Chinese Study Claims CO2 Better than Water in Fracking
From time to time MDN highlights new technologies used in shale drilling. We’ve talked about companies developing alternatives to water as a fracking fluid, things like liquefied petroleum gas (LPG or propane) fracking (see eCORP Tests New Waterless LPG Fracking Method on First Shale Well), and using baby oil as a fracking fluid (see ecorpStim Successfully Fracks PA Marcellus Well Using Baby Oil). Chinese researchers claim they’ve tested fracking with carbon dioxide (CO2), and it works better than water and is (somehow) better for the environment.
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Our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, collects data on all aspects of the U.S. energy industry. We spotted a newly updated spreadsheet issued by EIA that lists all “liquids” pipeline projects from 2010 to the present (and planned into the future). That caused us to look for another spreadsheet EIA produces (also recently updated) showing all natural gas pipeline projects from 1996 to the present (and planned). Jackpot! We culled both lists and have pulled out just those projects (below) for the Marcellus/Utica.
ExxonMobil recently signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) to help fund both operations to the tune of $100 million over the next 10 years, looking to bring biofuels and carbon capture and storage to commercial scale across the transportation, power generation and industrial sectors. That is, to bring to market new tech that lowers carbon dioxide emissions. All in the name of stopping non-existent, man-made global warming.
A new study just published in the peer reviewed journal Geophysical Research Letters by an international team of researchers finds that natural gas “has half the carbon footprint of underground coal mining.” The researchers looked at (did measurements of, actual real science) methane in the atmosphere by flying transects over the southwestern portion of Pennsylvania and adjacent portions of West Virginia and Ohio. Marcellus/Utica central. One of the researchers from Penn State said this about the findings: “Obviously, renewable energy would be better, but there is no debate, switching to natural gas is worth it in the short run.”
Anti-fossil fuel fanatics attempting to ban natural gas extraction, the pipelines that flow it, and even end-use of natgas have blathered on for years that “
A year ago we told you about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launching a new study examining the possibility of treating oil and gas wastewater and (gasp) releasing the cleaned-up wastewater into lakes and rivers, instead of injecting it back down holes in the ground (see 
In the coming month, the U.S.’s seven major shale plays will produce a cumulative 80.7 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas, the first time shale production has passed that milestone. Yesterday our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, issued our favorite monthly report, the Drilling Productivity Report. The DPR is a forecast of oil and gas production in the country’s major shale plays for the coming month, made by the expert number crunchers at EIA. The Marcellus/Utica is forecast to increase production an amazing 1/3 Bcf in the next 30 days, for a second month in a row.
Last week the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) released its annual State of the Markets report–for 2018. The report summarizes FERC’s assessment of natural gas, electric, and other energy market developments during the past year. The revelation (for us) coming from the report was in reading that although the U.S. had record high natural gas production and demand last year (from electric generation and LNG exports), the growth in demand for natgas outpaced the growth in production.
Our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, published a post yesterday with information that’s sure to make anti-fossil fuelers go nuts. Even with increased use of so-called renewables and a major emphasis on conserving energy, America’s overall energy usage went up 4% in 2018 to a new, all-time high. Not only that, but America’s use of dreaded fossil fuels also went up by 4% last year!
Yesterday our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, issued our favorite monthly report, the Drilling Productivity Report. The DPR is a forecast of oil and gas production in the country’s seven major shale plays for the coming month, made by the expert number crunchers at EIA.
What will Pennsylvania’s future with respect to energy look like 25 years from now? What role will shale gas play? And how will that role affect the state? A group of 35 people began to study that question in the summer of 2017 and the end result, a new study, has just been released (full copy below). According to the study’s results, there are two distinct paths PA can take, resulting in two very different outcomes.
If you’ve hung around MDN for long and read our posts on the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) monthly Drilling Productivity Report (DPR), you’ve come across talk about DUCs–
The International Energy Agency has just released its latest assessment of global energy consumption and energy-related CO2 emissions for 2018. The “Global Energy & CO2 Status Report” (full copy below) provides a high-level and up-to-date view of energy markets, including latest available data for oil, natural gas, coal, wind, solar, nuclear power, electricity, and energy efficiency. The big winner in 2018 across Planet Earth? Natural gas.