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Oil Imports Seen Falling to Zero as Soon as 2037 by U.S.

Net oil imports to the U.S. could fall to zero by 2037 because of robust production in areas including North Dakota ’s Bakken field and Texas ’s Eagle Ford formation, according to a government projection released today. The Energy Information Administration, the branch of the Energy Department that collects and analyzes energy data, said the once-chimerical goal of U.S. energy independence could be within reach in 23 years under a “high-production” estimate contained in an update of its periodic energy forecast. “This is the first time that a case in the Annual Energy Outlook has projected that net imports’ share of liquid fuels consumption could reach zero,” said John Krohn, a spokesman for the EIA, in an e-mail. Estimating oil production is a tricky business, particularly for the length of time in EIA’s analysis. Forecasters must make a number of guesses, including the size of oil reserves lying thousands […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Age of Gas Seen as Sideshow to U.S. Producers Prizing Oil

The “ golden age of gas ” that the International Energy Agency foresees as a result of the U.S. energy boom is hardly the future being embraced by industry executives. At least based on comments from company officials presenting at the Independent Petroleum Association of America’s conference in New York yesterday. For them, oil is still the prize. Gas is almost an afterthought. Abraxas Petroleum (AXAS) Corp. Chief Executive Officer Bob Watson boasted about how much of his company’s proved reserves are oil and liquids rather than gas (74 percent). PDC Energy (PDCE) Inc. said it’s sitting on huge leases in gas fields that aren’t worth drilling. Whiting Petroleum Corp. (WLL) Chairman and CEO James Volker explained why: oil sells for three times as much as the equivalent amount of natural gas. That’s no knock against the producers for chasing oil – the commodity that makes the best return […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oklahoma Swamped by Surge in Earthquakes Near Fracking

There have been more earthquakes strong enough to be felt in Oklahoma this year than in all of 2013, overwhelming state officials who are trying to determine if the temblors are linked to oil and natural gas production. The state on April 6 experienced its 109th earthquake of a magnitude 3 or higher, matching the total for all of 2013, according to Austin Holland, a research seismologist with the Oklahoma Geological Survey. More quakes followed, including a magnitude 4 near Langston about 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of Oklahoma City . A surge in U.S. oil and gas production by fracturing, or fracking, in which drillers use a mix of water and chemicals to coax liquids from rock formations, has generated large volumes of wastewater. As fracking expanded to more fields, reports have become more frequent from Texas to Ohio of earthquakes linked to wells that drillers use to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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North Sea coal seams eyed for natural gas

British energy company Five Quarter said it wants the government’s approval to try to coax natural gas from coal deposits under the North Sea bed. Five Quarter wants government support for its $2 billion plan to use oxygen and steam injection to produce gas from coal beds in the North Sea. So-called syngas would be processed onshore and fed to the chemical industry. Five Quarter Chief Executive Officer Harry Bradbury told the Daily Telegraph his company was looking for financial backing for a pre-drilling phase that could began later this year. Unlike hydraulic fracturing, another unconventional source of natural gas, Bradbury said coal seam gas would provide a reliable and less risky source of natural gas for the British economy. "Gas has become a global geopolitical issue as the supply and demand map has changed," he said Saturday. "Accelerating the development of North Sea […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Kiev standing up to Russia's Gazprom

The Ukrainian government won’t bow to pressure from the Kremlin by accepting a rise in natural gas prices, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said. Russian energy company Gazprom said Ukraine has accumulated around $1.7 billion in gas debt and a discounted price for natural gas, secured in December, no longer applied. Yatsenyuk said his government was ready to make "all payments" for previous gas supplies from Russia, adding increased prices were unacceptable. "Ukraine is ready to continue buying natural gas at the price that was in effect since the beginning of the year — $268 [per 1,000 cubic meters]," he said Saturday. "This is an acceptable and balanced price." Gazprom in 2009 cut gas supplies to Ukraine in response to contractual disputes. The deal that ended the impasse left Ukraine with some of the highest gas bills in Europe and sparked concerns about energy security in the region. European consumers […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Kiev standing up to Russia’s Gazprom

