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US to cut estimate of Marcellus Shale gas reserves

A Pennsylvania gas well.  fracking drilling
Gerry Dincher
/
Flickr/Creative Commons

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Energy Department says it will reduce its estimate of undiscovered natural gas in New York, Pennsylvania and other states following a new report by the U.S. Geological Survey.

The USGS report, released Tuesday, estimates that the Marcellus Shale region contains some 84 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, recoverable natural gas. That is far more than geologists had thought nearly a decade ago, but far below a recent projection by the Energy Department.

A spokesman for the Energy Information Administration says the USGS report supersedes a report last month by the energy agency.

That report projected about 410 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves in the eight-state region, which stretches from New York to Tennessee.

The Energy Department decision was first reported by Bloomberg News.

Stories from the Associated Press.