Gas Pains: Technical & Operational Challenges in Developing the Marcellus Shale Development of the Marcellus Shale poses unique technical and operational challenges for industry—challenges that must be overcome for extraction of the formation’s natural gas reserves to be economical, said William Ottaviani, chief operating office of Rex Energy Corporation. “While the Marcellus Shale has been known to exist for years, its commercial development is relatively new, so the industry is still going through a learning curve on how best to capitalize on this opportunity,” Ottaviani said. “When you superimpose development of a high potential, unconventional natural gas play like the Marcellus Shale on an area better suited to smaller scale operations, challenges do arise.” Ottaviani will discuss those challenges and some of the current efforts used to mitigate them in this talk, part of the 2009 EarthTalks Spring Colloquium Series on “The Marcellus Shale Play: Boon or Burden?” (Javascript is required to view Mediasite content)