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Shale Gas Bulldozer Runs Over Pessimists

“…why do operators keep drilling while their own over-production has depressed the price of natural gas by half of its value?” Art Berman, 2010 Thirty years ago, at an energy conference at M.I.T., I made a presentation about our research on natural gas supply, and opened with a joke. (That is, intentional humor.) The gas industry, I noted, kept saying that prices were too low to cover their costs, while continuing to drill. What could explain this? Management psychology? Animal spirits? Finance theory (option valuations)? No, the explanation was found in “The Journal of Abnormal Psychology.” The joke was much appreciated, except by the natural gas producers in the audience. Now, the same question could be raised. After all, for most of a decade, predictions of a production collapse have floated around the punditsphere, while estimates of the breakeven price have tended to be well above those which have […]

Posted On : Published By : ASPO-USA
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Accelerating Shale Gas Declines Show Supply Held Hostage by Oil

Natural gas output from U.S. shale formations is set to fall for a third straight month after the collapse in crude prices forced drillers out of fields that yield both oil and gas. After four years of record supply, natural gas output is showing signs of weakness as producers pull back amid tumbling oil prices. Gas production from the seven largest 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 that the 51 percent collapse in crude oil prices since June 20, 2014, 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 […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Gas overtakes coal at US power stations

The US generated more of its electricity from gas than from coal for the first time ever in April — in a sign of how the shale boom is putting mounting pressure on the country’s mining industry. Plunging prices for natural gas, which have fallen alongside oil since last summer, led to it being used to generate 31 per cent of America’s electricity in April, while coal contributed 30 per cent. This was the first month in US history that gas-fired electricity generation surpassed coal-fired generation, according to SNL Energy, a research firm — although it came close in 2012 when gas prices were also very weak. In 2010, coal provided 45 per cent of US power. Since then, competition from cheap shale gas — unlocked by the rise of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing — plus a growing regulatory burden on coal-fired power plants, has squeezed out coal […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Gas overtakes coal at US power stations

The US generated more of its electricity from gas than from coal for the first time ever in April — in a sign of how the shale boom is putting mounting pressure on the country’s mining industry. Plunging prices for natural gas, which have fallen alongside oil since last summer, led to it being used to generate 31 per cent of America’s electricity in April, while coal contributed 30 per cent. This was the first month in US history that gas-fired electricity generation surpassed coal-fired generation, according to SNL Energy, a research firm — although it came close in 2012 when gas prices were also very weak. In 2010, coal provided 45 per cent of US power. Since then, competition from cheap shale gas — unlocked by the rise of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing — plus a growing regulatory burden on coal-fired power plants, has squeezed out coal […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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US EIA predicts natural gas output growth to resume in July despite declines

Work on a pipeline capacity expansion project slowed natural gas production in the Marcellus shale play in recent months, but output is expected to kick back into high gear in July and keep pace with a projected 5.7% increase in production from last year, the US Energy Information Administration said Tuesday in its monthly outlook. EIA, in its July Short-Term Energy Outlook, forecast gas marketed production at 78.65 Bcf/d for the second quarter and 79.28 Bcf/d for Q3, down 130 MMcf/d and 100 MMcf/d, respectively, from the agency’s June estimate. EIA said in the report that Northeast production dipped in May and June because of maintenance and construction in the Marcellus producing area, contributing to a 1.2 Bcf/d drop in average output between April and June. It noted that Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line has restricted capacity on parts of the Leidy Line that delivers gas from the Marcellus to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Energy Companies Can Be Sued Over Earthquakes, Oklahoma Supreme Court Says

The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a woman injured in a 2011 earthquake can file suit in district court against the two energy companies she accuses of causing the quake. The ruling raises the prospect of more lawsuits seeking to hold companies responsible for an increase in seismic activity in the state, as more scientific studies link the tremors to the energy industry. In particular, the studies have found evidence tying quakes to operations that inject wastewater left over from drilling into wells deep underground. Sandra Ladra of Prague, Okla., about 60 miles east of Oklahoma City, sued New Dominion LLC and Spess Oil Co. last summer for injuries she sustained during a 5.6-magnitude quake that toppled her stone chimney. The lawsuit in Lincoln County District Court contends that the companies caused the quake by injecting wastewater into nearby wells. The companies argued that they lawfully operated their […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Green group’s unconventional fight against fracking

The residents of Grant Township, Pennsylvania, were worried about Little Mahoning Creek, a picturesque trout stream best fished in the spring when the water runs fast. The Pennsylvania General Energy Company had acquired a federal permit to drill an injection well down 7,000 feet about seven miles from the creek to dispose of wastewater from its natural gas hydraulic fracturing operations. Fearing the operation would harm the Little Mahoning watershed, the town’s supervisors last year passed a "community bill of rights" that blocked the well, stripped the company of its right to inject wastewater underground, and declared that the state had no jurisdiction in the matter. The ordinance, they openly acknowledged, was likely to be challenged, and defending its legality would be difficult. Driven largely by opposition to hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, communities across the United States have passed or are considering measures to assert their right […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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New York formalizes ban on fracking, ending 7-year review

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York formalized its ban on high-volume hydraulic fracturing for natural gas on Monday, concluding a seven-year environmental and health review that drew a record number of public comments. "After years of exhaustive research and examination of the science and facts, prohibiting high-volume hydraulic fracturing is the only reasonable alternative," Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens said in announcing the decision. "High-volume hydraulic fracturing poses significant adverse impacts to land, air, water, natural resources and potential significant public health impacts that cannot be adequately mitigated." In its decision, the DEC noted that more than 260,000 public comments were submitted on its environmental impact study and proposed regulations, an unprecedented number. The agency said most of the comments urged it to severely restrict or prohibit fracking. New York is the only state with significant natural gas resources to ban fracking, which has allowed other states […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Pennsylvania Governor and Fracking Sector Face Off on Budget, Regulations

A fracking rig drills for natural gas on a site in Washington Township, Pa. Since taking over from a Republican administration this year, Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf repeatedly has said he supports the state’s booming shale gas industry. But lately, the industry hasn’t been sure he really does. State regulators, who have begun reviewing dozens of environmental cases the previous administration didn’t take action on, recently imposed an $8.9 million fine for a gas well they said is contaminating drinking water—the largest ever against a gas operator in state history. The state is also proposing a raft of stricter drilling rules to prevent wastewater from contaminating drinking water sources. And industry officials are upset that the Wolf administration earlier this month slashed its estimate of Pennsylvania jobs supported by the shale-gas industry to 89,000 from the previous administration’s estimate of more than 200,000. Gov. Tom Wolf, right, listens […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Burket-Geneseo Shale: The Next Super Giant?

Located above the Marcellus Shale in the Appalachian Basin, the Burket-Geneseo Shale “could be the next super giant field,” but the play is still well in its infancy and the current Marcellus development could jeopardize the ability of operators going back in down the road to pull those additional reserves, according to Gregory Wrightstone of Wrightstone Energy Consulting. Speaking before a crowd at DUG East in Pittsburgh, PA, on Thursday, Wrightstone said the Burket-Geneseo, which could be classified as a super giant field — 30 Tcf or greater — is often overlooked and overshadowed by the Marcellus. The Burket refers to most of Pennsylvania and the West Virginia portions, while the Geneseo is considered to cover northeast Pennsylvania and southern New York. It lies just above the Marcellus, from less than 100 feet of separation in West Virginia to more than 800 feet in northeastern Pennsylvania. It is the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple