A large number of people are concerned about the hydraulic fracturing methods now being used to produce natural gas from shale. The Environmental Protection Agency announced that it is going to study the potential impact on human health.
In this video CONSOL Energy CEO, Brett Harvey, talks about the company’s purchase of natural gas assets from Dominion Resources. He seems to think highly of the potential for natural gas. A quote: “Natural Gas will be the chosen fuel.” (Consol already owns a lot of coal mines between the surface and the Marcellus Shale which create conflicting land use problems when drilling for natural gas.)
Will the new shale plays still be producing natural gas ten to twenty or more years into the future? This topic was discussed at IHS CERA conference last week in Houston.
Will the natural gas contained in America’s shale be providing energy for the next 100 years? The CERAWeek conference looks at the future of U.S. shale gas.
Statoil has a deal with Tennessee Gas Pipeline to transport natural gas produced from the Marcellus Shale beneath Pennsylvania to New York City and parts of New Jersey. This connection to high population areas along the east coast is part of what makes the Marcellus Shale gas play so important.
Drilling and hydrofracking a well in one of the natural gas plays such as the Marcellus or Haynesville requires at least a million gallons of water with chemical additives and will become salty when it comes in contact with subsurface brines. An article on the Reuters website explores this problem in New York.
Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell proposes a five percent severance tax on natural gas produced from the Marcellus Shale. Although natural gas producers are strongly opposed to the tax, many other states collect similar taxes on resource production.
Rapid development of the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania has state government working to field more inspectors and pass new regulations intended to protect the environment from potential impact of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
The Shale Gas Drilling & Completions 2010 conference will be held in Houston, Texas on May 26 through May 28, 2010. The conference will deliver “key insight into applying cutting-edge drilling and completions techniques used throughout diverse shale projects in the US & Canada. Leading shale producers will share real life examples of their drilling and completions success and challenges – including experience from the Barnett, Haynesville, Horn River, Marcellus, Woodford and Fayetteville shale plays.” Quoted from the conference website.
Members of the House Energy and Commerce panel will examine Exxon Mobil’s plans to acquire significant acreage in the Marcellus, Haynesville and Barnett gas shale plays as part of a deal with XTO Energy. Exxon is concerned about future regulations that will limit the use of hydraulic fracturing to develop these assets.
If you have questions about mineral rights they can be posted at a new and growing forum at www.mineralrightsforum.com. They have active discussions for natural gas shales, oil and gas leasing and much more.
An article on the CNN website explores some of the potential environmental impacts of natural gas wells drilled into the unconventional shale formations such as the Marcellus, Barnett, Fayetteville, and Haynesville. Exxon has a clause in its deal to buy XTO that will allow the company to escape from the deal if federal regulations prohibit hydraulic fracturing or place severe regulations upon it.
Environmentalists are concerned about the impact of hydrofracking on subsurface rock units and waters. Some want to ban the practice and if they are successful the anticipated development of numerous gas shales will be in question.
Exxon’s intention to buy XTO, a leading producer of natural gas from shale, could provide inertia that will move natural gas into the position of a bridge towards renewable energy.
This article in the Washington Post reviews the ongoing debate over the environmental and human impact of hydraulic fracturing, in the development of natural gas reservoirs in shales such as the Marcellus of the Appalachian Basin.
The American Petroleum Institute has a video that explains the horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing processes. It explains the drilling, fracturing, equipment, materials and environmental concerns.
This is an excellent video from an authoritative source.
A few years ago a number of LNG (liquefied natural gas) terminals were being planned to bring foreign natural gas into US markets. Then natural gas drillers began tapping shale reservoirs such as the Haynesville of Louisiana, the Barnett of Texas and the Marcellus of the Appalachian basin. The US natural gas and energy situations have been changed.
An article in the New York Times reports that Chesapeake Energy’s CEO said that they will not be drilling wells in watersheds that supply water to New York City. There are plenty of opportunities elsewhere.
In 2008 New York state government stopped issuing drilling permits to companies developing the Marcellus Shale. Now, one year later, new regulations are available for review. Many companies spent millions for short term drilling rights to see valuable time on their leases expire. The permitting break was to give the state time to revamp the regulations in response to new methods of drilling which had taken them by surprise.
An article on the PennLive.com website reports that a landowners group negotiated a deal with Chesapeake Energy that will pay them $5750 per acre plus royalties for a 37,000 acre package. This is the highest per acre Marcellus Shale payment that we have seen.
An article on the Pittsburgh Live website reports that 1067 Marcellus Shale drilling permits were issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection between January 1 and August 21 of this year compared to 476 permits for all of 2008. Low gas prices have not slowed permitting activity.
“Colorado School of Mines has announced the establishment of the Unconventional Natural Gas Institute (UNGI) for the upstream research and development of natural gas, which is clean-burning, helps minimize greenhouse gas emissions, and is in great supply in the United States.” Quoted from the Colorado School of Mines announcement.
An interesting article at the Financial Times website explores the topic of foreign companies investing in United States natural gas. Billion dollar investments have occurred in which foreign companies have bought major interests in the emerging shale gas plays.
The United States Department of Energy funded nine natural gas from shale projects. Most of them are intended to improve the management of hydraulic fracturing water at shale drilling sites or waste water treatment sites.
The amount of natural gas in storage has skyrocketed above the historic five year range. There is a lot of new gas entering the market and stocks are 517 billion cubic feet above the 5-year range.
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