Research

Economic Impact | Exporting | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Research

Report: Benefits of NatGas Production/Exports for Small Biz
May 6, 2013

The nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy, research and education organization the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council) published a new report last week titled “The Benefits of Natural Gas Production and Exports for U.S. Small Businesses” (full copy embedded below). The report looks at the period 2005-2010 and the rocket growth in jobs and new small businesses created by shale drilling in states like OH, PA and WV–three of the ten states highlighted in the report. It also looks forward to the opportunity for small businesses should the U.S. start to export natural gas.

An overview of the report from the SBE Council:
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

EPA Extends Deadline for Public Input on Fracking
May 1, 2013May 1, 2013

Yesterday, Apr. 30, was to be the final day for the general public to “submit data and scientific literature” to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to assist the EPA with their multi-year study of fracking. However, the EPA posted a notice in yesterday’s Federal Register (see it embedded below) extending the deadline to Nov. 15. A final report from the EPA is due in 2014–no word if this extension will prompt a slippage in that date too.

Why the change in deadline?…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Research

House Members to EPA: More Details on Fracking Research or No $$
April 29, 2013April 29, 2013

On Friday, House Republicans at a hearing of the Energy and Environment subcommittee focusing on fracking raked the EPA representative over the coals because of the agency’s so-called research that has “misled the public” on the environmental and health risks of fracking. The House spent $45 million last year on said research, and the EPA is requesting another $38 million this year. House Republicans want to know more about that research before they’ll spend another dime on it…

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Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Research

Obama Slashes EIA Budget, Nixes Annual Energy Review
April 29, 2013April 29, 2013

The Obama administration, in a juvenile, punitive exercise to punish as many Americans as possible to make a political point about the recent budget sequestration vote to reduce the rate of increase in federal spending by 2%, continues to select key agencies like the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) and now the Energy Information Administration (EIA) to make highly visible, draconian cuts, instead of shaving a dollar or two off the monthly welfare checks for those who refuse to work.

Last week the EIA announced because of budget cuts they will no longer publish their Annual Energy Review and its companion publication, Energy Perspectives—publications they’ve issued for decades. Once again the Obama administration behaves like a petulant child…

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Research | Trucking

Three Ways the Shale Boom will Impact the Trucking Industry
April 22, 2013April 22, 2013

In January, MDN told you about the results of a survey conducted by Benesch, a large law firm with offices in Ohio, Pennsylvania and other oil and gas states, the National Tank Truck Carriers association and the Ohio Trucking Association (see Marcellus/Utica Shale Drilling is Good for Trucking Industry). The survey found shale activity is having a positive impact on the trucking industry, creating an increase in opportunities and profits that is expected to continue into the future. The survey also found significant job growth is a byproduct of shale drilling.

Benesch has written and released a new white paper based on the findings of the survey (embedded below), titled: “3 Ways the Shale Boom Will Impact the Trucking Industry.” The paper is short, well-written, and shows how the growth in trucking is directly tied to the growth in shale drilling—and a harbinger of economic growth for the future…

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Industrywide Issues | Research

API’s 1Q13 Well Completions Report: NatGas Wells Down 26%
April 17, 2013

Although (sadly) MDN does not have access to the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) Quarterly Well Completion Report, we do have the high level takeaway from the first quarter 2013 edition: oil well completions are up 20%, and natural gas well completions are down 26%.

There’s a pretty simple equation at work: Low commodity price = less drilling = fewer completions. When the commodity price of natural gas is low, drillers slow down or stop drilling (as reflected by lower rig counts), and the the less drilling they do, the fewer wells get drilled and completed. The (very) brief press release from API which contains a few interesting numbers:
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

Marcellus Region Contains Huge 33% of All U.S. Recoverable NatGas
April 10, 2013April 9, 2013

The Potential Gas Committee (PGC), a private non-profit organization loosely affiliated with the Colorado School of Mines, performs a comprehensive study of potential supplies of natural gas in the United States every two years. The 2012 study has just been released and it’s truly astonishing. PGC says as of the end of 2012, the U.S. has a technically recoverable resource base of 2,384 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas—the highest number they’ve seen since they started their evaluations 48 years ago. The 2012 number is a whopping 26% increase from just two years ago, when it was 1,898 Tcf. (MDN has embedded a slide presentation below with some useful charts—be sure to check out the chart on page 7.)

Aside from the sheer increase, the other major item to note about the 2012 study is that the PGC credits the Marcellus Shale with pushing the "Atlantic region" of the country to the top as the country’s "richest resource area" with a full 33% of recoverable natural gas. PGC credits the Marcellus Shale for the Atlantic’s rise to prominence. Thank you for fracking!

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Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

New Report: Reasons for U.S. Dramatic Increase in O&G Production
April 4, 2013April 4, 2013

Robert Bryce, an author for more than two decades and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute’s Center for Energy Policy and the Environment has just released an important new report titled, “New Technology for Old Fuels: Innovation in Oil and Natural Gas Production Assures Future Supplies” (full copy embedded below). In the opening of the report, Bryce shares a startling fact: “In 2012, U.S. oil production rose by 790,000 barrels per day, the biggest annual increase since U.S. oil production began in 1859. In 2013, the Energy Information Administration expects production to rise yet again, by 815,000 barrels per day, which would set another record. Domestic natural gas production is also at record levels.”

