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Marcellus, Utica provide 85% of U.S. shale gas production growth since start of 2012

graph of natural gas production in selected regions, as explained in the article text The productivity of natural gas wells in the Marcellus Shale and the neighboring Utica Shale is steadily increasing because of ongoing improvements in precision and efficiency of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing occurring in those regions. Since January 2012, natural gas production in the Marcellus and Utica regions has accounted for 85% of the increase in natural gas production reported in EIA’s Drilling Productivity Report (DPR) and has driven recent growth in total U.S. natural gas production. The DPR provides a month-ahead projection of both oil and natural gas production for the seven most significant shale formations in the United States. Although the DPR regions are grouped according to the name of the predominant shale formation, the report analyzes all drilling and production within each geographic area. In practice, this means natural gas production activity […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Vladimir Putin’s most effective weapon is gas – but not the poison kind

The logo of Gazprom is pictured at the 26th World Gas Conference in Paris, France, June 2, 2015. At face value, Russia’s $400 billion deal to supply natural gas to China National Petroleum Corporation, via the state-controlled energy behemoth Gazprom, sounds like a coup for Moscow. But according to recent analysis, the deal is strongly tilted in China’s favor. Gazprom will be lucky to break even on the contract and may even lose substantial amounts of money. While the deal may not make economic sense for Gazprom, it does fit with Vladimir Putin’s broader geopolitical “tilt to Asia” strategy, and represents “a desperate geopolitical gambit trumping all economic rationale,” according to analysis by the Chatham House, a UK policy institute. In fact, the CNPC deal is just one example of how Gazprom operates more as an instrument of Putin’s political ambitions and Russian state power than as a rational […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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British shale pioneer to push back against local council

Shale pioneer Cuadrilla Resources says it will appeal county decision to deny permits for a drilling campaign that would include hydraulic fracturing. Photo courtesy of Cuadrilla Resources LONDON, July 24 (UPI) — British shale pioneer Cuadrilla Resources said it planned to appeal June’s decisions by a county council to deny permits for a hydraulic fracturing campaign. "We have given careful consideration to appeal the planning decisions taken by Lancashire County Council," Cuadrilla Chief Executive Officer Francis Egan said in a statement. "This is a natural step in the democratic process for deciding any planning application." The council in Lancashire last month voted to refuse a permit to start a hydraulic fracturing campaign in the Preston New Road and Roseacre Wood sites. The council said it refused the applications because of noise and visual impact concerns, and "potentially severe" impacts on road infrastructure and traffic, respectively. In the past, the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Chesapeake to Eliminate Dividend to Pay for Capital Spending

Chesapeake Energy Corp. CHK -9.54 % said Tuesday that it will eliminate its shareholder dividend starting in the third quarter and redirect the money to capital spending, the latest round of cutbacks for the U.S. shale driller. Shares of Chesapeake, down 48% this year, fell 1.2% to $10.15 a share in premarket trading. Chesapeake estimated that getting rid of the annual dividend of 35 cents a share will save the company $240 million a year. The company plans to use the money for its 2016 capital program. Chesapeake said it has also agreed to sell some properties to FourPoint Energy LLC. Chesapeake has struggled to recover from years of aggressive spending as the land-grab approach the company pioneered for oil and gas drilling meant it spent more than its wells generated in profit. But under Doug Lawler, who joined as chief executive in June 2013, the company has been […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Study shows more hospital stays in three fracking counties

A fracking operation is set up on this farm near Dimock in Susquehanna County. A new study shows that in Susquehanna, Bradford and Wayne counties, people who live near fracking wells were more likely to have hospital visits. (CAROLYN COLE / LOS ANGELES TIMES) Researchers comparing hospital visits in three rural Northeast Pennsylvania counties found a higher rate of hospital visits in counties with a heavy gas industry presence. Residents of heavily drilled Bradford and Susquehanna counties were admitted to hospitals at higher rates than in neighboring Wayne County where drilling is banned, University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University researchers stated in a paper published in the peer-reviewed PLOS One scientific journal last week. The researchers used hospital-reported inpatient data from 2007, when drilling began, to 2011, the latest year available, said Penn Medicine researcher Dr. Reynold Panettieri Jr., one of the study’s authors. Relying on 95,000 inpatient records, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oh frack, now there’s radiation in Pennsylvania’s water

