GOOD PRACTICES IN MARCELLUS SHALE DRILLING: CREATION AND ANALYSIS OF A GAS LEASE DATABASE USING GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGIES

摘要

Marcellus shale has the potential to be a local source of clean natural gas in northeast Pennsylvania. Estimates are such that production from Marcellus shale and other similar gas producing areas in other states will yield natural gas to meet the demands in the United States for the next 80 to 100 years. Many producers are operating in Pennsylvania today to tap into this natural resource and land owners are leasing their land to these companies to drill on their property. While Marcellus shale drilling permits are being monitored, recorded, and openly published by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP), there has not been a spatial lease database in existence for most of the counties in the region. The paper describes the process of creating a lease database for the Luzerne County Mapping Department that contains all lease and spatial infdrmation that can be viewed on-the-fly and that can be automatically updated. The newly created ArcGIS~®-compatible database will assist in the creation of a map layout indicating the current leases for Marcellus shale gas drilling for Luzerne County, PA.