story first appeared on usatoday.com
Political obstacles to oil and gas production are starting to fall away at the state and local levels as voters, elected officials and courts jump on the energy boom bandwagon.
Voters are rewarding local politicians who support production. Ballot measures are distributing potential tax windfalls broadly. And most state legislatures are focused on managing the economic and environmental consequences of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, so the drilling boom can speed up rather than slow down.
The trend is crucial to the nation's energy future because oil and gas production is regulated and taxed almost entirely by state and local governments. The federal government's role is largely advisory, except on federal lands and on pipelines.
Most states were caught off guard when fracking turned Pennsylvania into a major natural gas producer in 2009. Fracking could produce oil or gas in as many as 36 states. Result: The USA will become the world's No. 1 producer of natural gas in 2015 and oil in 2017, overtaking Russia and Saudi Arabia, respectively, predicts the International Energy Agency.
Clearing the way:
Elections. Pro-drilling candidates are winning at the local level, including a sweep in southern New York. It is a hot issue, according to Broome County executive Debbie Preston, who won re-election Nov. 6. She's creating a department to help drillers. The state now has a moratorium on fracking.
Pipelines. The industry is winning approval to build pipelines. Williams Partners. the largest pipeline company, got a thumbs-up Nov. 7 to expand one pipeline and has applied to build another to move natural gas to Boston and New York City.
Even the controversial Keystone XL pipeline from Canada looks more likely. Pro-pipeline Democrat Heidi Heitkamp, winner in North Dakota's U.S. Senate race, predicts federal approval early next year.
Natural Resources Defense Council lawyer Kate Sinding says loopholes in federal law make it hard to stop fracking.
Showing posts with label Oil and Gas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oil and Gas. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Iraq Auctions Off Oil & Gas Regions for Exploration
Story first appeared in Bloomberg Businessweek.
Kuwait Energy Co., Dragon Oil Plc and Turkiye Petrolleri AO won rights to explore an oil block in Iraq’s first sale of exploration rights since the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein.
The group won rights to Block 9, the second area offered, which is located in the south of the nation near the border with Iran. No bids were received for Block 2, a gas region that was the first to be auctioned in Baghdad today.
The country aims to produce free gas to meet the internal consumption and export the surplus and to increase the oil reserves from this round of auctions. The fourth round bids will be competitive and include the participation of 47 companies from 25 countries.
The auction marks another step in an energy-industry revival that has vaulted Iraq into third place among the 12- member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, nine years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Hussein. In its three previous bid rounds since 2003, Iraq auctioned rights to produce at oil fields already discovered or in operation, whereas today’s is for new exploration. The Gulf state has boosted crude output to more than 3 million barrels a day and is poised to overtake Iran as OPEC’s No. 2 producer within months.
Iraq is auctioning oil and natural-gas exploration rights in six areas today and will conclude bidding on six more tomorrow. The blocs to be offered today are numbers 2, 9, 6, 12, 1 and 11, according to a program handed to reporters at the hall in Baghdad where the auction is being held. Three of those are oil and three gas.
Production from the 12 areas will result in revenue of $5 trillion over the next 20 years with 94 percent of the income going to the government.
Companies that win the bidding won’t own the resources that they may find. Iraq is offering service contracts that pay its partners a fee for each barrel of crude produced, whereas oil companies tend to prefer production-sharing agreements under which they are compensated with a share of their output.
Another potential source of concern for investors is an impasse over the sharing of oil revenue between the central government and the Kurdish region in northern Iraq.
The dispute threatens projects of Exxon Mobil Corp. and other investors. Companies operating in the self-ruled Kurdish area are barred from taking part in tomorrow’s auction because the central government didn’t approve the production-sharing agreements they signed with the Kurds. Exxon, which agreed to explore in the Kurdish region, is banned from bidding.
The following 47 companies were pre-qualified by Iraq’s government to participate in the auction, according to the Oil Ministry website. The director general of the legal department in the oil license and contracts directorate, said today that 38 companies bought data on the areas.
Kuwait Energy Co., Dragon Oil Plc and Turkiye Petrolleri AO won rights to explore an oil block in Iraq’s first sale of exploration rights since the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein.
The group won rights to Block 9, the second area offered, which is located in the south of the nation near the border with Iran. No bids were received for Block 2, a gas region that was the first to be auctioned in Baghdad today.
The country aims to produce free gas to meet the internal consumption and export the surplus and to increase the oil reserves from this round of auctions. The fourth round bids will be competitive and include the participation of 47 companies from 25 countries.
The auction marks another step in an energy-industry revival that has vaulted Iraq into third place among the 12- member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, nine years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Hussein. In its three previous bid rounds since 2003, Iraq auctioned rights to produce at oil fields already discovered or in operation, whereas today’s is for new exploration. The Gulf state has boosted crude output to more than 3 million barrels a day and is poised to overtake Iran as OPEC’s No. 2 producer within months.
Iraq is auctioning oil and natural-gas exploration rights in six areas today and will conclude bidding on six more tomorrow. The blocs to be offered today are numbers 2, 9, 6, 12, 1 and 11, according to a program handed to reporters at the hall in Baghdad where the auction is being held. Three of those are oil and three gas.
Production from the 12 areas will result in revenue of $5 trillion over the next 20 years with 94 percent of the income going to the government.
Companies that win the bidding won’t own the resources that they may find. Iraq is offering service contracts that pay its partners a fee for each barrel of crude produced, whereas oil companies tend to prefer production-sharing agreements under which they are compensated with a share of their output.
Another potential source of concern for investors is an impasse over the sharing of oil revenue between the central government and the Kurdish region in northern Iraq.
The dispute threatens projects of Exxon Mobil Corp. and other investors. Companies operating in the self-ruled Kurdish area are barred from taking part in tomorrow’s auction because the central government didn’t approve the production-sharing agreements they signed with the Kurds. Exxon, which agreed to explore in the Kurdish region, is banned from bidding.
The following 47 companies were pre-qualified by Iraq’s government to participate in the auction, according to the Oil Ministry website. The director general of the legal department in the oil license and contracts directorate, said today that 38 companies bought data on the areas.
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Thursday, May 3, 2012
Energy Companies Targeting Mozambique
Story first appeared in The New York Times.
The world’s largest energy companies have big plans for Mozambique.
Until recently, the East African country was better known for its long civil war, and had few energy resources compared with regional heavy-hitters like Nigeria and Angola.
But in the last 10 years, companies like Exxon Mobil, the BG Group of Britain and Eni of Italy have used the latest technologies, including advances in deep-sea offshore drilling for oil and gas, to find new natural gas resources that are turning Mozambique into the center of an energy boom.
Up and down the country’s shoreline, Western energy companies, as well as a number of Asian competitors, are drilling wells thousands of feet below the Indian Ocean in hopes of striking it rich. The rewards could be huge. Mozambique may have more deposits of natural gas — used in everything from manufacturing to electricity generation — than the European energy giant Norway.
The East African country is not alone in its newfound energy wealth. Countries like Tanzania and Kenya also are attracting billions of dollars in investment from the world’s largest energy companies as they search for new oil and gas reserves.
In total, the Italian company Eni expects to spend $50 billion to develop natural gas projects off the coast of Mozambique. While production may not start until the end of the decade, the energy firm has designated the new reserves for customers in fast-growing Asian markets like India and China.
Other companies, including Anadarko Petroleum of Texas, also have multibillion-dollar plans for such new African oil and gas finds. Most, too, expect to sell the energy to emerging economies hungry to drive domestic growth.
The quickening pace of exploration in East Africa is part of a wider shake-up in the global energy industry as it scrambles to adapt to a series of major changes. Those range from the nuclear disaster in Japan last year, to slashed subsidies for alternative energy amid Europe’s economic crisis, to a boom in unconventional fossil fuels like shale gas that has spread across continents.
The changes have been particularly drastic in fast-growing China, now the world’s largest energy user and emitter of carbon dioxide. Since opening its economy over three decades ago, the Asian giant has become an insatiable consumer of natural resources. The country still relies predominantly on dirty coal for its electricity, but has fast-tracked oil production, as well as newer technologies like shale gas, and hydroelectric and wind power, to maintain its high levels of domestic growth.
