Marcellus and Utica shales attract more gas processing infrastructure

J. Stell, Contributing Writer Of all the US states containing shale plays, Pennsylvania and West Virginia have reported the largest net increases in natural gas proven reserves. There, gas production continues to increase, driven by the continued development of the Marcellus shale play. The Marcellus became the largest US shale gas play in 2012, and it continues to hold that designation based on proven reserves (see Table 1). Gas production from the Marcellus shale, now supplemented with follow-on supply from the Utica shale, is creating the need for more processing capacity to extract and fractionate NGL to move the hydrocarbons throughout the region, and between the producing areas and