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re: "Gas & Marcellus Shale"

Two articles from Wellsville Daily Reporter are recorded here for posterity. Thanks to Kathryn Ross for writing these and the Editorial/Managing Staff for publishing...

WELLSVILLE -

What is the Crandall Farm Blowout?

By Kathryn Ross

Daily Reporter

Fri Aug 08, 2008, 01:49 PM EDT

Photo By Courtesy Ron Taylor (NOTE: Photo actually from daughter of Karney Cochran).rt

In April 1940 a gas well in Independence blew for nearly three weeks and may have a direct link to the Marcellus Shale formation. The above photo shows roughnecks attempting to shut down the well included in the gang is Karney Cochran who became a leading oil producer.

In 1940, before the United States was swept into World War II, many of the young men found work or treasure, in some cases, in the oil and gas fields in the southern hills of Allegany County. The area was in what has historically become known as the second oil boom, when the oil left in the ground following the first oil boom at the turn of the century was being retrieved through the use of pressurized water.
It was in that atmosphere on April 3, 1940, that the ground exploded capturing the attention of gas and oil drillers for nearly three weeks and perhaps, as suggested by Penn State geologist Terry Engelder, having an impact today, on the future of Allegany County’s struggling economy.
Thanks to historian Ron Taylor, the following story was gleaned from the pages of several issues of the “Andover News”:
April 9 — “The Empire Gas company’s deep well on the S.B. Crandall farm in Independence blew in late Wednesday (April 10, 1940) afternoon after drilling had been discontinued to put in casing.
A little over 4,800 feet, a good showing of gas was found and the driller decided to stop until the well was cased, the well blew itself in about 5:30 in the afternoon and has continued to increase in gas pressure since.
Estimates on the well vary from 35 to 65 million feet.”
April 18 — The Empire Gas and Fuel company’s big gas well on the S.B. Crandall farm in Independence is still running wild , with millions of feet of gas shooting into the air daily.....
For about 40 minutes Sunday (April 14, 1940) afternoon workmen had the well practically entirely shut in when suddenly the gas and jelly (a combination of concrete, fiber-tex and jelly used to seal the hole) broke out thru three shallow wells nearby, then came thru nearby water wells and finally the gas bubbled thru the ground in a number of places within a radius of several hundred feet around the well. “
The article goes on to relate that salt water from the well was deposited on windows three miles away, the trees nearby were white with salt and that several families had to vacate their homes. Syrup made on another farm tasted so strong of salt it could not be used. The articles also tell of craters breaking through the ground and spewing gas and how vehicles were pushed from the site before being started to avoid explosions.
The well continued to blow for three weeks and was finally brought under control on April 23, 1940.
When the well was reopened on May 8, 1940, it was reported at 1,600,000 cubic feet of gas with a rock pressure of 1,600 pounds.
Wednesday Engelder said that in his 45 minute talk and slide show presentation Monday night, he plans to examine paragraphs from those old stories to prove why he believes there is a direct link between the Crandall farm well and why it effects Wellsville today.
“I’m going to make the case that the Marcellus gas blew out the well and why that matters nearly 75 years later,” he said.
“This is real and a long held dream of mine to use my knowledge of geology to help the people in Allegany County,” he said.
For the last 30 years Engelder has studied the Marcellus Shale deposit, which stretches from western New York into West Virginia, and in January he, along with Gary Lash, a geology professor at the State University of New York at Fredonia, determined the Marcellus Shale formation has about 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and labeled it, “a super giant gas field,” which runs right under Allegany County.

Marcellus Shale, an Allegany County Gold Mine?

By Kathryn Ross

Daily Reporter

Fri Aug 08, 2008, 01:56 PM EDT

WELLSVILLE -

(Photo provided)

Former Wellsville man Terry Engelder, a geoscience professor at Pennsylvania State University and a leading authority on Marcellus Shale, will discuss how retrieving gas from the formation could impact the area’s economy. The talk will take place at 7 p.m. Monday at the David A. Howe Library.

The high cost of energy has fueled claims of economic growth stemming from the recoverable gas trapped in the Marcellus Shale formation, and one of the leaders in the field, Terry Engelder, formerly of Wellsville, will discuss the potential for that growth in Wellsville next week.
Engelder will be in Wellsville 7 p.m. Monday at the David A. Howe library to give a public presentation on the possibility of economic growth based on the development of the area’s natural gas reserves courtesy of the Wellsville Citizens for Responsible Development. There will also be a discussion of an approach which could make Allegany County more appealing to the energy companies and could result in increased tax revenues, employment and cheap fuel to the area, according to the WC-RD.
Engelder gives the title of his talk as “The Crandall Farm Blowout in 1940 and Why It Matters Nearly 7O years Later.”
In January, Engelder, a geoscience professor at Pennsylvania State University, in State College, Pa., and Gary Lash, a geology professor at the State University of New York at Fredonia told the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in San Antonio, Texas that the West Virginia to New York Marcellus Shale formation has around 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and that they think that around 10 percent of the gas is recoverable. They had determined this after 30 years of research.
It has been estimated that providing 50 trillion cubic feet of gas would meet the US demands for two years and Engelder estimates that amount of gas would have a years wellhead value of about one trillion dollars according to a Penn State publication.
Geologically, Marcellus Shale is a type of rock formation containing extractable natural gas and is a type of shale which exists only in the Appalachian region which runs from West Virginia through Western Pennsylvania into upstate (western) New York and parts of Ohio. It is a sedimentary rock formed from marine deposits. Named for an outcropping located near the village of Marcellus, it is buried more nearly a mile beneath the surface, or more than 5,280 feet.
“Marcellus Shale has always been known to have obtainable natural gas,” according to local geologist Art VanTyne, who said as recently as last month that the old oil and gas producers retrieved only a small fraction of the oil and gas from this area, but, that high oil prices and newer drilling technology have made retrieving it more feasible and affordable. “There’s a lot of difference between drilling when a barrel of oil costs only $35 than when it costs $140.”
From Texas to New York, Engelder and Lash have gone on record stating the Marcellus shale conservatively contains 168 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in place, but that the figure might be as high as 516 trillion cubic feet. Statistically the United States, Canada, and Mexico combined currently produce roughly 30 trillion cubic feet of gas annually. Engelder has said the technology exists to recover 50 trillion cubic feet of gas just from the Marcellus, shale making it a super giant gas field.
Engelder, who is known as one of the leading authorities on Marcellus Shale, whet his geological curiosity on the oil and gas fields of this county according to VanTyne who has known the Wellsville native for many years.
“He was a curious teenager with a real interest in geology early on,” VanTyne said.
Engelder took that curiosity from the hills of Allegany County and the halls of Wellsville High School to Columbia and eventually to Penn State where he earned a bachelor’s degree in science in 1968 and eventually a master’s degree from Yale and a PhD from Texas A&M.
Engelder and Lash have formed Appalachian Fracture Systems Inc., a consulting firm for petroleum engineers, landowners and investors based on their Marcellus Shale research. They further advise landowners who are “making decisions on leasing the mineral rights of their land,” according to the Penn State website.
Currently, independent oil and gas developers have approached local landowners concerning leasing land for oil and gas exploration, and there is a decision pending with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation concerning a variance request from East Resources Inc., of Pennsylvania to drilling regulations pertaining to shallow (less than 2,000 feet) oil and gas production in the 20,000 acre Fulmer Valley and Whitesville field.