With demand from emerging economies continuing apace, the quest for new fossil fuels is opening up unexplored territories for production. That may help to offset the effect of rising oil prices, which have reached almost record highs.
The demand from billions of people worldwide to consume energy isn’t slowing down. Companies ability to find new energy reserves, especially in remote locations, is altering the global market.
The opportunities are welcome in more ways than one. The new discoveries, including the so-called tar sands of Canada, are allowing Western companies like Royal Dutch Shell and BP to diversify and safeguard future production. State-owned firms like Sinopec of China and Gazprom of Russia have slowly taken over production of their domestic reserves, leaving them in control of roughly 85 percent of the world’s oil resources, according to the Energy Information Administration.
The discoveries also are helping countries from the United States to Romania to decrease their dependence on foreign energy imports as well as generate tax revenue and employment.
Poland presents a case in point. Since 2009, Chevron and other Western energy giants have been exploring there for shale gas, using many of the techniques pioneered in the United States with Natural Gas Expert Witnesses and Fracking Experts on hand for the process. The new energy resources could have a major effect on Poland, which currently imports more than 80 percent of its natural gas from Russia, its once dominant neighbor. The potential reserves may provide Poland with enough gas for more than 50 years, according to the country’s national geological institute.
There’s a real desire in Poland to build their own natural gas supplies.
So far, the American energy company has been drilling test wells to figure out how much shale gas can be extracted. Chevron has permits to explore more than one million acres in the southeast of Poland. It expects to have a clear picture of the potential size of the region’s energy reserves by the end of next year.
All may not go smoothly. Europe’s shale gas industry is not as developed as that of the United States, so finding the right drilling equipment and qualified work force could limit production.
Public perception may prove a problem, too. This year, Bulgaria canceled drilling permits for Chevron, and banned the controversial drilling technology known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which some environmental advocates have linked to the contamination of drinking water. France also prohibited the technique last year.
Shale gas has the potential to be an enormous economic benefit.
The emerging fossil fuel renaissance, however, has not been good news for every energy company. In the alternative sector, wind farms and solar panels now find it that much harder to compete against fossil fuels, given the new oil and gas discoveries. Analysts say electricity from wind farms located off the coasts of Britain and Germany, for example, may cost six times as much compared with power plants that burn coal or natural gas.
Cutbacks in government subsidies for renewable energy, particularly in European countries struggling from the Continent’s sovereign debt crisis, also are taking a toll. Western companies, including Vestas of Denmark and Q.Cells of Germany, already face tough competition from Asian rivals. Now, cash-poor countries are paring back price guarantees and canceling tax credits for green energy projects.
The changing economics are forcing green energy companies to adapt. Faced with falling global prices for wind turbines and solar panels, analysts expect the industry’s largest manufacturers to buy, or merge with, rivals, as they look to strengthen their market positions. Deals are already taking place. Last year, takeovers in the world’s renewables industry totaled $53.5 billion, a 40 percent increase over 2010, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Others are looking for cash-rich investors. In a bizarre twist, traditional oil and gas companies may come to the rescue of many green energy projects. With decades of experience developing resources out at sea, traditional energy companies are focusing their attention on multibillion-dollar plans to build wind farms off the coast of Europe and North America. Over the last 18 months, for example, the Spanish oil company Repsol and its Norwegian rival Statoil have announced investments in offshore wind projects across Northern Europe.
Interest in nuclear power also has waned after last year’s disaster involving the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. Before the accident, there were 440 reactors in operation worldwide, with a further 558 plants either under construction or on the drawing board, according to the consultant Capgemini.
Now Japan has shut almost all of its nuclear reactors, and countries like Germany and Italy have either announced plans to close their remaining plants or canceled efforts to build new facilities. Asian countries are building the largest number of new nuclear power plants, though analysts say the pace of construction has slowed by almost a quarter in the last 12 months.
The development of new plants has slowed down, but India and China remain committed to building new nuclear capacity.
With the outlook dimming for low-carbon energy sources like nuclear power and renewables, there are growing concerns that efforts to curb global greenhouse gas emissions will fail as countries look to exploit new sources of fossil fuels.
