DEP adds disclaimer to drilling production data

PITTSBURGH — The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has added a disclaimer to its Marcellus Shale natural gas reporting webpage.

The agency now tells visitors to the website that it can’t guarantee the “accuracy, completeness or timeliness” of production data that companies submit.

The change came after several experts in the oil and gas industry criticized DEP in August for not clearly telling the public that one of the state’s largest natural gas producers submitted unusable data for a biannual report. As a result, the statewide production totals at first appeared to be far lower than they actually were.

A DEP spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about the change.

In most states companies report production every month, but Pennsylvania law only requires biannual reporting.

Here's the Post-Gazette's story from August about Chesapeake Energy Corp. failing to properly submit its production figures, and DEP posting the six-month data without indicating that a major producer was not included.