Many an eyebrow was raised in June, when Ian Urbina’s article in the New York Times called into question the economics behind the profitability of shale gas plays.  He went so far as to quote an analyst who called them “Ponzi schemes.”  The article was one of his  series on Marcellus Shale gas, covered in previous posts, but this time Urbina’s journalism sparked a fair amount of backlash.

The United States government, however, is taking Urbina seriously.  So seriously, in fact,  that the Securities and Exchange Commission has subpoenaed some shale gas producers.  The SEC’s investigation will compare actual well production versus predictions, to determine if gas reserves are being estimated correctly– or if they are being grossly and illegally overstated.