Levels of carbon dioxide, for example, rose 5.9 percent in 2010, the latest figures available, according to the Global Carbon Project, an international collaboration of scientists that tracks the numbers. The increase came despite a slowdown in global manufacturing, as many of the world’s largest economies struggled because of the financial crisis.
With many countries expected to return to growth, the use of fossil fuels — and the resulting emissions — are expected to rise.
Finding new deposits doesn’t change the climate constraints facing the world.
For more national and worldwide related business news, visit the Peak News Room blog.
For local and Michigan business related news, visit the Michigan Business News blog.
For healthcare and medical related news, visit the Healthcare and Medical blog.
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The world’s largest energy companies have big plans for Mozambique.
Until recently, the East African country was better known for its long civil war, and had few energy resources compared with regional heavy-hitters like Nigeria and Angola.
But in the last 10 years, companies like Exxon Mobil, the BG Group of Britain and Eni of Italy have used the latest technologies, including advances in deep-sea offshore drilling for oil and gas, to find new natural gas resources that are turning Mozambique into the center of an energy boom.
Up and down the country’s shoreline, Western energy companies, as well as a number of Asian competitors, are drilling wells thousands of feet below the Indian Ocean in hopes of striking it rich. The rewards could be huge. Mozambique may have more deposits of natural gas — used in everything from manufacturing to electricity generation — than the European energy giant Norway.
The East African country is not alone in its newfound energy wealth. Countries like Tanzania and Kenya also are attracting billions of dollars in investment from the world’s largest energy companies as they search for new oil and gas reserves.
In total, the Italian company Eni expects to spend $50 billion to develop natural gas projects off the coast of Mozambique. While production may not start until the end of the decade, the energy firm has designated the new reserves for customers in fast-growing Asian markets like India and China.
Other companies, including Anadarko Petroleum of Texas, also have multibillion-dollar plans for such new African oil and gas finds. Most, too, expect to sell the energy to emerging economies hungry to drive domestic growth.
The quickening pace of exploration in East Africa is part of a wider shake-up in the global energy industry as it scrambles to adapt to a series of major changes. Those range from the nuclear disaster in Japan last year, to slashed subsidies for alternative energy amid Europe’s economic crisis, to a boom in unconventional fossil fuels like shale gas that has spread across continents.
The changes have been particularly drastic in fast-growing China, now the world’s largest energy user and emitter of carbon dioxide. Since opening its economy over three decades ago, the Asian giant has become an insatiable consumer of natural resources. The country still relies predominantly on dirty coal for its electricity, but has fast-tracked oil production, as well as newer technologies like shale gas, and hydroelectric and wind power, to maintain its high levels of domestic growth.
With demand from emerging economies continuing apace, the quest for new fossil fuels is opening up unexplored territories for production. That may help to offset the effect of rising oil prices, which have reached almost record highs.
The demand from billions of people worldwide to consume energy isn’t slowing down. Companies ability to find new energy reserves, especially in remote locations, is altering the global market.
The opportunities are welcome in more ways than one. The new discoveries, including the so-called tar sands of Canada, are allowing Western companies like Royal Dutch Shell and BP to diversify and safeguard future production. State-owned firms like Sinopec of China and Gazprom of Russia have slowly taken over production of their domestic reserves, leaving them in control of roughly 85 percent of the world’s oil resources, according to the Energy Information Administration.
The discoveries also are helping countries from the United States to Romania to decrease their dependence on foreign energy imports as well as generate tax revenue and employment.
Poland presents a case in point. Since 2009, Chevron and other Western energy giants have been exploring there for shale gas, using many of the techniques pioneered in the United States with Natural Gas Expert Witnesses and Fracking Experts on hand for the process. The new energy resources could have a major effect on Poland, which currently imports more than 80 percent of its natural gas from Russia, its once dominant neighbor. The potential reserves may provide Poland with enough gas for more than 50 years, according to the country’s national geological institute.
There’s a real desire in Poland to build their own natural gas supplies.
