Experts: Flat Gas Prices Won’t Slow Local Drilling Boom

Marcellus Shale natural gas industry experts said current flat gas prices likely won’t slow the local drilling boom in the northern Alleghenies, at a luncheon in Centre County on Tuesday afternoon.

More than 300 business owners and local officials attended the Chamber of Business and Industry of Centre County luncheon at the Penn Stater conference center.

C.B.I.C.C. officials told WJAC-TV that the drilling boom is one of the hottest topics in West-Central Pennsylvania and said it was the first chamber event that sold out in more than five years.

The general manager of Williams, a natural gas corporation based in Oklahoma, told WJAC-TV that the increase in drilling activity in Centre, Clearfield, Elk, Cameron and Jefferson counties has led to hundreds of new jobs through local contracting companies.

“You’ve probably has pretty steady job losses in a lot of these communities and now all of a sudden, there’s really an opportunity to create some good, well-paying jobs,” said Ryan Savage. “I think it’s really important. I’m sure if you ask folks locally, most of them would say that it’s critical, we ought to keep our kids here.”

Since Anadarko drilled its first well in Centre County in 2008, officials say that they’ve been adjusting daily operations to reduce the amount of truck traffic required to operate wells on rural pads.

“We can create a water impoundment or porta-dam, but most of all, we’re piping the water from streams and rivers directly to the water impoundments and therefore eliminate truck traffic,” said Anadarko Government Relations advisor Mary Wolf.

Despite a flat demand for natural gas and a slight dip in prices nationwide, Penn State Marcellus Outreach and Research Center officials said that drilling companies are looking long-term and exploration will continue to increase in the Northern Alleghenies.

“We’re seeing more industries that are looking at a predictable gas prices in the long-term,” said co-director Tom Murphy. “Long term, meaning looking at five, maybe ten years and that is increasing the demand and interest from some of those companies to locate facilities where they can utilize that same gas.”