inc
 * X-Terra Resources Corp

Support Companies and Organizations

 * Kinetex

Huron Shale (HS)
The Huron shale is a play spanning the tri-state area of Southern West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky and Western Virginia. It is shallower than the Marcellus shale at the 4000 or 5000 feet level. Most of the wells in this formation are horizontal ones.

Companies Actively Drilling

 * Alamo Energy Corp
 * Blue Flame Energy Corp
 * CDX Gas
 * EQT Corporation
 * EXCO Resources, Inc
 * Penn Virginia Corporation
 * RAM Energy Resources
 * Range Resources
 * Unbridled Energy Corp

Reported Leasing Land

 * Alamo Energy Corp
 * CONSOL Energy Inc
 * Cabot Oil and Gas Corp
 * Chesapeake Energy
 * Continental Resources
 * Magnum Hunter Resources Corp

North Carolina shales
North Carolina's shale formations including the Dan River Basin and the Deep River Basin of Central North Carolina are so far virtually untapped, but may hold reservoirs capable of eventual commercial gas production.