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Shale gas gives North American petchem companies a competitive edge: S&P analyst

North America-based petrochemical companies are likely to enjoy a competitive advantage over their rivals based elsewhere for the next several years as a result of the US shale gas revolution, which provides both inexpensive feedstocks and fuel for the petchems industry, a senior Standard & Poor’s analyst said Tuesday. "The ability to extract low-cost ethane and put it through a steam cracker and create ethylene and all the derivatives, that’s been very favorable for companies that have operated in North American versus companies in other parts of the world," Henry Fukuchi, director of ratings and analytics at S&P, said on the sidelines of the Benposium conference in Houston. S&P and Platts are both units of McGraw-Hill Financial. Global demand for petrochemicals has historically grown about 4% annually and Fukuchi said he expects that growth rate to remain constant for the next several years, driven by economic development in China […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Texas RRC: Oil, Gas Production Not to Blame for Well Water Contamination

Rigzone Staff 6/3/2014 URL: http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/133391/Texas_RRC_Oil_Gas_Production_Not_to_Blame_for_Well_Water_Contamination Water contamination from explosive gas in the water supply of a North Texas neighborhood cannot be linked to nearby drilling, the Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) said in a recent report. The investigation began after seven property owners in the neighborhood contacted the RRC about rising levels of methane in their water wells. An eighth property owner also found an increase of chloride in two water wells. In its finding that there was an insufficient link between the contamination of well water in the Silverado on the Brazos (Silverado) neighborhood in southern Parker County and drilling in the nearby Barnett Shale, the RRC, which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry, noted that the contamination has worsened in five of the eight private water wells it tested in September 2013, compared to the contamination measured in the same wells in 2010 and 2011. However, the RRC […]

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Market dynamics key to US LNG exports to Asia, witnesses say

US exports of LNG to Asia are more likely to be determined by overseas market dynamics than by US government policies, witnesses told a US House Foreign Affairs Committee subcommittee on May 29. The observations came as the US Department of Energy proposed giving priority in its national interest determinations to LNG export proposals that already meet National Environmental Policy act requirements ( OGJ Online, May 29, 2014 ). “I think there’s a prevailing view in the industry that LNG prices in Asia will come down to around $13[/MMbtu} and domestic gas prices will rise to around $6. That would make exports close to a wash for US producers,” Mikkal E. Herberg, research director in the National Bureau of Asian Research’s Energy Security Program, told the committee’s Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee. Jane Nakano, a fellow in the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Energy and National Security […]

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Monthly Natural Gas Gross Production Report with data for March 2014

The two graphs below show total U.S. and Lower 48 natural gas production on one and the individual State production on the other. In March, production in the Lower 48 States increased by 1.6 percent or 1.18 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d). Texas had the largest volumetric increase at 2.6 percent or 0.57 Bcf/d primarily due to new wells being brought online and shut-in wells returning to production. Other States also reported a gain of 1.4 percent or 0.40 Bcf/d as many operators reported improved weather conditions and new wells in the Appalachian and Uinta Basins. Oklahoma production also saw an increase of 4.1 percent or 0.24 Bcf/d due to the completed maintenance and improved weather conditions from the prior month. Both the Federal Gulf of Mexico and Louisiana saw declines of 2.7 percent or 0.09 Bcf/d and 1.4 percent or 0.08 Bcf/d respectively, mainly due to maintenance […]

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US gas demand could increase by 3-10 Bcf/d under EPA GHG rule: analysts

US natural gas demand could increase by 3 Bcf/d to 10 Bcf/d by 2020 under an expected Environmental Protection Agency plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, analysts said Friday. Using its authority under the Clean Air Act, EPA is expected Monday to announce proposed rules designed to limit the amount of COs emitted by existing power plants. Gas will be one of the winners under every assumption about new source performance standards for existing power plants, analysts said Friday. They differed only on the size and scale of how much gas would be needed, saying that will depend entirely on how strict or lax the new regulations are on coal-fired plants. President Barack Obama’s Climate Action Plan calls for a 20% cut in carbon dioxide emission by 2020 but which year will serve as the benchmark from which to measure the cut is still unknown. There […]

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Fracking plans submitted for British shale

British shale explorer Cuadrilla Resources, the target of heated protests, said it submitted plans for new fracking operations to Lancashire County officials. "The proposal covers the works required to drill, hydraulically fracture and test the flow of gas from up to four exploration wells on the site," the company said in a statement Thursday. When the company announced its intent to submit plans to Lancashire officials in early May, Caudrilla CEO Francis Egan said the application would be an "important milestone" for British shale. In March, the company said it believes there are 200 trillion cubic feet of shale natural gas in the Bowland basin in Lancashire. The company was the target of major demonstrations last summer when exploratory operations in the southern village of Balcombe were viewed as a prelude to fracking, though the process wasn’t carried out at the site. Caudrilla said Thursday there […]

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U.S. gas imports declining steadily

The amount of natural gas imported into the U.S. market dropped 14 percent last year in part because of abundant domestic resources, the Energy Department said. The Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the Energy Department, said natural gas production in 2013 hit 24.2 trillion cubic feet, which would be a new record if preliminary data are correct. EIA said in its report net imports declined in part as a response to increases in domestic production. The level of natural gas imports have declined every year since 2007, the report said, and is at its lowest level since 1989. In a separate monthly report , EIA said the United States imported 542 billion cubic feet of natural gas for the first two months of 2014, which is actually 5 percent more than the same period last year. Total natural gas exports for the two-month period […]

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U.S. Natural Gas Imports & Exports 2013

. Net imports Natural gas net imports fell by 14% to 1,311 Bcf in 2013, the lowest level since 1989. Total imports decreased by 8% to 2,883 Bcf in 2013 from the previous year’s level. Pipeline imports decreased by 6% to 2,786 Bcf, and LNG imports decreased by 45% to 97 Bcf. Total exports, which increased in all but two years from 1997 to 2012, decreased by 3% to 1,572 Bcf in 2013. Pipeline exports decreased by 1% to 1,569 Bcf, while LNG exports, already lower than 2% of total exports, decreased to 3 Bcf. For the first time, the United States exported a small amount of compressed natural gas (CNG) to Canada by truck, totaling 0.1 Bcf. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, based on Office of Fossil Energy, U.S. Department of Energy. Prices […]

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U.S. Natural Gas Imports & Exports 2013

. Net imports Natural gas net imports fell by 14% to 1,311 Bcf in 2013, the lowest level since 1989. Total imports decreased by 8% to 2,883 Bcf in 2013 from the previous year’s level. Pipeline imports decreased by 6% to 2,786 Bcf, and LNG imports decreased by 45% to 97 Bcf. Total exports, which increased in all but two years from 1997 to 2012, decreased by 3% to 1,572 Bcf in 2013. Pipeline exports decreased by 1% to 1,569 Bcf, while LNG exports, already lower than 2% of total exports, decreased to 3 Bcf. For the first time, the United States exported a small amount of compressed natural gas (CNG) to Canada by truck, totaling 0.1 Bcf. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, based on Office of Fossil Energy, U.S. Department of Energy. Prices […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Are We Underestimating America's Fracking Boom?

Start with exotic Nazi technology, take a detour with South African apartheidists, and add a bit role for Iranian imams. What you have is—what else? —one of the most improbable and important American business stories of the past decade. It’s the tale of a company called , the former South African state oil company, which is embarking on what could be the single-largest foreign investment project in U.S. history. Sasol is building a 3,034-acre energy complex near a bayou in Lake Charles, La. Tapping into cheap, fracked natural gas as well as the pipeline and shipping infrastructure along the Gulf Coast, Sasol plans to spend as much as $21 billion there. It is expensive, elaborate and dirty work. Sasol plans to reduce, or "crack," the gas into ethylene, a raw chemical used in plastics, paints and food packaging. It also plans to convert the gas into high-quality diesel and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple