Category:

Natural gas shortage hits California power supply

Californians were urged to voluntarily cut their electricity use Thursday in a rare mid-winter conservation alert, after frigid weather across the U.S. and Canada caused a shortage of natural gas for Southern California power plants. "While the natural gas shortage is only impacting Southern California power plants, statewide electricity and gas conservation will help free up both electricity and gas supplies for Southern Californians," the California Independent System Operator, which runs the state’s power grid, said in a statement. Requests for Californians to curtail their power use typically occur in summer, when temperatures soar and air conditioners roar, especially across Southern California. The so-called Flex Alert, in which residents are asked to turn off unneeded lights, avoid using large appliances or equipment, and turn off electrically powered heaters, was set to expire at 10 p.m. Thursday. It wasn’t immediately clear if the conservation request would […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Swarms of Earthquakes Shake Up Shale Gas Fields

Research  conducted by U.S. Geological Survey geophysicists suggests it was induced by injection into deep disposal wells in the Wilzetta North field. Photo Credit: Brian Sherrod, USGS. The locals call it “incoming,” and some compare the violence of the tremors to living in a war zone. Others say it’s like having their homes hit by a truck. The scene is north Texas, home to the Barnett Shale, the largest unconventional gas field in the United States. There, industry, often touted as the new engine of the U.S. economy, has punctured and fractured the landscape with 17,000 gas wells, as well as thousands of disposal sites to get rid of related toxic waste fluids. It’s in north Texas where the unconventional gas industry, together with what it calls the “safe and proven” […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Gas leak stopped in Gulf of Mexico

The U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said a gas leak was stopped in the Gulf of Mexico but work was needed to prevent more gas from leaking. The bureau confirmed Saturday the flow of natural gas from the so-called A-7 well in the gulf was stopped by pumping in what it described as weighted drilling fluids. "While the natural gas flow has stopped, there is additional work required to secure the well that includes setting barriers to ensure that no natural gas is released," the safety agency said in a statement. The bureau said all of the people working on the drilling rig were evacuated as a security precaution. No injuries were reported. It said it was notified of the leak Thursday by EnVen, a Kenyan energy company. The rig was leased by Rowan. an offshore drilling company with headquarters in […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

North Dakota Flares $100m of Natural Gas a Month

It is well known that advances in technology have enabled the US to experience a huge boom in oil production over the past several years. Since 2007, oil production from North Dakota’s Bakken formation has increased by 4,000% , and turning the state into the second largest oil producer after Texas. The problem is that a natural by-product of oil extraction is natural gas, and due to the lack of infrastructure to store, transport, and compress the gas, nearly 30% has to be burned at the well in a process known as flaring. Think Progress reports that an estimated $100 million worth of natural gas is flared in North Dakota every month, depriving the US economy of a huge source of revenue, and also releasing vast amounts of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. On Wednesday, the North Dakota Petroleum Council, comprised of hundreds of companies, promised to try and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Gas continues to escape from rig off La. coast

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Crews worked Friday to stop natural gas from escaping an underwater well where a rig was drilling off the Louisiana coast. The Coast Guard said workers had cut the flow in half since losing control of the well a day earlier. No injuries or pollution have been reported. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said most crew members had been evacuated from the rig, which was drilling in 262 feet of water about 108 miles southwest of Lafayette. The rig operator is EnVen Energy Ventures of Metairie, La. Company spokesman David Blackmon said the flow from the well has "significantly diminished" and consists almost entirely of water and sand, with "just a trace" of natural gas. No sheen has been spotted in the area, Blackmon added. Work is underway to secure the well, said Deanna Castillo, a spokeswoman for rig owner Rowan Companies. "All […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

North Dakota governor backs plans for 375-mile natural gas pipeline

North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple said building a 375-mile natural gas pipeline in the state will reduce the amount of gas wasted during oil production. Dalrymple said Thursday he backed plans by WBI Energy Inc., a subsidiary of MDU Resources Group, to build the pipeline to deliver natural gas from the Bakken reserve area in the west of the state to eastern North Dakota consumers. North Dakota lacks the infrastructure necessary to take full advantage of natural gas associated with oil reserves in the state at the heart of the shale oil and natural gas boom. Some of the natural gas associated with oil production is burned off, or flared, as a result. "We are committed to working with WBI Energy and the entire energy industry so that we continue to reduce flaring, add value to our energy resources and help meet the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

American Energy Partners Buys Utica Shale Gas Fields From Hess

American Energy Partners LP, led by Aubrey McClendon , continues to bulk up in Ohio’s Utica Shale, purchasing natural-gas fields from Hess Corp. for $924 million, according to people familiar with the matter. Hess said Wednesday it struck an agreement to sell 74,000 acres in the Utica to an undisclosed buyer. The company has sold more than $7.8 billion in assets over the past year to raise cash and narrow its focus on growing oil output in the U.S. Hess issued fourth-quarter financial results on Wednesday, reporting a profit of $1.93 billion, up from $374 million in the year-ago period. It will use the proceeds from the Utica sale to repurchase stock. American Energy Partners said on Wednesday that an affiliate had raised $500 million to invest in wells across the country, but a spokesman for the company declined to comment on the Utica deal. It was a year […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Shell Plans Boat to Tap Gas Fields

Royal Dutch Shell PLC says it has a way to spend less on tapping remote natural-gas fields. There’s just one catch: It will cost at least $10 billion, according to people who have worked on the project. Shipyard workers in South Korea are building a hull for the Anglo-Dutch company that stretches more than 1,600 feet from bow to stern. The boat will drop anchor in a natural-gas field, chill the gas into liquid and pump it into tankers. The vessel, christened Prelude, will produce enough natural gas to supply Hong Kong for a year, according to Shell. The company says the giant project will help Shell develop gas fields that are too small or far-flung to justify the pricey pipelines and onshore processing plants needed for offshore gas fields. Shell hasn’t announced a completion date for Prelude, now a bright red hull afloat in the shipyard, but it […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Fracking Boom Keeps Home Heating Bills in Check

Freezing temperatures are creating near-record demand for natural gas in the U.S. as shivering Americans turn up the heat and plug in their electric blankets. Natural-gas prices have jumped in response, topping $5 per million British thermal units for the first time since 2010 as fuel has been pulled from underground storage vaults to keep furnaces running and electric utilities humming. But compared with past cold snaps, such as in 2000, the price surge has been muted, according to utilities and other big gas users. That is good news for businesses and consumers. Manufacturers that consume large amounts of the fuel—steelmakers, for example—say they have trouble planning for sharp price changes. And homeowners on fixed incomes can be hit especially hard when utilities raise prices. In the short term, higher prices help gas drillers, many of which have been losing money on wells in a supply glut. Over the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

U.S. Set for More Arctic Cold as Natural Gas Prices Surge

The U.S. will get another blast of freezing Arctic air this week, bringing snow and sleet as far south as Texas and helping push natural gas to a four-year high. “A very strong cold front will be bringing frigid conditions back to the central and eastern U.S.,” the Weather Service said in a bulletin on its website today at 3:01 a.m. eastern time. Subfreezing highs are expected “well into the Deep South,” with snow, sleet, and freezing rain expected by tomorrow near the Central Gulf Coast and becoming heavier over the Carolinas. “This rare winter storm will make many people who love snow very happy,” according to the report. January is on track to be the coldest month of the century in the lower 48 states, according to Commodity Weather Group LLC, after waves of freezing air swept across the country. Natural gas rose for a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple