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Noble Energy to target Colorado basin in 2014

Noble Energy Chief Executive Officer Charles Davidson said the bulk of his company’s spending next year will target the Denver-Julesburg basin in Colorado. "For the third consecutive year, production is projected to grow at strong double-digit rates," he said in a statement Tuesday. "We continue to accelerate development in the Denver-Julesburg basin, which will receive the greatest portion of our capital program, as well as the drilling program in the … Marcellus shale." The Marcellus shale is spread over parts of Pennsylvania and surrounding states. Noble, which has headquarters in Houston, said $2 billion of its $3.2 billion designated for developments in the United States will target the Colorado reserve area. About $1.1 billion will target the Marcellus formation. Combined, the company said it plans to drill more than 450 wells in the shale areas next year. Noble in October said production from the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Cheap gas could save US households up to $1,200/year by 2020: study

The average US household could save $725 to $1,200/year by 2020 when an estimated 60 to 80% of the cost savings from cheaper energy flows to consumers, Boston Consulting Group said in a study released Wednesday. In its latest installment of "Made in America, Again," BCG estimated about 30-50% of the cost savings to companies from cheaper natural gas have likely been passed along to consumers. These savings come in the form of prices that are lower than they otherwise would have been, resulting in average household savings in the US of $425 to $725/year. This is equal to an extra 3-6% of additional discretionary spending each year for the average US household. Article continues below… Request a free trial of: Gas Daily Gas Daily Gas Daily offers the most detailed coverage of natural gas prices at interstate and intrastate pipeline and pooling points […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Signs of Baby Steps on Stanching Wasteful Flaring of Natural Gas

Visible even from space, more than 1,500 natural gas flares illuminate the prairie in the Bakken oil field in North Dakota, for lack of gas pipelines. Jim Wilson/The New York Times Visible even from space, more than 1,500 natural gas flares illuminate the prairie in the Bakken oil field in North Dakota, for lack of gas pipelines. I hope you’ll read “ Applying Creativity to a Byproduct of Oil Drilling in North Dakota ,” a valuable Clifford Krauss feature on baby steps taken by the oil and gas industry to stanch the wasteful, polluting flaring of natural gas from the country’s booming Bakken oil fields in North Dakota. (There’s no infrastructure for storing or transporting the gas and the oil is the quarry, given its much higher price.) Gas pipelines are rapidly being built. Companies like Statoil and General Electric are teaming up to develop and deploy new modular […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Britain opens up much of countryside to fracking

An area more than two-thirds the size of England is to be opened up to shale gas drilling and other forms of exploration under plans set out on Tuesday that ministers said could produce thousands of jobs and other economic benefits. However, if fracking companies rush to exploit shale deposits, some areas may also experience “significant negative effects”, according to an environmental assessment of the move by the Amec consultancy, including a “substantial burden” on wastewater treatment plants. Depending on how many sites are eventually drilled, towns and villages could see lorries hauling water and other materials along their roads up to 51 times a day, the consultants said, adding that up to 150 shale gas licences could end up being awarded around the country. In addition, fracking companies could consume nearly a fifth of the water currently supplied to energy, water and waste industries each year. These impacts […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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India may face gas shortage

A Parliamentary standing committee has expressed fear that India could witness acute shortage of natural gas in two years, which may not be met even through imports due to lack of infrastructure. “As the government pursued the economic policy to achieve high growth, the demand for natural gas has also sharply increased in India during the past few years, and is expected to escalate further,” said the Parliamentary standing committee on petroleum and natural gas in a report. “As during 2012-13 there was only 134 million standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) of gas available including the imported LNG against the demand of 286 mmscmd. Thus there was huge unmet demand of 152 mmscmd,” it said. It said that in 2015-16, the expected gap would be to the tune of 300 mmscmd. “As against the demand of 439 mmscmd, the available gas supply would be 139 mmscmd […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Is This the Next Major Shale Gas Producer?

