Geology News
Energy Current Events

When natural gas prices rise heating a home with gas becomes more expensive. Many other activities become more expensive. One concern about exporting natural gas is that lots of people (and industries) will see their expenses go up. An article on the Christian Science Monitor website explores who will see higher prices.

“A new study by scientists at Duke University and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) finds no evidence of groundwater contamination from shale gas production in Arkansas.” Quoted from the Duke University press release.

The UK is the largest producer of oil and the second largest producer of natural gas in the European Union; however, they still are a net importer of both of these fuels.

The Canadian government is spending millions of dollars to rally support for the Keystone XL pipeline from US lawmakers.

Energy companies have submitted permit requests for 20 natural gas export projects. The projects will create jobs, income for natural gas companies and property owners, and improve our trade balance. Opponents believe that exports will increase prices and accelerate the landscape impact of drilling activity.

A natural gas pipeline between the Utica Shale in Ohio and natural gas consumers in Ontario, Canada has been proposed by a group of transmission companies.

A RigZone.com article explains why the natural gas from shale boom that has occurred in the United States is not making much of a bang in many other countries.

In this Arizona Public Media video, Jane Poynter interviews Lee Allison, Director of the Arizona Geological Survey on the benefits of geothermal energy along with how a project led by AGS is making geothermal data and data analysis tools available to the public.

Natural gas is cleaner and more economical as a fuel for passenger vehicles than gasoline, but sales of cars that run on natural gas have been very slow. A Washington Post article explains the problems.

Royal Dutch Shell has made major investments in developing conventional and unconventional natural gas resources in several parts of the world, building LNG terminals to prepare it for distant markets, develop the first floating LNG facility and develop new methods to convert natural gas into liquid fuels.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided not to overturn over 100 years of property transactions in a case involving the ownership of natural gas produced from the Marcellus Shale. Shale gas is not to be treated differently from natural gas produced from a conventional reservoir.

“All the natural-gas industry needs is a gizmo in the basement of your house to convert your natural gas into electricity. “

The Christian Science Monitor has an article that explains how some trucking companies are turning away from diesel fuel in favor of natural gas and how that switch can mean lower prices (and cleaner air) for you.

Utility companies, city governments, county governments, school districts, and trucking companies are building CNG fueling stations in North Carolina. In addition to serving their owners, the pumps are available to dispense CNG to the public.

The amount of natural gas being imported from eastern Canada into the United States has dropped to about 1/2 of the average of the previous five years.

As recently as 2008, most of the drilling activity in the United States was being done with vertical wells. Today most of the wells being drilled are horizontal.

Stranded gas is natural gas in discovered conventional gas and oil fields that is currently not commercially producible for either physical or economic reasons. USGS has published a new report titled: Role of Stranded Gas in Increasing Global Gas Supplies.

The United States Geological Survey has published: “Landscape Consequences of Natural Gas Extraction in Allegheny and Susquehanna Counties, Pennsylvania, 2004–2010″. This document explains metrics used to assess the disturbance caused by drilling pads, access roads, pipelines and other gas related activities.

China has more oil and natural gas in shale than the United States but they have produced very little. Instead they are joint venturing with companies working in the United States to learn about the technology.

“The oil and gas industry pays the federal government approximately $86 million a day – or about $31 billion a year – in rents, royalties, bonuses and corporate taxes. That doesn’t even include the payments made at the local and state levels.”

“Conventional geothermal wells tap underground reservoirs of hot water and convert the heat into steam, which drives electricity-producing turbine. With enhanced geothermal, fluids are pumped underground to fracture underground rock and stimulate the flow of liquids across hot rocks.”

Since 2008, foreign companies have entered into 21 joint ventures with U.S. acreage holders and operators, investing more than $26 billion in tight oil and shale gas plays.

Marvin Odum, president of Shell Americas, says that natural gas producers should promote the use of their fuel by using it to power their equipment and supporting LNG export to higher-price markets.

The State of Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission has a new website that reveals information about the source and distribution of Marcellus Shale drilling impact fees.

A Royal Dutch Shell executive makes a case for exporting light crude oil instead of building new refining capacity.

The oil and gas industry in France is disappointed that the government banned hydraulic fracturing while the geothermal industry is allowed to use acid fracking to develop their wells.

Some oil industry experts believe that the potential exists for an enormous unconventional oil and natural gas field beneath parts of Alaska’s North Slope.

The Energy Information Administration reports on the falling natural gas production rates from the Gulf of Mexico and the plummeting share of United States natural gas being produced in the Gulf.

India is the fourth-largest energy consumer in the world, has the tenth-largest economy, and the third largest economy when GDP is adjusted for inflation and purchasing power. This inflation-adjusted GDP has grown at over 7% per year since 2000

Two large coal mines in Wyoming accounted for 20% of United States coal production in 2012.