New Tech Uses “Microbe-Powered Battery” to Clean Frack Wastewater
It’s always fun and interesting to come across new technology in the oil and gas industry. It seems the industry is forever tinkering, testing, trying new things in an effort to lower costs and make it safer for the environment. Yes, oil and gas companies are concerned about the effects they have on the environment, contrary to what idiots like Mark Ruffalo say. The latest innovation comes from researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder where they have invented a simpler (yet very effective) process to simultaneously remove salts and organic contaminants from the wastewater AND produce additional energy at the same time. The new process uses a “microbe-powered battery” to do its magic. We have the low down, including a copy of the published research…
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It is true that what goes up must come down? As a general rule, yes. That age-old wisdom is manifesting itself in both oil and natural gas production from shale plays. Two days ago our favorite report from our favorite government agency–the Drilling Productivity Report (DPR) from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)–was issued. It shows something we haven’t seen before: negative numbers in some of the production columns for some of the shale plays–in both oil and natural gas. No, the Marcellus and Utica are not in the negative (they will both produce more oil and gas in April than they did in March). However, the rate of increase in production for the Marcellus and Utica, indeed all of the shale plays, is much less than it has been previously. Scaling back on new drilling will, sooner or later, affect production. We’re now seeing it in the numbers…
David Fessler is energy and infrastructure strategist (i.e. stock analyst/researcher) with The Oxford Club–a publisher based in Baltimore, Maryland that publishes the Oxford Resource Explorer, among other financial publications. Fessler spends his days immersed in the energy industry and in the stocks of companies in that industry. Fessler and The Oxford Club have produced a special report called “The Oil Company Death List” which is a list of 19 publicly-traded oil and gas companies that, according to a formula worked out by Fessler, will “die soon.” That is, they’ll go bankrupt if they don’t sell themselves or otherwise sell off major assets. Why? They’re “swimming in debt” and way over leveraged with “ugly balance sheets.” Fessler’s simple formula is all about a company’s debt ratio. When a company’s debts reach 4 times or higher its earnings (EBITDA), that’s a huge red flag. Below we have the list of 19 on the “death list” along with a copy of Fessler’s full report (describing his methodology). The interesting/troubling aspect is that 8 of the 19 are Marcellus/Utica operators–one of which is #1 for highest debt-to-earnings ratios. Some companies in the list surprised us–others did not. Is your favorite Marcellus/Utica driller in the list?…