Marcellus gas production rising fast in Pa., W.Va.

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Marcellus Shale natural- gas production is rising even faster this year than energy experts had predicted, and that’s having a national impact on energy.

Bentek, a Colorado company that analyzes energy trends, said 2013 production in Pennsylvania and West Virginia is up about 50 percent compared with last year. Figures for the pipelines that take gas out of the Marcellus show that in the first six months of the year, Pennsylvania produced about 1.5 trillion cubic feet of gas, with projections for a year-end total of about 3.2 trillion cubic feet.

That yearly number translates into the equivalent of about 550 million barrels of oil.

The official mid-2013 production figures for Pennsylvania and West Virginia haven’t been released yet by those states, but Bentek’s figures are considered very reliable by government and industry sources.

Marcellus production this year “has definitely outpaced our expectations,” said Diana Oswald, a Bentek energy analyst, and it’s changing long-established national energy trends.

Marcellus gas is “actually starting to displace” production from the Gulf of Mexico in places, Oswald said.