Ithaca College

Lou Allstadt and Chip Northrup, analysts of drilling technologies and the economics of the gas industry, along with Jerry Acton, a systems engineer, and geologist Brian Brock, will give a free presentation titled “Marcellus and Utica Shale Gas Potential in New York State”.  This event will take place TONIGHT at 7:00 pm in Hollister Hall Auditorium (Room B-14), 4 Central Avenue, Cornell University. The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Anthony Ingraffea, professor of engineering at Cornell University. This event is free and open to the public.  

Having studied 5 years of shale gas production records from Pennsylvania and test wells in N.Y., the team has compiled enough information from public and industry sources to confidently address where the Marcellus and Utica could be productive for drilling in New York, given current technology and economic conditions.  And just as importantly, they predict where it is unlikely to be economically productive. In this event, the team will publicly report their findings.

Since 2008, when the gas industry began drilling exploration wells in the Marcellus and Utica shale, landowners, elected officials, concerned citizens, and planners have been wondering, “how much gas is there?”  Estimates of the amount of retrievable methane gas in New York have varied widely and changed over the years as more information became available.   The N.Y. Department of Environmental Conservation gives the estimate a very wide range (between 40 and 237 trillion cubic feet) for the amount of gas in New York’s Marcellus. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates 84 TCF for the whole Marcellus region, which spreads across four states.  

Research by the presenters on this hot-button issue considered many perspectives, including geology, actual production records, leasing patterns, test well results, analogous trends in other shale gas regions around the U.S., economics, state and local restrictions on drilling, the role of financial institutions, and more.

PRESENTERS
Jerry Acton, B.S. from U.S. Naval Academy; Former Systems Engineer at Lockheed Martin.
Lou Allstadt, M.B.A. Columbia; B.S. U.S. Merchant Marine Academy; Retired, Executive Vice President Mobil Oil Corporation for Exploration and Producing, U.S., Canada and Latin America.
Brian Brock, Retired geologist who has done work for the U.S. Geological Survey and New York Geological Survey.
James “Chip” Northrup, MBA Wharton; retired, oil and gas investor and former planning manager at Atlantic Richfield.

CO-SPONSORS
Tompkins County Council of Governments; Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County; Tompkins County League of Women Voters; Cornell Sustainability Hub; Sustainability at Ithaca College; Ithaca First Presbyterian Committee on Justice; Peace and Integrity of Creation; FracTracker Alliance.