The Ukrainian government won’t bow to pressure from the Kremlin by accepting a rise in natural gas prices, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said. Russian energy company Gazprom said Ukraine has accumulated around $1.7 billion in gas debt and a discounted price for natural gas, secured in December, no longer applied. Yatsenyuk said his government was ready to make "all payments" for previous gas supplies from Russia, adding increased prices were unacceptable. "Ukraine is ready to continue buying natural gas at the price that was in effect since the beginning of the year — $268 [per 1,000 cubic meters]," he said Saturday. "This is an acceptable and balanced price." Gazprom in 2009 cut gas supplies to Ukraine in response to contractual disputes. The deal that ended the impasse left Ukraine with some of the highest gas bills in Europe and sparked concerns about energy security in the region. European consumers […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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EU Calls Talks on Ukraine Energy Supply

The European Union’s energy chief, Günther Oettinger, has hastily convened two meetings for Tuesday to discuss growing concerns in Brussels about potential disruption of gas supplies to Ukraine. Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri Prodan will attend a roundtable on energy security on Tuesday, alongside representatives from the gas industry and Eurogas, a body representing European gas companies. Mr. Oettinger, who will chair the talks, called the meeting to look at ways to help Ukraine meet its gas needs, a European Commission official said. On the same day, Mr. Oettinger is also convening a meeting of the Gas Coordination Group, composed of officials from the bloc’s member states, gas network operators and other industry representatives. The Gas Coordination Group usually meets a few times a year, though the next scheduled meeting hadn’t been due to take place before the end of May. "We’re all under a lot of time pressure," the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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U.S. Gas Tantalizes Europe, but It’s Not a Quick Fix

As congressional pressure builds on the Obama administration to quicken gas exports to Europe to reduce its dependence on Russia, it may be tempting to gaze upon a marshy, alligator-infested Louisiana inlet of the Gulf of Mexico. There 3,000 workers are installing a huge set of turbines, pipelines and refrigeration units, building a terminal that will send American natural gas around the world by the end of next year. By 2017, the facility built by Houston-based Cheniere Energy could handle roughly a sixth the amount of gas that flows from Russia to Europe every day. The Cheniere plant will be part of a new surge of liquefied natural gas supplies coming from not only the United States but also Australia, Africa and the Middle East. That surge, perhaps along with increased production in Europe itself, promises to keep the Continent flush with non-Russian natural gas at the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Amid showdown with energy-rich Russia, calls rise in Europe to start fracking

Europe’s newest weapon in the battle of wills with Russian President Vladimir Putin lies buried deep beneath the ancient oaks and rolling green pastures of this quintessentially English village. There, wedged in the bedrock, lie vast quantities of oil and natural gas — enough, when combined with the spoils of hundreds of other sites like it, to help kick Europe’s addiction to Russian energy. Or so says David Cameron. Ever since Russian forces took hold of Crimea last month, the British prime minister has been leading a chorus of conservative politicians and energy executives in a refrain they believe will spark a shale gas revolution in Europe: Frack, baby, frack. The push for a European boom in fracking — shorthand for hydraulic fracturing — has been underway for years, but it has taken on new urgency in recent weeks as fears grow […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Peak Oil: Ignoring Other Considerations

Peak Oil is You Gail Tverberg shares some of the most insightful observations about the connection between economic growth and energy. In an article posted at her website several weeks, she raised issues which are too often shunted aside in the primary debate of  “not enough” versus “all we need” fossil fuel supplies in the years to come. They’re too important to continuously skip past. I’d like to focus on just a couple of the (as usual) excellent points she raised. We do not have an alternate fuel supply that will allow the economy to continue to grow, regardless of fossil fuel consumption. The published reserves include large amounts of oil in the ground that are not of the very cheap to extract type. Extracting such oil will be impossible if oil prices are very low, or if credit availability is lacking. It is tempting for observers to look […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA