Category:

EU shale gas production could add 1 million jobs, study says

The development of shale gas in Europe could add as many as 1 million jobs to the economy, make industry more competitive, and decrease the region’s dependence on energy imports, according to a recently released study commissioned by the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (OGP). The research, carried out by independent consultancies Poyry Management Consulting and Cambridge Econometrics, has quantified for the first time how much Europe’s economy could benefit from shale gas production, which could add a total of €1.7-3.8 trillion to the economy during 2020-50. “Europe is still in a period of difficult economic and social recovery. This new study shows that shale gas production could have significant economic benefits,” said Roland Festor, OGP’s European Union affairs director, adding that while it may not be a “game changer” as in the US, “shale gas development in Europe could take full advantage of the lessons learned.” […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Wyoming formally adopts baseline water testing requirement

Wyoming’s state government formally adopted a requirement on Nov. 12 for oil and gas producers to test nearby water bodies before and after drilling their wells, effective Mar. 1, 2014. Landowners must give their consent for operators to sample the permitted or adjudicated water sources, the state’s Oil & Gas Conservation Commission said. These sources include domestic, stock, industrial, irrigation, municipal, or other permitted uses of water, it indicated. Gov. Matt Mead (R), who has made baseline water testing part of his energy strategy, thanked everyone who submitted comments, and specifically cited the Environmental Defense Fund and Petroleum Association of Wyoming for their constructive input. “This is another example of Wyoming leading the nation in striking the right balance between producing needed energy and protecting our natural resources,” Mead said. “We’re going to see how this rule is going to be implemented now. We know that since we have […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Alaska mulls hydraulic fracturing rules

JUNEAU, Alaska, Nov. 13 (UPI) — Alaska state laws could be revised so companies can protect their trade secrets for hydraulic fracturing fluid, Cathy Foerster, a state drilling regulator said. Foerster, chairwoman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, said the state could revise its rules on hydraulic fracturing, known also as fracking, in early 2014. “We’ve made some changes in what we proposed earlier, the most significant being that we will allow hydraulic fracturing contractors to protect the proprietary formulas of their frac fluids as trade secrets,” she said in an interview with energy information provider Platts, published Tuesday. Foerster said advocacy groups would have to pursue chemical formulas by issuing a challenge in the state’s courts. Fracking is a controversial drilling practice used to produce oil and natural gas from shale. Some of the chemicals used in the process are considered toxic. Energy companies say they […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Shell to Drill First Wells in $10 Billion Ukrainian Project

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) , which signed a $10 billion shale gas deal with the Ukrainian government this year, expects to start drilling in the Yuzivska field next year. Shell will need to drill as many as 15 wells to complete the initial exploration appraisal of the 8,000 square-kilometer (3,100 square-mile) Yuzivska field in the eastern part of the country, Graham Tiley, the country manager of Shell Ukraine , said in an interview in Kiev On Nov. 6. Separately, the company has also completed drilling its first well in the Kharkiv region and is preparing to drill two more next year, he said. Ukraine, which depends on expensive Russian gas imports to cover more than 60 percent of its consumption, is pushing to develop its own reserves, both onshore and offshore, in the Black Sea . The government signed a production-sharing agreement with Chevron Corp. (CVX) yesterday for […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

US Shale Boom Will Boost LPG Exports and Bring Down Prices

More US Shale Boom Will Boost LPG Exports and Bring Down Prices LONDON, Nov 4 (Reuters) – A U.S. energy drilling boom is revolutionizing the niche market for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), bringing down global prices and challenging established exporters in the Middle East. The changes are the latest sign of the global impact of a drilling renaissance in the United States that has already hit oil and natural gas. And like oil and gas, it is U.S. producers of LPG who are set to gain most while established exporters may struggle with new competition in a suddenly altered landscape. Unconventional oil and gas drilling, including shale gas extraction from fracking, is controversial because it requires large amounts of water and chemicals to be pumped at high pressure into the earth, and some countries such as France and Bulgaria have banned the technology. In the United States, however, shale […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Chevron inks shale gas deal in Ukraine