How and why has production increased so dramatically in the past few years? The obvious (to us) answer is shale, but it’s not that simple. Bryce’s report delves into the confluence of reasons for why oil and gas production has gone up, and will continue to increase for the foreseeable future. His reasons include better technology and better methods of drilling. Here’s the executive summary of the report, which includes his key findings:

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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Research | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

OOGA Report on Ohio Utica Drilling for 2012 – Charts & Maps
April 3, 2013April 3, 2013

At the recent winter meeting of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, OOGA presented the DeBrosse Memorial Report: 2012 Oil and Gas Activity in Ohio. Chock-full of interesting charts and maps showing who drilled wells in Ohio, where they drilled them and how far (distance) the wells were drilled, the report (full copy embedded below) is a must-read if you have an interest in the Utica Shale.

A few highlights:

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Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Research

New Report on Important-but-Overlooked Natural Gas Liquids
April 2, 2013April 2, 2013

The Brookings Institution, one of America’s oldest Washington, D.C.-based think tanks, conducts (and shares) research on a variety of topics, mostly economics-related. Brookings recently released a new report titled: Natural Gas Liquids (full copy embedded below). The report focuses on an aspect of the shale revolution researchers at Brookings believe is often overlooked–but critically important.

From the basics of describing what NGLs are and where they are found to how they are mined and the economics and key players–this short 15-page report does an excellent job of briefing readers without becoming a data dump. Here’s a brief description of the report and a summary of its five key takeaways, from the Brookings website:
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Education | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

Penn State Establishes New Institute for Natural Gas Research
April 1, 2013April 1, 2013

Penn State is one of only 17 U.S. institutions with an accredited petroleum engineering program. As of March, it’s now one of just two with the term “natural gas” in the title of its program. In early March, Penn State announced the establishment of the Institute for Natural Gas Research (INGaR). The new program is a collaboration of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences and the College of Engineering with professors from some other departments too.

INGaR’s aim is to keep Pennsylvania “at the forefront” of the shale gas drilling industry:
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Allegheny County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrialization | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Susquehanna County | Wildlife

USGS Study: Marcellus Drilling Fragmenting Forests in PA
March 28, 2013March 28, 2013

The U.S. Geological Survey earlier this week released a new report raising concerns about Marcellus Shale drilling in the Allegheny Plateau (pretty much the entire Marcellus region). The 38-page report (full copy embedded below) looks at two counties in particular: Susquehanna County in northeastern PA, and Allegheny County in southwestern PA.

Using a series of maps and data, the authors raise concerns that Marcellus drilling, along with drilling for gas in coalbed methane (a similar process), is leading to “forest fragmentation”—a situation where forested areas get “carved up” with roadways and drill pads that lead to limiting the geographic habitat area for some species of animals:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Research

EPA Appoints Panel of Experts to Review Fracking Study Due 2014
March 26, 2013March 26, 2013

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in the midst of a multi-year “research study” of hydraulic fracturing. The aim of the study is to find a way for the EPA to horn in on regulating oil and gas drilling—at the federal level—by using the federal Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act. The feds really really want to find a way to grab away the power to regulate oil and gas drilling from the individual states. The Constitution grants that right to the states alone.

Apparently the EPA study is progressing—to the point they announced yesterday an “independent” panel of experts to “peer review” the EPA’s final report, due in 2014. In advance of looking over the final report, the panel of 31 experts will “provide scientific feedback on EPA’s research in an open and transparent manner.” Yes, let’s hope it is open and transparent.

The EPA announcement from yesterday, including the names of those on the “independent” panel:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Research | Statewide PA

Out of the Shadows: Another New Group Wants to Regulate PA Shale
March 22, 2013March 22, 2013

Apparently the announcement that there’s a new kid in town when it comes to “regulating” Marcellus Shale drilling—The Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD)—has prompted another group to stand up and say, “Me too! Me too! Look at me!”

MDN told you about the launch of the CSSD yesterday (see Important: Drillers & Enviros Form New Group, Launch Cert Program). In today’s Pittsburgh Business Times, we learn of yet another group that until now has met in secret, attempting (like CSSD) to craft new guidelines (let’s call them what they really are, regulations) for Marcellus Shale drilling. This new group is being run by the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute on Politics and includes some of the same participants powering the CSSD as well as Gov. Corbett’s energy executive and a representative from the state DEP. They call their group the “Shale Gas Roundtable.”

Perhaps feeling as though their work may have been upstaged by the CSSD’s announcement, the Shale Gas Roundtable came out of the shadows today…

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Research

IHS Report: Marcellus Dethrones Haynesville as Top Producing Play
March 19, 2013March 19, 2013

Congratulations to the Marcellus. Stand up and take a bow! A new report just released by research company IHS says the Marcellus Shale has now surpassed the Haynesville Shale to be the largest natural gas producing play in the U.S.

Here’s the IHS press release announcing “game-changer” Marcellus report, which includes some interesting highlights:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research | Statewide WV | Wastewater | West Virginia

WVU Study Finds Potential Problems with Frack Wastewater Pits
March 18, 2013March 18, 2013

As part of the West Virginia Natural Gas Horizontal Well Control Act passed and signed into law in December 2011, the state legislature directed the WV Dept. of Environment Protection to conduct several studies. One of those studies, due by Dec. 31, 2012, was the Impoundment and Pit Safety Study. The study was done on Dec. 17, but only recently released to the public (February 15, 2013).

Details are now emerging from the study (full copy of the study is embedded below), including a warning there may be problems with the way oil and gas drillers are building waste pits for shale drilling, and with how state inspectors are checking them:

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