Schlumberger Sells & Exits U.S. Fracking Business – End of Shale?
When the world’s largest oilfield services (OFS) company, Schlumberger, decides to call it quits in the fracking business, you have to ask the question, Is this the end of shale? (It’s not, but that’s what reporters at Bloomberg are hinting.) Yesterday Schlumberger announced a deal to turn over the keys to their U.S. and Canadian fracking business to Liberty Oilfield Services in return for 37% interest in Liberty.
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Last December Columbia Gas of Ohio (NiSource) announced a new $135 million pipeline project to bring new supplies of Utica-sourced natural gas to homes and businesses located north and west of Columbus, in central Ohio (see 
According to one Appalachian producer, small operators of conventional oil and gas wells in Appalachia are facing “an economic Armageddon.” Prices for natural gas are so low operators can’t afford to do anything but the most critical maintenance work. Yet our intrepid operator is hopeful nonetheless. He’s using a new method of “acidizing” wells that (in at least one case) triples gas output. How’d he do it?
What will happen with major natural gas (and oil) pipeline projects after the November Presidential election? You might guess if Biden wins (God perish the thought) there will be no new pipeline projects anywhere, and if Trump wins (our lips to God’s ears) new projects will appear out of the blue. But it’s not quite that simple according to S&P Global Platts.
New York City is home to some 15 “peaker plants”–small electric generating plants that fire up to provide electricity during times of high demand when the regular electric grid can’t handle the load. The plants are fueled mostly by oil, some are fueled by natural gas. NRG Energy wants to convert its old oil-fired peakers with natural gas, which is far cleaner and more efficient. However, a group of hardened Socialist Democrats (actually Communists) who have won primaries over the summer, unseating more moderate Democrats, are demanding all of the peakers be shut down. How’s that for stupid?
MDN is updating our Calendar page more frequently to bring you the latest news on events of interest that have either been canceled, postponed, or in some cases, have gone virtual. We encourage you to review the list. A number of free and low-cost webinars and online events have popped up as an alternative to in-person meetings.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Editorial: Biden’s confusing stand on fracking; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: California survey finds little evidence of methane emissions from abandoned wells; New report details benefits of natural gas for Tennessee families, and businesses–critical for recovery; Hearing begins on whether Vermont Gas pipeline was buried correctly; NATIONAL: Natural gas posts biggest monthly gain in more than a decade; Groups pressure Biden to exclude fossil fuel execs from team; INTERNATIONAL: S Korea’s 9 nuclear plants restarting Sep-Oct to pressure LNG demand.