Marcellus Shale pipeline gets nod

• Tweet

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Federal regulators said they approved of a pipeline network that would carry natural gas from the Marcellus Shale play through East Coast states.

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gave approval for the Northeast Supply Diversification Project. The project includes a pipeline loop of approximately 7 miles in Pennsylvania and compressors and other infrastructure associated with the project in New York state.

The U.S. Geological Survey said its survey of the Marcellus Shale deposit in the Appalachian Basin, published in August, finds significantly more gas than a review in 2002.

The USGS said it the shale deposit contains roughly 84 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas and 3.4 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas liquids.

The USGS said nearly every well drilled in the Marcellus Shale formation since the 1930s uncovered "noticeable quantities" of natural gas.