UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Reservoirs of natural gas in the Utica Shale formation will be the focus of a free, Web-based seminar offered by Penn State Extensionat 2:30 p.m. April 24.

“Utica Reservoirs” is part of Penn State’s monthly series of one-hour webinars.

Different from Marcellus

According to presenter Mike Arthur, Penn State professor of geosciences and co-director of the Penn State Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research, the Utica Shale is the next “big” natural gas play in the Appalachian Basin.

“The Utica Shale has both advantages and disadvantages in comparison to the Marcellus Shale play,” he said.

“The Utica Shale and equivalents underlie an even larger area than the Marcellus Shale, but over much of the Appalachian Basin of Pennsylvania, the Utica Shale is deeply buried, overmature and generally not prospective for significant hydrocarbon production.”

However, to the west — mainly the eastern half of Ohio — the Utica Shale is at the critical depth to yield natural gas, liquids and oil, according to Arthur. “In that regard, the Utica Shale is presently of more interest than the Marcellus Shale because of favorable economic returns,” he said.

“This webinar will outline the geology of the Utica Shale as hydrocarbon source and reservoir, provide estimates for hydrocarbon reserves of different types, and discuss the anticipated development of this resource and its implications for regional economic and environmental impacts.”

Webinar series

Presented by Penn State Extension’s Marcellus Education Team, the monthly natural-gas webinars usually are offered from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursdays. Upcoming webinars will cover the following topics:

May 16: Shale Energy Development’s Effect on the Posting, Bonding and Maintenance of Roads in Rural Pennsylvania — Mark Gaines, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Bureau of Maintenance, Operations and Roadway Management, and Tim Ziegler, Penn State Larson Transportation Institute, Center for Dirt and Gravel Road Studies.

June 20: Royalty Calculations for Natural Gas from Shale — Jim Ladlee, associate director, Penn State Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research.

Previous webinars, publications and information also are available on the Penn State Extension natural-gas website (http://extension.psu.edu/naturalgas)

Registration for this webinar is not necessary, and all are welcome to participate by logging into https://meeting.psu.edu/pscems. For more information, contact Carol Loveland at 570-320-4429.