Constellation Energy Group has sold the New York and Pennsylvania portions of its NewEnergy Gas Division to a partnership between local energy entrepreneurs Gary Marchiori and Timothy Wright and the energy marketing business of South Jersey Industries.

EnergyMark LLC, the new name of the seven-employee business, will still be based at 300 Corporate Parkway, Amherst, Marchiori said. The energy services firm provides natural gas services to several hundred local companies, including the Hamburg and Depew village natural gas utilities.

MW Energy, a partnership that includes Marchiori and Wright, has run the energy marketing business under a variety of owners, beginning with Texaco followed by Dynegy, Noco Energy Marketing and Constellation, which acquired the firm in 2006.

“We had the opportunity to buy this business back, and we jumped on it,” Marchiori said. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The deal includes the New York and Pennsylvania assets of Constellation’s New Energy Natural Gas division. South Jersey, through its Open Flow Energy natural gas production and energy supply business, will operate the Pennsylvania assets.

The deal also reflects the vast potential of the Marcellus Shale in northwestern Pennsylvania as a gas-producing region.

“We intend to take advantage of the resources provided from the prolific Marcellus Shale play, which is positioned literally underneath a consuming region,” said Ken DePriest, vice president of South Jersey Energy Services, MW Energy’s partner in the venture.

“Truly, the real significance is not long-hauling natural gas any longer,” Marchiori said. “We’re just going to Pennsylvania to pick it up. We just bring it in from 150 miles away, rather than 1,500 miles. It’s less transportation cost.”