Univ of Texas to Study Marcellus, Other Shales w/$350K DOE Grant
The University of Texas at Austin has just been awarded a $350,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to conduct an 18-month review of a study they previously did of major American shale gas plays. Hey, getting paid to look at what you previously wrote is good work if you can get it! The previous study, called the “Shale Production and Reserve Study” looked at data from the Barnett, Fayetteville, Haynesville, and Marcellus natural gas plays. However, the data reviewed in the original study was only 4-6 years’ worth of data, depending on the play. Since the original study was completed, UTA-Austin now has access to an additional 2-4 years’ worth of data. In other words, the new data will help confirm, or not, the original conclusions. More data, better results and better conclusions. Here’s what UTA-Austin had to say about the new grant…
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There is precisely one main reason why the United States produces 40% less carbon dioxide now than it did five years ago. Must be the onslaught of solar, right? Nope. How about wind. Yeah, wind power is coming on strong–I see those ugly windmills all over the place now. Must be wind power, right? Nope. Hydro? Nope. Biomass? Nope. There is only one main reason why we pump less CO2 into the atmosphere (if you care about that sort of thing), and it’s this: because fracked shale gas has replaced coal in electric generating plants. You would think environmentalists would celebrate. They don’t and they won’t, pointing out their uber-hypocrisy…
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Farm Bureau organizes NEXUS pipeline meetings in OH; why oil production didn’t tank when oil prices did; North American oil prices still “unsustainable” according to Schlumberger; misleading reports on o&g come in many forms; Shell says gas is the future, it WON’T be traded like oil; and more!
EXCO Resources was once a sizable player in the Marcellus. They still have 145,000 net acres in the Marcellus, with 124 horizontal Marcellus wells drilled and in production. However, EXCO, as we pointed out in March, has pretty much abandoned the Marcellus at this point (see 
In December of last year, one of the biggest and brightest stars in the midstream firmament for the Marcellus/Utica, MarkWest Energy, sold itself to Marathon Petroleum (see 
Landmen, the people on the front lines interfacing between drillers and landowners, are facing tough times. With the slowdown in drilling has come a slowdown in leasing, or re-leasing. Landmen are the guys and gals who perform that duty–and many of them are now doing other jobs, waiting and hoping for the next upturn in the industry. Here’s the story and perspective of one landman who has been in the business for the last 37 years, through five different up and down cycles. Most recently he worked as a landman for Noble Energy–until he was laid off 1.5 years ago…
Is unconventional (i.e. shale) natural gas supply more responsive to price changes than conventional gas? A new research paper suggests that the answer is yes–specifically, almost three times as responsive, because shale gas wells are far more productive (2.7x more) than conventional gas wells. In “Trophy Hunting vs. Manufacturing Energy: The Price-Responsiveness of Shale Gas” (full copy below), researchers from Resources for the Future (RFF), a nonpartisan think tank devoted exclusively to natural resource and environmental issues, takes a look at how the “new way” of drilling multiple wells from a single pad, which is akin to a manufacturing process, is flattening out the supply curve. A flattened supply curve reduces price volatility–the wild up and down swings in the commodity price of natgas. While the focus of the paper is on how shale wells are leading to lower and more stable prices over the long term and does a deep dive into economic models, the paper also contains a good, basic primer on drilling a shale well. We found it a good read and wanted to share it with you…
A new report issued by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce addresses the question, “What If…Energy Production was Banned on Federal Lands and Waters?” (full copy below). The short answer to that question is, it would be an unmitigated disaster for this country. There is a movement underway by radical environmentalists with the catch phrase of “Keep It In The Ground”–meaning we should stop extracting oil and natural gas. It is an acutely ignorant position to take. The report says, “Instituting a ban on future federal-lands leasing and stopping the current production of these resources would increase energy prices for consumers by removing low-cost resources from the available supply stream. The impact would be immediate and severe to the U.S. economy, leading to the loss of hundreds of thousands of American jobs, and robbing the federal government and primarily eastern states of potentially billions of dollars in revenues in the form of lost royalties.” Keep It In The Ground boobs don’t own land and sip lattes at Starbucks in large cities with their radical friends. They don’t care about lost jobs and lost royalty revenue–because it doesn’t affect them. Opposing “nasty, dirty fossil fuels” makes them feel good about themselves. They are dangerously stupid. This report (read it below) illustrates just how catastrophic it would be to ban fossil fuel extraction on federal lands. The report finds that the U.S. economy would lose 400,000 jobs and $70 billion in annual GDP if we were to abandon energy development on public lands, as President Obama and presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton and the entire Democrat Party advocate…
Two week ago the Association of Oil Pipe Lines (AOPL) released a new report documenting liquids pipeline safety performance and outlining industry-wide efforts to improve pipeline safety in 2016 and beyond. “2016 API-AOPL Annual Liquids Pipeline Safety Excellence Performance Report & Strategic Plan” (full copy below) was developed jointly by AOPL and the American Petroleum Institute (API), and it highlights pipeline safety trends over the last five years. In short, pipelines are THE safest form of transportation period. The report finds that 99.999% of crude oil and petroleum products (like gasoline) that are piped reach their final destination safely. Essentially everything makes it to where it’s going safely, contrary to the wild claims by anti-fossil fuel nutters. The Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) quotes from the report in a recent press release to support a number of proposed pipeline projects in the Marcellus/Utica…
It’s no secret that Marcellus and Utica drillers need new pipelines–and they need those pipelines urgently. Especially in Pennsylvania where lack of pipelines is keeping inventories high and prices for natural gas the lowest in the country. However, drillers must deal with reality as it is–today. Pipelines take time to build, and recent efforts to block pipelines are delaying important projects like the Constitution and PennEast pipeline projects. The good news is that some pipeline projects *are* being built in the northeast, some of which are almost done. Drillers like Range Resources are ramping up new drilling now, about six months in advance of when new pipelines are due to go online. That’s about how long it takes to put the pieces in motion. The other good news is that some drillers, like Cabot, are finding new markets that DON’T require new pipelines–like selling a tremendous volume of natgas to new gas-fired electric generating plants situated in close proximity to Cabot’s wells. Here’s an update on which drillers are picking up the pace with the prospect of new pipelines (or new nearby markets), and which drillers are waiting a little longer before they pick up the pace…