The global recession and low energy prices put the brakes on a lot natural gas exploration, but Anadarko Petroleum and Chesapeake Energy are sinking dollars into the Marcellus shale, the companies said on today.

The Marcellus shale, in the northeastern US in parts of Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia, is said to contain enough natural gas trapped in rock to meet US needs for a decade or more.

"Early success from our Marcellus activities indicates this play possesses some of the most compelling economics in our onshore portfolio," Anadarko boss Jim Hackett told investors on the company's second-quarter earnings conference call.

Anadarko it expected to have an interest in as many as 14 rigs in the Marcellus by the end of the year, Reuters reported.

The company estimates each Marcellus well holds 3 billion to 6 billion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas that can be produced even with New York Mercantile Exchange gas futures prices as low as $2.50 per million British thermal units.

Chesapeake said it was hiking its drilling budget for the year by $300 million to as much as $3.2 billion, and some of that money is earmarked for its acreage in the Marcellus.

Chesapeake has about 1.3 million acres in the Marcellus, where it has a joint venture with Norway's StatoilHydro.

US supermajor ExxonMobil has about 20,000 acres in the Marcellus.

The company told investors on its earnings call that it was evaluating new areas in the field.

Both Chesapeake and Anadarko reported better-than-expected results yesterday after the close of regular trading.