2016 Intl Energy Risk Report: US More Energy Safe than Ever
Each year the U.S. Chamber of Commerce issues an energy security risk report. The latest “Annual International Index of Energy Security Risk” (full copy below) shows the U.S. has jumped up the list by two spots in the world’s top 25 largest energy users. The jump up the list means the U.S. continues to improve its energy security. Why? According to the report–because of the miracle of hydraulic fracturing of shale. The report not only reviews America’s energy risk, but the risk for other countries as well. Who’s safe? Who’s vulnerable?…
Read More “2016 Intl Energy Risk Report: US More Energy Safe than Ever”
Baker Hughes released their monthly rig count, for May, yesterday. While the worldwide rig count went up by 9, it continued to crash here at home in the U.S. May’s rig count in the U.S. was down another 7% (in one month), from April’s count. Sadly the trend was the same in the northeast. While PA’s count averaged the same month over month–16 active rigs–both OH and WV slid, with 10 rigs operating in each state. Overall the Marcellus/Utica rig count was down by 3 in the past month…
A new report just issued by Global consulting and research firm IHS, says that Canadian oil sands and U.S. “tight oil” (i.e. shale oil) production have “become the twin pillars of North American energy security.” Canada’s oil sands the shale in U.S. represent 95% of the growth in North American oil production from 2009-2015. Over the same time we reduced our dependence on offshore oil imports by 40%. Folks, this is HUGE. Fracking of shale is nothing short of a miracle in our country. For Crazy Bernie Sanders to shout, as he did at a rally in California last week, that “We are going to ban fracking all across this country” is insanity itself. Can you imagine if that fossil actually became President and signed an Executive Order banning all fracking? Hillary Clinton’s position is essentially the same as Crazy Bernie’s. Loony tunes. For the first time since the oil shocks of the 1970s when OPEC began to royally screw us over, we now can tell OPEC where to go pump their oil. You can see why Obama’s decision to deny the Keystone XL Pipeline from Canada is so stupid and damaging to our energy security…
A few weeks ago MDN brought you the news that the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued onerous new regulations on capturing every last molecule of methane all along the route from wellhead to burner tip (see 
Strong demand from electric power generators will push natural gas demand this summer up by an estimated 4 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), according to a new report from the Natural Gas Supply Association (NGSA). However, even though there’s more demand, because supplies are so bountiful, the price of natural gas over the summer is actually expected to go down, not up. Using published data and independent analyses, NGSA evaluated the combined impact of weather, economic growth, customer demand, storage inventories and production activity on the direction of natural gas prices for the summer of 2016 compared to last summer. The NGSA says summer 2016 will see a “remarkable growth in demand.” Even so, NGSA expects “downward pressure on prices compared to last summer.” Bummer. It’s great news for consumers and power generating plants. But not so good news for drillers. Below we have a full copy of the NGSA report…
CNBC, not known for being an objective news source (witness the Republican debate debacle earlier this year), conducted a survey among 22 strategists, traders and analysts on the topic of the price of oil. MDN sometimes covers oil stories because natural gas oil are joined at the hip. Often the same E&Ps that drill for oil also drill for gas. And when you drill a hole in the ground, you get what you get–not only oil, but “associated gas” and gas liquids. Hydrocarbons of all kinds come out of the holes drilled. So it pays to pay attention to the oil market and what’s happening with the price of oil. According to the CNBC survey, those responding said overall they expect drilling to pick back up with the price hitting $50 per barrel. But they also said it won’t really pick up in earnest until the price hits $60 per barrel. Roughly half expect the price of oil to remain in the $40-$50 range until the end of 2016, with the other half thinking it will go higher. Only 9% believe come Dec. 31 the price will be at or above $60/barrel…
We’ve previously written about the so-called fossil fuel divestment movement–a push to get investors to dump stocks in oil and gas companies in a bid to bankrupt those companies (and send us all back to the energy Stone Age). Major universities hold huge investments of all kinds, including in fossil fuel companies. The crazies are pressuring them to dump those stocks. To their credit, the leaders of Cornell University said they will keep their fossil fuel investments (see 
In December MDN called attention to a newly published study by researchers at Dartmouth College (see 
The United States remained the world’s top producer of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons in 2015, according to our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). U.S. petroleum and natural gas production first surpassed Russia in 2012. The U.S. has been the world’s top producer of natural gas since 2011 and the world’s top producer of petroleum hydrocarbons since 2013. We’re not only the Saudi Arabia of natural gas, we’re the Saudi Arabia of oil too! We love gloating about the fact that we’re #1 in the world! Energy = freedom. Fossil fuels = energy. Therefore, fossil fuels = freedom. If there’s a single word that still (for now) describes the good old U.S. of A.–it’s freedom. Tell the anti-American, anti-drillers to put that in their bongs and smoke it! Here’s the great news from EIA that we’re still the one…
In the past 12 months, some 27% of all E&Ps (exploration and production companies, what we call “drillers”) have defaulted on some of their bonds–the debt they owe. That’s huge. According to Fitch Ratings, before we turn the corner, they expect that number to grow to 30-35% of E&Ps. Defaulting on bonds doesn’t necessarily mean a company has filed for bankruptcy, but a plethora of bankruptcies have, according to Fitch, driven the bond default number way up. Here’s the latest on bond defaults and the sentiment that “it’s going to get worse before it gets better” from Fitch…
New research from the once-great Duke University actually supports shale drilling for a change–instead of denigrating it. In the past researchers from Duke, using money from the odious Park Foundation, have been bought off in their research efforts. This latest research, which concentrates on the benefits to local governments from shale drilling, wasn’t funded by Park and appears to be objective for a change. Two Duke U researchers conducted a three-year research project (between 2013-2015) funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. They traveled far and wide, to 16 states and interviewed over 200 local government officials along with gathering data and facts. The conclusion: on balance oil and gas drilling benefit local communities…
What has happened to one of the world’s finest research universities? A press release issued yesterday by Penn State touts their participation in helping set up a seismic monitoring system throughout Pennsylvania. In the announcement, Penn State researchers openly admit this about a series of tiny quakes in western PA that couldn’t be felt at the surface: “We have not done enough analysis of the data to make any conclusions yet, but there is a correlation spatially and temporally between the fracking and the earthquakes.” In other words–“We haven’t actually done the research, but we’re going to say there’s a connection between fracking and earthquakes–because we feel like it.” That’s not science–that’s politics. Real scientists observe first, then conclude. Penn State is reversing that order–they already have their conclusions, now it’s just a matter of warping the observations to fit their conclusions. Sad…
Here’s a little good news, for a change. Research firm Grand View Research (headquartered in San Francisco) has just published a pricey new research report (a single copy will set you back $4,700) that projects the global hydraulic fracturing market will be worth $81 billion by 2024–in just eight short years. Grand View’s researchers say much of that value/revenue will come in the “plug and perf” (i.e. fracking) part of the industry. It will be driven primarily by two countries–the United States and (wait for it….) China. We haven’t heard a lot about fracking in China, but that country is definitely making major moves to unlock vast shale reserves beneath its soil. The Chinese don’t have to worry about silly things like getting permission from citizens–not in a brutal dictatorship like China. They just do it. Although we haven’t seen the full report ourselves, Grand View has shared some of the key, high level insights they gleaned from their research. Here are some interesting facts and tidbits…
Creditsafe USA, which calls itself the world’s “most used supplier” of company business intelligence, on Tuesday released what they call “startling statistics” about “the troubled oil and gas sector.” They are, of course, trying to sell subscriptions to their service by releasing this “news.” However, we found their press release interesting, for a couple of reasons. One reason is because Creditsafe’s research shows that the oil and gas sector contributed a staggering, words-can’t-even-describe-it $220 billion to the U.S. economy in 2015. It represents a “significant percentage” of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). The big problem they identify is that oil and gas companies are starting to drop like flies–declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy. What lies ahead for our economy if that trend continues?…