Drilling a horizontal shale gas well in Appalachia In Fredericktown, Pennsylvania, water that feeds into a Pittsburgh treatment plant has been found to contain more than 60 times what is considered the safe level of radiation. The water Dufalla tested? It’s from Ten Mile Creek, which eventually feeds into a nearby water treatment plant. Not surprisingly, it’s not good to have 60 times the maximum allowed radium in drinking water, and it’s not something that’s easy to filter out. Drinking water is just one concern. There’s also the fish swimming in radium-tainted water to worry about. Oh, well, if the gas industry officials said it, it has to be true, right? This is nothing new, though. Tests proved even higher levels of radiation were present in Pennsylvania’s streams two years ago . Just last week, fracking in Pennsylvania was linked to higher rates of cancer, skin conditions, heart disease […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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EIA now reporting monthly base gas levels in underground natural gas storage

graph of monthly U.S. underground natural gas storage by storage type, as explained in the article text Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-191, Monthly Natural Gas Underground Storage Report Note: Working gas is defined as the quantity of natural gas in the reservoir that is in addition to base gas and is available for withdrawal. It may or may not be completely withdrawn during any particular withdrawal season. With the release of the most recent Natural Gas Monthly , EIA began publishing base gas levels in natural gas storage facilities through the natural gas query system . Base gas plays an important role in underground natural gas storage, serving to maintain cavern or reservoir pressure and keeping natural gas storage facilities operational. Because of the geologic properties of storage facilities, a certain level of pressure is required to maintain reservoir integrity and to withdraw gas for commercial use. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Study: Utica Shale Larger Than Previous Estimates

The technically recoverable resources of the Utica shale play are larger than previously thought, according to a study from West Virginia University. The size of the Utica shale play’s technically recoverable resources is larger than previously thought, a recent study by West Virginia University (WVU) has found. WVU found that the Utica play contains technically recoverable resources of 782 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas and around 1.9 billion barrels of oil. That’s higher than the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) 2012 estimate of technically recoverable resources at 38 Tcf of gas and 940 million barrels of oil. The study results indicate that the Utica – which spans West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York – is comparable to the Marcellus shale play in terms of size and potential recoverable resources. The Marcellus is the large U.S. shale play and second largest shale oil and gas play in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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London proposes new fracking restrictions

British government proposes pulling some parts of the country off the table for hydraulic fracturing. Photo courtesy of Cuadrilla Resources. LONDON, July 16 (UPI) — The British government boasted of its environmental track record Thursday, saying it was taking steps toward excluding some areas from hydraulic fracturing. "The United Kingdom has one of the best track records in the world when it comes to protecting our environment while also developing our industries – and we’ve brought that experience to bear on the shale gas protections," Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom said in a statement. The British government published draft regulations that would place groundwater aquifers, as well as parks and heritage sites, off limits to potential hydraulic fracturing activities. Shale energy is in its infancy in the country, though Leadsom said the government was committed to developing the sector safely and economically. Her comments follow the publication of a set […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Shale Gas Supply Held Hostage by Oil to Drop by Most in a Year

(Bloomberg) — After four years of record supply, America’s natural gas output is showing signs of weakness as producers retreat amid tumbling oil prices. Gas production from the seven largest U.S. shale basins will fall 0.6 percent to 45.1 billion cubic feet a day in August from a month earlier, the biggest drop since March 2014, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Monday in its monthly Drilling Productivity report. EIA estimates have shown supply declines since June. The government’s forecasts signal the collapse in crude oil prices, which have plunged by about half over the past year, is reverberating in the natural gas market. As drillers shut wells in liquids-rich deposits from North Dakota to Texas, they’re also curtailing gas output from those reservoirs. That may prevent further price declines for gas, which has slid almost a third over the same period. “Gas is being held captive by oil,” […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple