Shale gas was first extracted as a resource in Fredonia, NY in 1821.ĥ. The gas is a mixture consisting primarily of methane and minor amounts of ethane, propane, butane, carbon dioxide, nitrogen and hydrogen sulfide, among others. The gas is trapped by adsorption onto insoluble organic matter in the shale and within tiny pore spaces or micro-fractures within the shale. Shale gas is natural gas formed and trapped within shale formations. The Hartford basin has no physical connection or geologic relationship with the Marcellus or Utica shales found in New York or Pennsylvania. The Hartford Basin, which underlies the Connecticut Valley, was NOT one of the basins assessed in this report. The USGS report assessed potential shale gas volumes for 5 of the 14 Mesozoic extensional basins (see below) in the eastern United States. The USGS did NOT quantitatively assess the Hartford basin because of a lack of data. It does NOT mean that oil and gas has been discovered and is ready for production. TPS is just a term that means the essential elements (ie., source rock for hydrocarbon production, reservoir rocks to store hydrocarbons, and seal rock to trap the migrating hydrocarbon) are potentially present and processes (ie., to generate hydrocarbons through burial, to migrate hydrocarbon into reservoir rocks and to accumulate hydrocarbon in traps or as residual hydrocarbon in the black shales) may have occurred. The USGS Fact Sheet refers to the Hartford basin as a “composite total petroleum system” (TPS) with a potential to produce gas from the black shale deposits, which are referred to by the USGS in their report as “continuous gas accumulations”. However, as stated above, due to geologic limitations there is no prospect of extraction of hydrocarbon from the Hartford basin in the foreseeable future. There is sufficient information in previously published geologic literature to demonstrate that hydrocarbons were generated in the Hartford basin roughly 200 million years ago (Pratt et al., 1988). This is a common misconception of USGS Fact Sheet 2012-3075. Weren’t shale gas deposits recently found in Massachusetts by the U.S. Class 2 wells are currently prohibited in the Commonwealth.ģ. In addition, oil and gas wells used for conventional or enhanced hydrocarbon recovery are defined as Class 2 wells under the Massachusetts Underground Injection Control Regulations (310 CMR 27.00). However, more data need to be collected to completely rule out that possibility. This makes extraction of hydrocarbons economically not feasible with today’s technology at current market prices (see below). Black shale units in the Hartford Basin are generally too thin, laterally discontinuous, and are cut by too many pre-existing natural fractures and extinct faults. Based on a survey of all available scientific data, the geologic conditions in the Connecticut Valley in western Massachusetts are not optimum for shale gas development. Is hydraulic fracturing for shale gas coming to Massachusetts? All well drillers are required to be certified by regulation with MADEP before they are allowed to drill any wells in Massachusetts.Ģ. In addition, to our knowledge no well driller has requested certification (310 CMR 46.00) from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MADEP) to drill any well within Massachusetts other than water, monitoring, and geothermal wells. To our knowledge, no companies have expressed any interest in exploring for or developing shale gas in Massachusetts. Has there been any interest in exploring for shale gas in Massachusetts? The Massachusetts Geological Survey provides these links as a convenience to Massachusetts residents these listings should not be taken as endorsements.ġ. Useful resources about shale gas and hydraulic fracturing (last updated )
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