Abstract

Marcellus Shale Gas Pipeline Routing
Track: Petroleum
Authors: Tony Yates

The Marcellus Shale formation is the largest domestic formation of natural gas and with the process called fracking, the gases can be extracted and used to reduce the need for imported oil. The Marcellus Shale formation is only present in the Northeast US covering most of the western half of PA. The process of selecting a site to create a well pad for the extraction of the natural gases utilizes GIS to aide in the decision. In addition to using GIS to select the pad sites, GIS has been utilized to select the route for which the natural gases will be directed once they are extracted from the shale formations, and also to help in the monitoring of the surrounding environment to make sure there are no pollutants being spread.