Industry groups: Ohio's Marcellus, Utica shale deposit are prolific wet gas fields

COLUMBUS — Marcellus and Utica shale deposits in eastern Ohio and Pennsylvania are poised to become the most prolific natural-gas liquids production fields in existence, energy industry groups told an audience near the Statehouse this week.

“This is one of the most ethane-rich plays I’ve ever seen in the world,” said Greg Davis, vice president of marketing at Range Resources Corp., which has been active in the Pennsylvania Marcellus region. “Some of our wells are up to 18 [percent], 20 percent ethane out of the ground. ... We’re talking about 500,000 barrels a day including ethane out of this play by 2018. That’s an enormous number.”

Questions remain about the boundaries of the best-producing areas, the ability to process and transport the resulting natural-gas liquids to market, and ways to reduce production costs to boost profits.

But Davis indicated such questions could be resolved over time, and there’s much economic potential for the region’s natural gas.

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