A rock layer below the Marcellus Shale could prove to be another incredible source of natural gas.
The Marcellus Shale captured public attention when leasing and drilling activities began pumping billions of dollars into local economies and citizens began debating the environmental, social and economic impacts. All of this began suddenly in 2004 when Range Resources Corporation drilled the first Marcellus well using modern drilling technology.
Now, just a few years later, the Marcellus Shale is being developed into one of the world's largest natural gas fields. However, what we are seeing today from the Marcellus is only the first step in a sequence of natural gas plays. The second step is starting in the Utica Shale.
Having grown up looking at the stratigraphic section of New York, the one thing you can say about the Utica Shale is that it is mostly a well oxygenated deposit, an accumulation in which oxygen burns organic matter during its deposition. Unlike the Marcellus shale (black reflecting high organic content), the Utica shale is mostly brownish. While the appearance of the Utica shale suggests low organic content, it remains to be seen what measured total organic content (TOC) is.
For the sake of our country, it would be better if the potential production from the Utica shale were in the oil rather than gas window.
