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EXPLAINER | Shell: One of World's Oldest Oil Companies Shifts Its Focus To Gas
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Shell: One of World's Oldest Oil Companies Shifts Its Focus To Gas

Scott Detrow / StateImpact Pennsylvania

An antique Shell gasoline pump at an Ohio oil and gas museum

Royal Dutch Shell is one of the largest and oldest energy companies in the world. Shell is active in drilling for natural gas in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale formation, with a focus on Tioga County.

In June 2016, Shell Chemical Appalachia LLC announced it would build a massive petrochemical processing plant, called an ethane cracker, in Beaver County.

Supporters expect the project to kick-start a chemical processing boom near Pittsburgh. Former Governor Tom Corbett (R) pushed to grant the company a $1.65 billion tax credit, spread over 25 years, to help convince it to build in Pennsylvania. Shell already was to receive a 15-year exemption from state and local taxes at the site, due to earlier legislation.

In June 2012, Shell experienced a methane migration problem at a Tioga County well site.

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