NORWICH – Many natural gas wells are already in production in the northern Chenango County towns of Smyrna and Plymouth and the first well in Preston was drilled last week near county Rt. 18.

Right-of-ways have been purchased, for the large part, for an extensive pipeline that, in some areas, is actively in use carrying the gas to sales points.

Natural gas has been found in layers of Herkimer and Oneida sandstones here, Nornew, Inc. Vice President of Geology Stuart Lowenstein said. Lowenstein – who just happens to be a native of Norwich – said he has been studying and testing the geology in Smyrna for the past 15 years, from the granite basement, as it’s called, up through the shallowest layer of Marcellus shale.

The latter layer has been over-hyped recently, Lowenstein said, and is not a proven source of quantity or quality at this time. New horizontal drilling technologies have recently been discovered that make reaching the Marcellus shale easier for exploration companies. The Marcellus stretches from the Appalachian region through Pennsylvania and into central New York.