I’m talking about Poland.  In an attempt to broaden its energy portfolio and wean itself off Russian natural gas, a renewed push for shale development is kicking off. As of last month, new Polish Environment Minister Maciej Grabowski has made it a personal mission to turn Poland around and remove the red tape that previously pushed out some of the biggest names in the industry.  The reversal of high coal consumption will also be at the top of the agenda. shale gas 19 In his first news conference early this month, he said, “If I decide that amendments are needed, I intend to present a final version within weeks, not months,” according to Bloomberg. He added, “Investors have been waiting for this for a very long time and they […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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U.S. forecasts natural gas boom through 2040

fracking America’s energy boom will continue for decades, and natural gas will replace coal as the largest source of U.S. electricity by 2035, the Department of Energy forecast today. U.S. production of crude oil will increase through 2016, when it will approach the record set in 1970, before leveling off and then slowly declining after 2020. Natural gas production will grow steadily, jumping 56% from 2012 to 2040, according to an early release of an annual report by DOE’s Energy Information Administration. "Advanced technologies for crude oil and natural gas production are continuing to increase domestic supply and reshape the U.S. energy economy as well as expand the potential for U.S. natural gas exports," Adam Sieminski, EIA Administrator, said in releasing the Annual Energy Outlook 2014. This energy bonanza is largely due to the combined use of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing or fracking, which releases oil and gas […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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4 Reasons Why China Needs Chevron

On December 6, Chevron announced that it would delay its $6.4 billion Chuandongbei gas project in China due to disagreements with partner PetroChina on how to develop the field. The project is Chevron’s largest investment in China and is slated to produce around 7.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.  For Chevron, China is a key market. China has the world’s largest population and, according to many economists, will have the world’s largest economy within a decade. Since electricity usage generally correlates with GDP growth, China’s energy demand is projected to increase significantly. As much as Chevron needs China, China also needs Chevron. Here are four reasons why.  Huge potential that only Western tech can unlock According to the Energy Information Agency, China has the world’s largest technically recoverable shale gas resource at around 1,115 trillion cubic feet. China’s shale gas is located in tougher, more foreboding geological formations than […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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'Watch what we do, not what we say': Shell cancels U.S. gas-to-liquids plant

Resource Insights When civil rights advocates grew restless because of President Richard Nixon’s right-wing rhetoric on the issue of desegregation, then-Attorney General John Mitchell told them, ”Watch what we do, not what we say.” Those following the hype over America’s supposed newfound abundance of oil and natural gas would do well to follow that advice when evaluating what oil and gas company executives and their surrogates say. When Royal Dutch Shell pulled the plug on its U.S. gas-to-liquids project recently, the company offered the same explanation it used when it shut down its oil shale project earlier this year : Shell sees better opportunities elsewhere. This explanation–much like the I’m-resigning-to-spend-more-time-with-my-family explanation–tends to deflect questions about why things aren’t working out. What’s not working out for Shell is a planned $20 billion plant in Louisiana designed to turn natural gas into diesel, jet fuel, lubricants and chemical feedstocks, products typically […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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‘Watch what we do, not what we say’: Shell cancels U.S. gas-to-liquids plant

Resource Insights When civil rights advocates grew restless because of President Richard Nixon’s right-wing rhetoric on the issue of desegregation, then-Attorney General John Mitchell told them, ”Watch what we do, not what we say.” Those following the hype over America’s supposed newfound abundance of oil and natural gas would do well to follow that advice when evaluating what oil and gas company executives and their surrogates say. When Royal Dutch Shell pulled the plug on its U.S. gas-to-liquids project recently, the company offered the same explanation it used when it shut down its oil shale project earlier this year : Shell sees better opportunities elsewhere. This explanation–much like the I’m-resigning-to-spend-more-time-with-my-family explanation–tends to deflect questions about why things aren’t working out. What’s not working out for Shell is a planned $20 billion plant in Louisiana designed to turn natural gas into diesel, jet fuel, lubricants and chemical feedstocks, products typically […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple