Natural gas reserve extends beneath Bucks County

The United States Geological Survey’s new estimates of gas deposits in the Northeast indicate the South Newark Basin has the third-highest amount of untapped reserves of natural gas on the East Coast.

Those qualifiers, “untapped,” and “on the East Coast” are important. The formation runs under Bucks County, but any prospects for gas drilling in Levittown are, at best, speculation. “There’s a possibility [for drilling] in a lot of places,” says Dan Weaver, of the Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association. “In Pennsylvania, alone, there’s already 27 different rock formations that will produce oil and natural gas somewhere. That doesn’t mean they’ll produce it in large enough quantities to make it a commercial venture to go after.”Weaver says the dense population of the region, north of Philadelphia, also makes it difficult to imagine large-scale extraction.

One company, Turm Oil, has requested a permit for an exploratory well in Nockamixon Township.