KIEV, Ukraine, Oct. 31 (UPI) — The Ukrainian government announced it approved a draft agreement with Chevron for shale natural gas extraction in the western part of the country. Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said under the draft deal Chevron would invest $350 million in shale exploration at the Oleske field in western Ukraine, the National Radio Company of Ukraine reported Wednesday. NRCU reported the field is expected to hold more than 100 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The announcement comes after Russian energy company Gazprom said Ukraine was late in paying off its natural gas debt. Gazprom cut natural gas supplies to Ukraine most recently in 2009 because of payment concerns. Ukraine says it’s paying more for Russian gas than its regional counterparts. Ukraine is one of the Eastern European countries thought to be rich in shale natural gas. The government said there may be enough natural […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Work completed on North Dakota natural gas pipeline

BISMARCK, N.D., Oct. 30 (UPI) — A new 80-mile natural gas pipeline in North Dakota will help the state reduce the amount of gas burned off during oil production, the state’s governor said. Gov. Jack Dalrymple marked the completion of an 80-mile natural gas pipeline with developer Alliance pipeline. “This state-of-the-art pipeline will help us reduce flaring, add value to our natural resources and support our nation’s energy security,” he said in a statement Tuesday. Flaring is the burning of natural gas associated with oil extraction. Dalrymple’s office said Alliance plans to solicit state producers to satisfy the 12-inch pipeline’s designed capacity for 126 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. The pipeline is designed to deliver natural gas from a Hess Corp. gas processing plant near Tioga to the Chicago-area market hub. Alliance started building the $170 million pipeline one year ago. Hess said the pipeline would […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Russia's Gazprom says no to shale natural gas production

MOSCOW, Oct. 30 (UPI) — Russian energy company Gazprom said it wasn’t ready to examine the shale natural gas potential in the country because of abundant conventional reserves. The board of directors at Gazprom met Tuesday in Moscow to survey the prospects for shale natural gas production. “The meeting participants affirmed that at the moment shale gas production in Russia would be inexpedient due to the abundance of conventional gas reserves with their recovery cost being considerably lower than the estimated cost of shale gas production,” the company said in a statement. “In addition, it was pointed out that shale gas production was related to considerable environmental risks.” Last year, the United States produced an average 25.7 billion cubic feet per day in shale natural gas. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said this month the United States passed Russia as the world’s leading natural gas producer thanks in part […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Russia’s Gazprom says no to shale natural gas production

MOSCOW, Oct. 30 (UPI) — Russian energy company Gazprom said it wasn’t ready to examine the shale natural gas potential in the country because of abundant conventional reserves. The board of directors at Gazprom met Tuesday in Moscow to survey the prospects for shale natural gas production. “The meeting participants affirmed that at the moment shale gas production in Russia would be inexpedient due to the abundance of conventional gas reserves with their recovery cost being considerably lower than the estimated cost of shale gas production,” the company said in a statement. “In addition, it was pointed out that shale gas production was related to considerable environmental risks.” Last year, the United States produced an average 25.7 billion cubic feet per day in shale natural gas. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said this month the United States passed Russia as the world’s leading natural gas producer thanks in part […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Russia and shale can solve Europe’s energy problem

The sooner the region realises its energy policy is a mess, the sooner it can grow, says Paolo Scaroni The aim of European energy policy should be to combine economic growth with environmental sustainability. However, we have ended up with energy costs that hamper growth – yet greenhouse gas emissions have not fallen despite the decline in energy consumption. The problem is that we have, so far, failed to grasp the implications of the US shale revolution for Europe. Thanks to the rapid increase in efficient non-conventional gas production, US companies pay about $3.50 per million British thermal units (mBtu) for their natural gas. That is about a third of what Europeans pay. Turning to electricity, not only are European consumers hit by relatively high gas feedstock prices, but they also have to pay an extra charge to cover the more than €30bn of incentives to invest in renewables […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

China wants to make shale work cheaper; one well costs $14.7 million

BEIJING, Oct. 28 (UPI) — Chinese energy companies are looking for ways to reduce the cost associated with shale natural gas operations, executives say. “We’re … considering cutting the costs by buying domestic drilling equipment [and] drilling wells in a large scale,” Ma Yongsheng, chief geologist for state-owned China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., was quoted as saying by the Platts energy news service Friday. Platts reported it costs approximately $14.7 million to drill one shale natural gas well in the country. Another executive, Jin Shumao, vice president of Chinese energy services company SPT Group, said the cost could be cut in half by the end of the decade. China’s shale reserves are considered more geologically complex than those in the United States, where it costs approximately $3.2 million to drill a shale natural gas well. The U.S. Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration said last week China is the only […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple