Research

  • | | | | |

    Carroll County Anti-Drillers Eager to Help with Air Quality Study

    The anti-drilling group Carroll Concerned Citizens (Carroll County, OH) is only too eager to help out with a new air quality study that will be conducted by the University of Cincinnati (UC) and Oregon State University’s (OSU) College of Medicine in Carroll County. Perhaps a little too eager. Using a grant from the National Institutes of Health, the two universities are teaming up to place passive air quality sampling equipment on properties close to active or recently-completed shale drilling operations. Carroll Concerned Citizens (CCC) is one of the local “partners” that’s “assisting” in the study. Err, yeah. Please tell the CCC volunteers this is a scientific study, K? And tell them to keep their cigarettes at home when they’re out and around checking the air sampling equipment, K?

    The eager-beaver announcement from CCC about the new study:
    Read More “Carroll County Anti-Drillers Eager to Help with Air Quality Study”

  • | | | |

    USGS Study Finds 15% of NY Water Wells Already Have High Methane

    Well, imagine that. Even more scientific evidence has just arrived, courtesy the US Geological Survey (USGS), that there’s a whole lotta methane in the ground in the Southern Tier of New York State. So much methane that 15% of the water wells tested across nearly 2,000 square miles for more than a year by the USGS show methane levels so high that the methane needs to be monitored and/or mitigated. That is, miles away from any fracking or existing gas wells, water wells are saturated with naturally occurring methane. In case you miss the point: Fracking is NOT the cause of methane migrating to water wells in northeast PA and in New York. There is no shale fracking in NY! And yet, there’s methane–so much you can, oh, light your tap on fire?

    What say you now anti-frackers? Yeah, we thought so. There’s NOTHING you can say. Your lies are exposed. Here’s the press release and a full copy of the study released yesterday by the USGS with data from their tests of water wells in NY state:
    Read More “USGS Study Finds 15% of NY Water Wells Already Have High Methane”

  • | |

    EIA Early Release of 2014 Report Shows Plenty of Gas for Exports

    Yesterday the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)–the one government agency MDN actually likes and believes to be effective–released preliminary data and an abridged version of their Annual Energy Outlook (AEO) for 2014 (full copy of the “early release” version embedded below). The full version will be along in Spring 2014.

    So what does the early release version show? U.S. production of crude oil and natural gas will continue to go through the roof–thanks to natural gas. Crude oil production will continue to grow until 2020 or there about, before leveling off. Natural gas? Production increases until at least 2040. In addition, EIA says the increased production in natgas means exports–by both pipeline and LNG carriers–won’t negatively affect domestic prices. That is, EIA report provides justification for further approvals to export American natural gas…
    Read More “EIA Early Release of 2014 Report Shows Plenty of Gas for Exports”

  • | | | | |

    Very Cool Map from ODNR Showing OH Utica Wells Permitted/Drilled

    Last week the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) released a very handy map that shows where Utica Shale drilling is happening in the state. It has different colored dots to denote where permits have been issued, where wells have been drilled, and where wells have been drilled and are now producing. Running along the right bottom corner is a tally (as of 12/6/13) for how many permits have been issued by driller, which now totals over 1,000 permits.

    We really like this map, and you think you will to! Here it is:
    Read More “Very Cool Map from ODNR Showing OH Utica Wells Permitted/Drilled”

  • | | | |

    CU & NOAA Do Fly Over of Marcellus to Measure Methane Leaks

    Is there too much methane leaking from shale drilling operations and electrical generating plants that burn methane in the Marcellus Shale? A plane ride last summer hopes to help answer that question.

    Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration did a fly over of the Marcellus Shale in northeastern PA, along with fly overs in two other major shale plays. They’re still studying the data from they collected. In reading the news story about the study and the fly over, it all appears a bit murky to us. Lots of “estimates” and comparing this study with that study and “top down” and “bottom up” estimates to come up with answers. We like real, hard science. Things you measure–things that are testable and repeatable. Not political science where you spin fanciful theories. Was this fly over and the resulting study the former, or the later? Time will tell…
    Read More “CU & NOAA Do Fly Over of Marcellus to Measure Methane Leaks”

  • | | | |

    WV County Health Dept Investigates Wells for Air Pollution

    Is Marcellus Shale drilling in West Virginia causing elevated levels of cancer-causing benzene (and other pollutants) to spread near well sites? That’s the question being investigated by the Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department. They’ve been sampling air around wells in Ohio County and have concerns, particularly about benzene levels. They’ve sent their findings to Michael McCawley, chairman of the Department of Occupational & Environmental Health Sciences in the School of Public Health at West Virginia University. McCawley, you may remember, has been beating the drum for some time that setbacks for drilling in WV are not enough and that air pollution coming from drilling operations is a serious issue (see WVU Prof Keeps Up Pressure on Improved Air Quality at Drill Sites).

    The source of the benzene is not from what’s coming out of the borehole–it’s from heavy equipment running at the drill site and trucks coming and going to the site. Benzene is found in diesel fuel and a lot of equipment at a drill sites runs on diesel…
    Read More “WV County Health Dept Investigates Wells for Air Pollution”

  • | | |

    ExxonMobil Annual Energy Report: NatGas Fastest Growing Fuel

    Understanding the global energy picture is helpful so we know where the shale energy piece “fits” in that picture. Each year ExxonMobil prepares an annual energy outlook. Yesterday they released the 2014 ExxonMobil Outlook for Energy: A View to 2040 report (full copy embedded below). Some interesting tidbits from the report: ExxonMobil says global energy demand will be 35% higher in 2040 than it was in 2010. Not surprisingly, they figure 60% of the world’s energy needs for the foreseeable future (until 2040) will be met by oil and natural gas, although renewables continue to grow.

    Something else they note of great interest to MDN readers: “Natural gas will continue to be the fastest-growing major fuel source as demand increases by about 65 percent. Natural gas is projected to account for more than one quarter of all global energy needs by 2040 and it is expected to overtake coal as the largest source of electricity.” Here’s ExxonMobil’s press release announcing some of the key findings in this year’s report, followed by a full copy of the report:
    Read More “ExxonMobil Annual Energy Report: NatGas Fastest Growing Fuel”

  • | |

    EIA’s Dec DPR: Marcellus Now Provides 18% of US NatGas

    Our new favorite monthly report from the ace analysts at the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) was issued yesterday–the latest and third installment of the Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). We’ve embedded a full copy of the report below for your viewing pleasure (love the charts they use). The monthly DPR provides key information about how quickly wells decline in production–it’s one report you want to keep a close eye on.

    In addition to the latest DPR below, we’ve also included screenshots for two tables with the raw numbers EIA uses to generate the reports (tables we wish they would include in the monthly DPR). Below the DPR we’re including a bit of analysis work done by the EIA based on the DPR. The EIA analysts say their research shows the mighty Marcellus, as of this month, is producing 18% of all natural gas produced in the U.S. A single play! Truly astonishing. It shows the incredible importance of the Marcellus to our country’s energy infrastructure…
    Read More “EIA’s Dec DPR: Marcellus Now Provides 18% of US NatGas”

  • | | |

    More Global Warming Flummery – Latest Scare Report Issued

    A new report is out on the hazards of global warming…blah blah blah…fill in the blanks. If the warmers detect the general public doesn’t believe as fervently as they used to about global warming–if people are going a little bit squishy and starting to ask uncomfortable questions–it’s time to ratchet up the rhetoric and start talking about impending doom and a coming environmental holocaust. Trouble is, they keep doing it–decade after decade–and the environmental holocaust never seems to arrive. So they have to start blaming hurricanes and big winter storms–things we’ve had for, oh, millions of years–on global warming. Do they really think we’re that stupid?

    And so enters yet another shrill global warming flummery study from the left-leaning National Research Council–because the general population needs another good scare. The compliant New York Times does as good a job as any at trumpeting this latest false alarm. We learn that even though global warming hasn’t really caused any problems yet, when it does, baby it’s gonna happen “all at once” and be “really bad”…honest…
    Read More “More Global Warming Flummery – Latest Scare Report Issued”

  • | |

    Yet Another “The (Methane) Sky is Falling” Study Released

    Yes, MDN has spotted the news circulating around the mainstream media echo chamber that trumpets, OMG!…”fugitive methane” is leaking at, like 50% more than even WE thought in our worst nightmarish dreamworld–and it may be, might, could, possibly be, coming from shale drilling. This latest “scare them while they still believe you” scam comes straight from, yes, another “peer reviewed” so-called “study” published in the prestigious (and it is prestigious) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (or PNAS). The AP/Bloomberg/Reuters et al can’t wait to share this bit of bad news with the general public. Too bad it’s wasted during a holiday week when no one will notice.

    This latest study, which attempts to create a boogeyman where none exists, is titled, “Anthropogenic emissions of methane in the United States.” The new study certainly tickles discredited Cornell professors Robert Howarth and Tony Ingraffea who have spun wild yarns about how coal is better than natural gas because of the “fugitive methane” issue. Unfortunately MDN could not get a copy of this study–not without paying good money (money we’d rather spend on something important, like going to see The Hunger Games). However, our friends at the always-excellent Energy in Depth have scored a copy and have written this insightful review:
    Read More “Yet Another “The (Methane) Sky is Falling” Study Released”

  • | | | | | | | | | | |

    Deloitte & EIA: 90,000 Marcellus Wells Drilled in Next 20 Years

    A new report published by consulting powerhouse Deloitte references (and affirms) U.S. Energy Information Administration’s predictions that it will take at least $5 trillion of investment in the oil and gas sector between now and 2035 to main current levels of oil and natural gas production and meet future demand as it rises. The report is titled “The challenge of renaissance: Managing an unprecedented wave of oil and gas investment.” Unfortunately we couldn’t locate a copy–but reportedly it’s full of interesting facts–like the $5 trillion number.

    Another eye-popping number from the report: Current estimates are that 90,000 Marcellus Shale wells will be drilled over the next 20 years. That kind of activity will spur an unfathomable economic revival in the northeast like we haven’t seen in since, well, forever! The study says while “trillions” will be spent on upstream (drilling), “hundreds of billions” will need to be spent on midstream (pipelines & processing plants) in order to keep up with the production. More from the Deloitte study…
    Read More “Deloitte & EIA: 90,000 Marcellus Wells Drilled in Next 20 Years”

  • | | |

    Anti-Drilling Cabal Issues Biased Report on Marcellus/Utica Jobs

    A collection of highly partisan anti-drillers (people who abjectly hate fossil fuels) get together and issue a “report” that claims to be backed by “research” (a few interviews with a few people in a few counties), and it’s instantly news. The officious sounding and never before heard from Multi-State Shale Research Collaborative has just issued a report saying, “Nah, the Marcellus and Utica Shale industry doesn’t create all that many jobs after all.” Er, right. Who is the Multi-State Shale Research Collaborative? A group of five anti-drilling groups who use the word “nonpartisan” so many times if we had a nickle for every time it appears on their websites…you get the idea. This new league of anti-drillers (“cabal” about pegs it) attempts to appear nonpartisan and above it all. They are not. They are completely partisan on the issue of drilling. How do we know? Look at who funds them and their so-called research on employment: The Heinz Endowments, Hillsdale Fund, Park Foundation, and Stoneman Family Foundation. Need we say more?

    Below are the press release and the full report issued by the cabal. It’s not really worth anyone’s time to read it–we present it to you so you are informed of the latest coordinated and scripted attack against shale drilling–so when you see Reuters/Bloomberg/AP/Gannett et all pick it up and breathlessly report it as real news, you’ll know what you’re looking at. Just more propaganda from the usual suspects…
    Read More “Anti-Drilling Cabal Issues Biased Report on Marcellus/Utica Jobs”

  • | |

    New Report Goes Back to Basics: What is Fracking & Is It Safe?

    Every now and again it helps to take a step back and review the fundamentals–the basics. A wide swath of the American public still doesn’t understand what fracking is, and only reads the occasional headline that seems to paint the picture that shale drilling is negative or dangerous for the environment. Wouldn’t it be great to have a “this is basics of shale drilling and fracking” kind of document? A primer of sorts, that strips out the wild allegations and concentrates on the facts–including facts about the negatives of shale drilling?

    We now have such a document. Earlier this week, the nonpartisan Heartland Institute issued a 36-page primer/research paper titled, “Hydraulic Fracturing: A Game-Changer for U.S. Energy and Economies” (full copy embedded below). This excellent paper answers the “What is it and how does it work?” questions along with environmental safety questions. The paper is written in understandable language and is extensively footnoted (i.e. they offer proof for their statements). Here’s the announcement about this important new resource:
    Read More “New Report Goes Back to Basics: What is Fracking & Is It Safe?”

  • | | | | | | | | | | |

    Marcellus/Utica States Slip in Global Petroleum Survey

    Each year, the Canadian-based Fraser Institute surveys petroleum industry executives and managers (864 of them for 2013) asking them their opinions on the barriers to investing in exploration and production in various geographies across the globe. That is, what makes them more likely or less likely to spend money drilling in a particular location? It’s vitally important to understand what drives investors because without money, drilling doesn’t happen.

    The Global Petroleum Survey, as it’s called, tallies the survey responses and ranks each geography from most desirable place to invest, to least desirable. MDN reported the rankings last year (see Energy Execs Rank Drilling Locations Including WV, OH, PA, NY). A copy of this year’s full report/rankings is embedded below. How did Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and (yes) New York fare this year, compared to last?…
    Read More “Marcellus/Utica States Slip in Global Petroleum Survey”

  • | | | | |

    OH Annual O&G Report: Utica 36% of All Wells Drilled in 2012

    On Tuesday the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) published their 48th annual “McCormac Report”–the 2012 Ohio Oil & Gas Summary report chocked full of charts, maps and statistics about oil and gas drilling in Ohio (full copy embedded below). As you can imagine, a lot of the report is dedicated to Utica Shale drilling. The report covers calendar year 2012, the year when Ohio’s Utica Shale really started to blossom. However, it does not include data for 2013, which is the year when the OH Utica grew up and became a serious shale play contender. Still, there’s lots to love about the McCormac Report, so named for Mike McCormac, the guy who’s been producing it for the past 32 years.

    We learn in the report that in total, $706 million worth of natural gas and oil was drilled in Ohio in 2012. We also learn the state saw it’s longest ever horizontal well drilled–16,664 feet! That’s an astonishing 3.15 miles long (drilled in Jefferson County). And we learn that 36% of all wells drilled in 2012 were Utica Shale wells. Here’s a few highlights from the report:
    Read More “OH Annual O&G Report: Utica 36% of All Wells Drilled in 2012”

  • | | | |

    UC Study: OH Utica’s Most Drilled County – No Water Contamination

    Results from a new scientific study of drinking water in the most drilled Utica Shale county in Ohio, Carroll County, were released last week at a meeting of Carroll Concerned Citizens (anti-drilling group). And what, pray tell, did the study, conducted by researchers at the University of Cincinnati find? “You have very good quality water. There’s no evidence of problems from drilling.”

    Whoops, that story line won’t play well in the mainstream media! We thought that (like Mary and her little lamb) everywhere that drilling went, water problems were sure to follow. What happened to that nursery rhyme thinking? That’s right–it’s a fiction that’s debunked by study after study after study. The UC study is just one more in a long line that proves shale drilling doesn’t contaminate drinking water supplies…
    Read More “UC Study: OH Utica’s Most Drilled County – No Water Contamination”