MDN editor Jim Willis had the pleasure of visiting France in 2006. It is a breathtakingly beautiful country. Jim found the French people to be personable and easy to deal with (contrary to the popular myth they are arrogant and hate Americans). But hey, that was just one guy’s experience. Maybe you have had a different experience? We’ve written about France’s on again, off again frack ban over the years (see our stories about France here). You won’t have to worry about whether or not France will ever allow fracking. Beginning this fall, the country will stop issuing ANY/ALL permits to drill for ANY/ALL oil and gas–conventional, shale, doesn’t matter. France says it will “transition” to “environmentally-friendly energy.” You know, like solar and wind–even though discarded solar panels are about the same thing as disposing of nuclear waste (an ecological disaster). But appearances are everything for French President Emmanuel Macron and his certifiably-insane government. France currently (as of 2013) gets 44.5% of its energy from oil and gas, the single largest block of energy powering the country. Nuclear is second, at 41%. Wind and solar? Together they make up less than 1% of France’s energy supply! Why is France’s energy suicide an MDN story, other than Jim’s walk down memory lane? Because it’s easy to predict that France will not be able to operate on 100% renewable energy. Not now, not in our lifetime. It is a fact. If France doesn’t allow oil and natural gas exploration INSIDE their country, they will need to import oil and gas from OTHER countries. Enter the Marcellus/Utica with plenty of gas via LNG exports to sell. This is a tip to producers reading MDN to begin negotiating now to sell your gas to France. They’re going to need it…
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MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: PA Sen. John Yudichak named to Senate Environmental Committee; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Buyer mulling stake covering 4 million mt/y of Driftwood LNG supply; Natural gas companies form PAC to fight CMP’s proposed transmission project; Rising Bakken gas production displacing Western Canadian gas on pipes; NATIONAL: Shale revolution ensuring America’s energy security, says GEI; A decade in which fracking rocked the oil world.
If there is one defining characteristic of a truly conservative Republican, it is that he or she does not like higher taxes. On anything. Conservatives know that higher taxes equal less freedom of individual choice. And higher taxes feed (and perpetuate) the bureaucratic Big Government machine. A lower taxes philosophy is baked into the true conservative’s DNA. Yet a group of brainwashed college students professing to be Republican and conservative (they’re neither) has just launched a group called Young Conservatives for Carbon Dividends to lobby for an insane carbon tax.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Future of oil and gas in Ohio Valley looks bright; NATIONAL: Analysis: US oil, gas rig count falls by 4 to 691, Permian totals slide; N. American shale primed for growth despite possible oil price declines; Gas lobby group goes on attack to halt move to ban new hook-ups; Natural gas outpaced renewable energy in reducing greenhouse gases; Moore’s Law misapplied (video); INTERNATIONAL: As Lopez Obrador focuses on oil, U.S. natural gas exports to Mexico soar; Europe was favored destination for US LNG in November amid activity ramp-up.
Landowners in Carroll and Columbiana counties (Ohio) have filed a class action lawsuit against Encino Energy claiming the company underpaid oil and natural gas royalties. Last November Encino Acquisition Partners (i.e. Encino Energy) completed its purchase of all of Chesapeake Energy’s Ohio Utica Shale assets for $2 billion (see