Research

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    The Big Change from Coal to Natgas in Electric Generating Plants

    We take no pleasure, as some do, in the demise of the coal industry. Yes coal pollutes more than other fossil fuels, but there are newer technologies that can be used to ease emissions from coal. But it seems it is an uphill battle and a battle that is (unfortunately) already lost. Once “environmentalists” have put the last nail in the coffin of the coal industry, they’ll be sharpening their axes to come after natural gas. It’s already starting to happen. However, the fact remains that many coal-fired electric generating plants in the U.S. are in the process, or soon will be, of converting to use natural gas. It’s good news for natgas, but the good news comes at the expense of coal. SNL Energy has just published a report tracking the conversion of these plants–plant by plant–from coal to (mostly) natgas…
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    Study Says Series of Unfelt Earthquakes in OH from Utica Fracking

    Another day, another “study” that says fracking causes earthquakes–this time in Ohio’s Utica Shale. In typical and now predictable fashion, mainstream media does a “drive-by” with the information–like a drive-by shooting–and then continues on its merry way. Here at MDN we’ll break it down and explain it so you have ALL the facts and not anti-drilling “impressions” of what the data says. First off, an admission that we don’t (yet) have a full copy of the newly published study, which has reportedly been published in the journal Seismological Research Letters (but which we can’t find on their website). We’ve requested a full copy of the paper and are awaiting it and hope to share it with you when we get it. The study is titled, “Characterization of an earthquake sequence triggered by hydraulic fracturing in Harrison County Ohio” and looks at a series of “400 earthquakes” that were so tiny as to be unfelt by anyone–but detectable by finely tuned equipment. The earthquakes happened in Harrison County, OH and are thought (but not proven) to be the result of fracking several Utica wells over top of a previously unknown geologic fault. The author of the study himself says the earthquakes couldn’t even be felt by anyone…
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    IL Study Finds Marcellus Shale Created 45K Construction Jobs

    The director of the labor education program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Dr. Robert Bruno, recently published recently published a new study titled, “Study of Construction Employment in Marcellus Shale Related Oil and Gas Industry” (full copy embedded below). The study looks at natural gas/Marcellus Shale employment data from 2008-2014 for parts of OH, PA, and WV. The study found that the number of jobs for electricians, plumbers, welders, equipment operators and laborers–skilled people who work with their hands–went through the roof because of the Marcellus Shale. Over 45,000 new construction jobs linked to the Marcellus were created. In one year, from 2012-2013, spending in the Marcellus area on construction and maintenance grew over 60%!…
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    EIA Report: Marcellus Exceeds 16 Bcf/d, Produces 37% of Shale Gas

    Yesterday the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released the latest monthly Drilling Productivity Report (DPR)–our favorite government agency and our favorite report. The October report, which makes predictions of volumes for November, shows the Marcellus Shale’s output of natural gas pushing by 16 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), which is more than twice the output of any other shale play (the next highest is the Eagle Ford producing just over 7 Bcf/d). Another amazing number: the output from the Marcellus represents 37% of all shale gas output in the U.S. Below is the full October DPR…
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    WRI Plan to Save the World from Carbon & Methane in 5 Easy Steps

    Another save the world fantasy report has just been released by the World Resource Institute (WRI). According to a new “study” titled “Seeing is Believing: Creating a New Climate Economy in the United States” (full copy embedded below), if you just wave the magic wand of government and create regulations to restrict carbon and methane, the world will be a better (cleaner) place, and it will cost us all a lot less. That’s the theme of the report. Complete fiction and fantasy–but then, we all like a good story, right? One helpful recommendation: capping so-called emissions of carbon (the stuff you breathe out with every breath) in 9 northeast/mid-Atlantic states will create 16,000 jobs and pump $1.6 billion into the economy. Only in liberal la la land do these kinds of statements get taken seriously. Another one: “Cost-saving” measures can reduce “waste” in existing natural gas systems, saving 25% of the methane that gets “leaked” into the atmosphere. Just adopt the EPA’s draconian rules that call for dry-seal centrifugal compressors, low-bleed pneumatic devices, and install infrared cameras everywhere to detect and repair leaks. Price tag? According to WRI, just a few measly pennies per thousand cubic feet of natural gas. No sweat. Again, only in liberal la la land do these conditions exist…
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    US Natgas Production Smashes New Record in September

    According to Platts’ Bentek Energy analytics division, September was a record-breaking month for natural gas production in the lower 48 states. In fact, it was an all-time record high. In September, the U.S. produced an average 69.1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas. That’s up 7.4% from a year ago September. Contrary to the naysayers and “peak oil/gas” theorists, there’s no end in sight…
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    Ohio U Researcher Gets Extra $1.45M to Finalize Wastewater Tech

    An ongoing criticism of shale drilling is that the wastewater produced in the process–both the wastewater from fracking and then later, the naturally occurring water from the depths that comes out (called brine or produced water) needs to go someplace. Recycling it increasingly happens–but there’s still a lot that gets disposed of via injection wells. MDN recently told you about an incredible breakthrough technology that turns the nastiest frack wastewater into (yes) drinkable water in about a half hour (see Exclusive: Breakthrough Tech Cleans Frack Wastewater < 30 Minutes). Keystone Pure Water Tech, the company pioneering this new technology, is not the only company to work on cracking the recycle-it-at-the-well-pad technology. A researcher at Ohio University, Dr. Jason Trembly, has been working for two years on the same problem. He got an initial grant/investment of $2 million, and yesterday he got another $1.45 million to complete the project and get his technology released…
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    Inconvenient Global Warming Fact: Avg Temp Hasn’t Risen in 18 Yrs

    We don’t take on the issue of global warming often because of the fervent, religious-like reaction of those who believe in it. Heavy doses of truth coming too fast may cause an aneurysm. However, the issue of global warming is often at the very center of opposition to shale drilling because shale drilling extracts a fossil fuel (natural gas) and burning fossil fuels is, irrationally, verboten for the so-called climate-change faithful. The theory is that burning fossil fuels pumps more carbon into the atmosphere where it gets trapped creating a greenhouse effect, causing earth’s temperatures to rise. Nice theory–the problem is the facts don’t match the theory. The big problem for warmists is that the earth’s so-called average temperature (we still haven’t figured out where they stick the thermometer for that one) hasn’t warmed now for 18 years–which, according to the Global Warming Policy Forum, is creating a “crisis of credibility” for scientists who pedal the man-causes-global-warming theory…
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    Coming Change from Coal to Natgas to Power Electric Plants

    Consulting firm ICF International is out with their fourth quarter ICForecast Energy Outlook in which they look at U.S. energy markets and the impact of regulations, prices and the availability of various energy sources over the near-, medium- and long-term. ICF is, of course, attempting to sell their service to government and corporate customers. We don’t have a copy of the full report, but we do have their press announcement which contains some very interesting high-level numbers that caught our eye. Among them is the amount of electricity generated by coal that is due to go offline over the next few years due to draconian new rules established by the overreaching federal Environmental Protection Agency. The amount of gigawatts due to go offline is…
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    Maryland Risk Assessment for Shale Drilling Finds Little Risk

    The Maryland Dept. of the Environment and the Dept. of Natural Resources–the two state agencies charged with researching and evaluating whether or not hydraulic fracturing in shale and tight formations in Maryland should be allowed–turned in an important report on Friday. The report is part of a years-long evaluation process that is, hopefully, nearing an end. We always made fun of Maryland as being “more dysfunctional than New York” when it comes to fracking. Guess what? New York is even more dysfunctional than Maryland! It’s now looking like Maryland may actually begin to frack before New York. The 241-page report released Friday is titled “Assessment of risks from unconventional gas well development in the Marcellus Shale of Western Maryland” (full copy below). In it the two departments break down the drilling process from beginning to end and assess risks, to people and the environment, at each stage of the process. The short version, which won’t make anti-drillers happy, is that shale drilling can be done safely–with minimal risks…
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    Cornell Grad Students Publish Well Water Study from Upstate NY

    Some real science coming from Cornell University–who knew it was possible? Normally we associate the discredited theories of professors Robert Howarth and Anthony Ingraffea with the storied Cornell. They claim burning coal is better for the environment than burning natural gas (see Forbes Article Exposes Cornell Prof Howarth and His “Research”). It took a grad student at Cornell to conduct some real, fundamental, in-the-field research that will benefit Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling–IF it ever happens in New York. Doctoral student Lauren McPhillips is the lead author of a research paper recently published in the Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies. The study is titled “Assessing dissolved methane patterns in central New York groundwater” (full copy below). McPhillips and her fellow researchers recorded the chemicals found in 113 water wells in Chenango County, NY, to serve as a baseline when/if widespread shale drilling comes to the county…
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    Exxon “Shale is Worth the Risks” Report for Shareholders

    For years now environmental activists/wackos have been “demanding” that companies like ExxonMobil and Chevron disclose the “risks” involved with shale drilling (see this 2011 MDN article: Exxon Mobil, Chevron Face Shareholder Questions about Environmental Impact of Hydraulic Fracturing at Annual Meetings). A number of left-leaning pressure groups continuously attempt to get big investors to dump their shares in fossil fuel companies, sometimes succeeding (see United Church of Christ Votes to Divest from Fossil Fuel Companies). The pressure has become intense. Earlier this year, the mafia-like New York State Comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, who happens to be the sole person in charge of the enormous New York State Common Retirement Fund, brought his considerable pressure to bear. DiNapoli threatened to dump the fund’s $1.02 BILLION worth of Exxon Mobil stock unless the company writes up a report on the potential hazards of unconventional drilling (see Exxon Mobil Shaken Down by NYS Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli). Exxon complied and has just released their report (full copy below)…
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    GWPC Report on State Efforts to Protect Ground Water from Drilling

    An updated study from the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) shows that the 27 states with active oil and gas drilling, which represents 98% of all oil and gas drilling in this country, are doing a very good job and getting better year after year with protecting ground water supplies. Which is a direct slap in the face of big government and federal regulators who want to do more micromanaging of the states when it comes to oil and gas drilling. The GWPC believes oil and gas regulation happens best at the state level and the study finds, “State regulators place great emphasis on protecting water resources from adverse impacts that can occur during oil and natural gas exploration and production (E&P) activities.” Below is the press announcement releasing the new study, along with a copy of the 122-page study, titled “State Oil & Gas Regulations Designed to Protect Water Resources”…
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    IHS Shale Supply Chain Study: 56 Sectors, 524K Jobs, Major Impact

    Last week an important new shale supply chain study was released by top flight research firm IHS, or Information Handling Service, the publisher of choice for the American Petroleum Institute (API). The IHS study is titled “Supplying the Unconventional Revolution: Sizing the Unconventional Oil and Gas Supply Chain” (main report below). The supply chain is composed of all of those companies supplying goods and services to the shale industry that are not oil and gas producers. The report finds employment related to unconventional oil and gas production in shale supply chain companies totaled 524,000 jobs in 2012 and is expected to grow 45 percent to 757,000 jobs in 2025, equal to 41% of total direct and indirect employment in the shale industry. Conversely, the total number of jobs across the country directly attributable to the shale industry is 1.3 million. It’s not an overstatement that the shale revolution is the only thing that has kept the American economy out of the crapper over the past six years. Let’s dig in to this terrific report from IHS…
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    GAO Issues Report on Class II Injection Well Fluid Info Collection

    Several anti-drilling U.S. senators and congressman requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) conduct research and issue a report to describe what information the federal EPA and the individual states collect from class II injection well operators on the characteristics of injected fluids. That is, the Dems wanted the GAO to write a book report on just how nasty and vile the chemicals are from oil and gas drilling that get injected deep into the earth, never to return, and how those nasty chemicals may one day pollute all of our drinking water supplies. The Democrat staffers at the GAO were only too happy to comply. Both Pennsylvania and Ohio’s programs are part of the “study”…
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    Natgas Used for Heating Homes Up in Northeast, Down Elsewhere

    An article published last week by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) in their always-excellent Today in Energy online publication compares how different parts of the U.S. heat their homes. Three of the four regions in the U.S., including the northeast, primarily use natural gas as their primary heating fuel. However, only the northeast is seeing an increase in natgas use for home heating. All of the other areas of the country are seeing a decline in natgas use. Instead, they’re using more electricity. And how, you may ask, is electricity being produced? Yep–natgas and coal, primarily…
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