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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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Chevron agrees to explore Polish shale gas potential

WARSAW, Poland, Dec. 13 (UPI) — PGNiG, a Polish state-owned energy company, said it reached a deal with a Chevron subsidiary to explore for shale natural gas in southeastern Poland. State-owned Polish Petroleum and Gas Mining, known by its Polish initials PGNiG, said the deal was signed in Warsaw with Chevron Polish Energy Resources. PGNiG President Jerzy Kurella said both sides would benefit by sharing the exploration risks, including the possible costs associated with development of the shale gas reserves in southeastern Poland. "We could benefit from the experience of Chevron in the exploration and production of shale gas around the world," he said in a statement Thursday. Chevron said if the exploration effort proves successful, both sides would form a joint venture for further operations in the license areas. Neither company offered an estimate of the reserve potential in the license areas. The Polish government estimates it has […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Natural Gas: Not All It’s Fracked Up to Be?

Natural gas is being touted as a “game changer” and a “bridge to a low carbon economy.” It is an abundant, made-in-America energy source.  It is about half as carbon intensive as coal when burned. The figure below suggests that a natural gas fueled transition to a less carbon intensive economy has already begun. Domestic, energy-related carbon dioxide emissions have declined 12 percent since the peak in 2007. An important driver of this trend is the substitution of natural gas for coal in electricity generation. Of course, this picture gets much more complicated when you look upstream and broaden your perspective to consider not just carbon dioxide -the most prevalent anthropogenic greenhouse gas- but also “fugitive” methane emissions. Methane, the primary constituent of natural gas, can escape during extraction, processing, and distribution. These emissions have the potential to eliminate the carbon advantage of gas over coal and oil. There […]

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Shale gas boom to transform US into chemicals exporter

The US chemicals industry is planning a sharp increase in its exports as a result of the cost advantage created by the shale gas boom , putting pressure on higher-cost competitors in Europe and Asia. The American Chemistry Council, the industry association, predicts in forecasts published this week that US chemicals exports will rise 45 per cent over the next five years, as a result of a wave of investment in new capacity that will be aiming at overseas markets. The US has already shifted from being a net importer of chemicals in 2011 to forecast net exports of about $2.7bn this year, and the ACC expects that to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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What is the real cost of shale gas?

US shale gas production has grown from around 4 billion cubic feet (bcf) per day in 2007 to around 26 bcf/day in 2012 US gross natural gas production  has grown from a plateau of 2 trillion cubic feet (tcf) per month in the period 1995 to 2002 to 2.5 tcf per month in 2012 Some believe this is marching the USA towards energy independence while others believe, owing to costs and decline rates, that this may be an energy bubble At the end of 2011, shale gas accounted for 32% of total US natural gas production (EIA data)   Pre 2008 financial crash, there were roughly 400 rigs drilling oil in the USA and 1600 drilling gas. Today it is roughly 1400 drilling oil and 400 drilling gas The fall in US prices to  while in fact over-production caused a crash in the price in US natural gas to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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New York’s Fracking Hypocrisy Underscores Energy Illiteracy

New York has issued a moratorium for hydraulic fracturing in the portions of the Marcellus Shale that fall within its borders, but the state is benefiting economically and environmentally from the fracking going on in neighboring Pennsylvania, as NPR reported. New York City, for example, has rolled out a program, “NYC Clean Heat, ” to encourage building owners to switch from heating oil to natural gas. One building owner told NPR that by switching, he expects to reduce his building’s energy costs by 50 percent. The abundance of natural gas produced by fracking in places like the Marcellus has driven down prices and made those savings possible. The irony, as NPR points out, is that most New Yorkers oppose fracking: In polls, New York City voters have opposed fracking. “It’s varied anywhere from 1- or 2-point margin of opposition to as much as […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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New York's Fracking Hypocrisy Underscores Energy Illiteracy

New York has issued a moratorium for hydraulic fracturing in the portions of the Marcellus Shale that fall within its borders, but the state is benefiting economically and environmentally from the fracking going on in neighboring Pennsylvania, as NPR reported. New York City, for example, has rolled out a program, “NYC Clean Heat, ” to encourage building owners to switch from heating oil to natural gas. One building owner told NPR that by switching, he expects to reduce his building’s energy costs by 50 percent. The abundance of natural gas produced by fracking in places like the Marcellus has driven down prices and made those savings possible. The irony, as NPR points out, is that most New Yorkers oppose fracking: In polls, New York City voters have opposed fracking. “It’s varied anywhere from 1- or 2-point margin of opposition to as much as […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Bridge Out: Bombshell Study Finds Methane Emissions From Natural Gas Production Far Higher Than EPA Estimates

A major new study blows up the whole notion of natural gas as a short-term bridge fuel to a carbon-free economy. Natural gas is mostly methane (CH4), a potent heat-trapping gas. If, as now seems likely, natural gas production systems leak 2.7% (or more), then gas-fired power loses its near-term advantage over coal and becomes more of a gangplank than a bridge. Worse, without a carbon price, some gas displaces renewable energy, further undercutting any benefit it might have had. Fifteen scientists from some of the leading institutions in the world — including Harvard, NOAA and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab — have published a seminal study, “ Anthropogenic emissions of methane in the United States .” Crucially, it is based on “comprehensive atmospheric methane observations, extensive spatial datasets, and a high-resolution atmospheric transport model,” rather than the industry-provided numbers EPA uses. Indeed, the Proceedings of the National Academy […]

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Poland Eyes Shale-Gas Boom

Poland is planning to speed up its search for shale gas to reduce its dependence on its former overlord, Russia, following the departure of several major U.S. companies from Polish gas fields. Poland is one of the most promising exploration sites for shale gas in the European Union, with enough estimated reserves to allow for decades of production. But so far only several dozen wells have been drilled, with mixed results. The process won’t be without its challenges, though. The country faces stiff opposition from environmental groups that say the hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” of rock formations releases methane, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere and may pollute water tables. Similar opposition in France led the country’s constitutional court to ban the process in October. Germany also looks set to shelve its plans for shale gas as its center-right and center-left parties work on a compromise agenda for their […]

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Marcellus shale gas Bradford Co Pennsylvania: production history and declines

From a standing start in 2009, natural gas production from the Marcellus Shale in Bradford County Pennsylvania (PA) now exceeds 2.2 billion cubic feet (bcf) per day from 728 wells (to end June 2013). To put this in perspective, the UK consumes about 8 bcf per day and so 4 Bradford counties (about 3000 wells) could make the UK self- sufficient. The catches are that Bradford County is a production sweet spot – you have to find the sweet spots before you can produce them. And to keep production going, over a hundred new wells need to be drilled every year. 6 charts below the fold show the production history, average well productivity and decline rates from Bradford County. Figure 1   This chart shows the production stack for 728 Marcellus shale gas wells, Bradford Co. PA. XL would only let me plot about 150 data series and so […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple