By Samuel Speciale
Charleston Daily Mail
A shale formation that runs through portions of West Virginia and neighboring Appalachian states has more recoverable natural gas reserves than initially estimated, a new study released on Tuesday has found.
Release of the findings comes one day after industry officials announced that natural gas has surpassed coal as the nation's top source of electricity, a development made possible by years of investment in gas extraction and the passage of costly federal regulations that require coal-fired power plants to reduce their planet-warming carbon emissions.
The two-year study, led by West Virginia University, found evidence that the Utica Shale, which spans from New York to Kentucky and includes portions of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio, is much larger than predicted, holding recoverable resources that could rival those found in the Marcellus Shale, the largest shale oil and gas reserve in the country and second largest in the world.
Study findings, compiled by the Appalachian Oil and Natural Gas Research Consortium, an offshoot of the National Research Center for Coal and Energy in Morgantown, estimate that the Utica Shale holds 782 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and nearly 2 billion barrels of oil, reserves one researcher said will likely push forward the "shale revolution."
READ REST OF STORY Study finds natural gas reserves in Appalachia larger than estimated By Samuel Speciale for the Charleston Daily Mail.
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