WHEELING, W.Va. -- A Norwegian company partnering with Chesapeake Energy says it could drill as many as 17,000 natural gas wells in the Marcellus Shale field over the next 20 years.
Statoil ASA of Oslo made the prediction on its website. The company holds a 32.5 percent interest in Chesapeake Energy's holdings in West Virginia's Northern Panhandle.
The Intelligencer of Wheeling said the agreement between the two companies covers 1.8 million acres and more than 32,000 leases in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio.
Gas drillers in those states are rushing to tap the vast reserves, and legislators are wrangling over how to best regulate and monitor the horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies such wells require.
Statoil also has a new deal with MarkWest Liberty to process liquids at its Majorsville complex in Marshall County. MarkWest transports ethane, propane, butane and pentanes by pipeline to a storage site in Houston, Pa.
President Frank Semple said MarkWest is close to completing a second processing plant and could build a third.
Other companies are also cashing in on the modern-day gold rush.
WHEELING, W.Va. -- A Norwegian company partnering with Chesapeake Energy says it could drill as many as 17,000 natural gas wells in the Marcellus Shale field over the next 20 years.
Statoil ASA of Oslo made the prediction on its website. The company holds a 32.5 percent interest in Chesapeake Energy's holdings in West Virginia's Northern Panhandle.
The Intelligencer of Wheeling said the agreement between the two companies covers 1.8 million acres and more than 32,000 leases in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio.
Gas drillers in those states are rushing to tap the vast reserves, and legislators are wrangling over how to best regulate and monitor the horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies such wells require.
Statoil also has a new deal with MarkWest Liberty to process liquids at its Majorsville complex in Marshall County. MarkWest transports ethane, propane, butane and pentanes by pipeline to a storage site in Houston, Pa.
President Frank Semple said MarkWest is close to completing a second processing plant and could build a third.
Other companies are also cashing in on the modern-day gold rush.
Texas-based Caiman Energy is building a 25-mile pipeline to carry natural gas byproducts from a plant near Moundsville to a facility under construction just north of the Marshall-Wetzel county line.
And Dominion Transmission has announced plans for a Marshall County processing plant on land now owned by PPG Industries.
To help people land jobs in the rapidly growing industry, West Virginia Northern Community College will soon offer training classes.
Courses at the New Martinsville campus will target potential deck hands, roustabouts, welders and truck drivers, said J. Michael Koon, vice president of economic and work force development. Informational meetings should begin in April.
"We need to get people in on the entry level so they can get some experience," Koon said.
Chesapeake's chief executive has complained about problems finding skilled workers in West Virginia, and local union leaders and legislators have pushed the gas companies to hire locally.
"This can be an upgrade to everyone's economy," said Dave Knuth, president of the Marshall County Chamber of Commerce. "Look at what the oil rush did for Dallas and all of Texas."
