The natural gas storage report from the EIA for the week ending March 5th indicated that the amount of natural gas held in underground storage in the US fell by 52 billion cubic feet to 1,793 billion cubic feet by the end of the week, which left our gas supplies 257 billion cubic feet, or 12.5% below the 2,050 billion cubic feet that were in storage on March 5th of last year, and 141 billion cubic feet, or 7.3% below the five-year average of 1,934 billion cubic feet of natural gas that have been in storage as of the 5th of March in recent years..the 52 billion cubic feet that were drawn out of US natural gas storage this week was less than the average forecast of a 65 billion cubic foot withdrawal from an S&P Global Platts survey of analysts, and was also less than 72 billion cubic foot withdrawal from natural gas storage seen during the corresponding week of a year earlier, and less than the average withdrawal of 89 billion cubic feet of natural gas that have been pulled out of nat
A decision last week by the Delaware River Basin Commission would ban fracking through the Delaware River watershed, including Berks County.
There had been a temporary moratorium instituted in 2010, but that was recently challenged in court. The ban is also likely to face legal challenges.
Also last week, the commission voted unanimously to develop regulations for the management of drilling wastewater coming into the watershed and for water being taken out of the watershed for use in drilling operations. The proposed wastewater regulations are to be available by Sept. 30.
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Hydraulic fracturing, called fracking, is an oil and gas well development process that typically involves injecting water, sand and chemicals under high pressure deep into a bedrock formation to free natural gas trapped in rock formations like shale.