So far, the American energy company has been drilling test wells to figure out how much shale gas can be extracted. Chevron has permits to explore more than one million acres in the southeast of Poland. It expects to have a clear picture of the potential size of the region’s energy reserves by the end of next year.
All may not go smoothly. Europe’s shale gas industry is not as developed as that of the United States, so finding the right drilling equipment and qualified work force could limit production.
Public perception may prove a problem, too. This year, Bulgaria canceled drilling permits for Chevron, and banned the controversial drilling technology known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which some environmental advocates have linked to the contamination of drinking water. France also prohibited the technique last year.
Shale gas has the potential to be an enormous economic benefit.
The emerging fossil fuel renaissance, however, has not been good news for every energy company. In the alternative sector, wind farms and solar panels now find it that much harder to compete against fossil fuels, given the new oil and gas discoveries. Analysts say electricity from wind farms located off the coasts of Britain and Germany, for example, may cost six times as much compared with power plants that burn coal or natural gas.
Cutbacks in government subsidies for renewable energy, particularly in European countries struggling from the Continent’s sovereign debt crisis, also are taking a toll. Western companies, including Vestas of Denmark and Q.Cells of Germany, already face tough competition from Asian rivals. Now, cash-poor countries are paring back price guarantees and canceling tax credits for green energy projects.
The changing economics are forcing green energy companies to adapt. Faced with falling global prices for wind turbines and solar panels, analysts expect the industry’s largest manufacturers to buy, or merge with, rivals, as they look to strengthen their market positions. Deals are already taking place. Last year, takeovers in the world’s renewables industry totaled $53.5 billion, a 40 percent increase over 2010, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Others are looking for cash-rich investors. In a bizarre twist, traditional oil and gas companies may come to the rescue of many green energy projects. With decades of experience developing resources out at sea, traditional energy companies are focusing their attention on multibillion-dollar plans to build wind farms off the coast of Europe and North America. Over the last 18 months, for example, the Spanish oil company Repsol and its Norwegian rival Statoil have announced investments in offshore wind projects across Northern Europe.
Interest in nuclear power also has waned after last year’s disaster involving the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. Before the accident, there were 440 reactors in operation worldwide, with a further 558 plants either under construction or on the drawing board, according to the consultant Capgemini.
Now Japan has shut almost all of its nuclear reactors, and countries like Germany and Italy have either announced plans to close their remaining plants or canceled efforts to build new facilities. Asian countries are building the largest number of new nuclear power plants, though analysts say the pace of construction has slowed by almost a quarter in the last 12 months.
The development of new plants has slowed down, but India and China remain committed to building new nuclear capacity.
With the outlook dimming for low-carbon energy sources like nuclear power and renewables, there are growing concerns that efforts to curb global greenhouse gas emissions will fail as countries look to exploit new sources of fossil fuels.
Levels of carbon dioxide, for example, rose 5.9 percent in 2010, the latest figures available, according to the Global Carbon Project, an international collaboration of scientists that tracks the numbers. The increase came despite a slowdown in global manufacturing, as many of the world’s largest economies struggled because of the financial crisis.
With many countries expected to return to growth, the use of fossil fuels — and the resulting emissions — are expected to rise.
Finding new deposits doesn’t change the climate constraints facing the world.
For more national and worldwide related business news, visit the Peak News Room blog.
For local and Michigan business related news, visit the Michigan Business News blog.
For healthcare and medical related news, visit the Healthcare and Medical blog.
For law related news, visit the Nation of Law blog.
For real estate and home related news, visit the Commercial and Residential Real Estate blog.
For technology and electronics related news, visit the Electronics America blog.
For organic SEO and web optimization related news, visit the SEO Done Right blog.
Chevron Targets Romania for Natural Gas Fracking
Story first appeared in The New York Times.
Romania is set to start exploring its shale gas reserves in a drive for energy independence, despite local protests against the potential risks and Europe-wide concerns about the technology used to exploit unconventional gas sources.
Several oil companies have expressed interest in exploring what is believed to be the country’s significant potential. According to an assessment by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary may together be sitting on top of about 538 billion cubic meters, or 19 trillion cubic feet, of technically recoverable shale natural gas reserves.
The U.S. energy company Chevron has, since 2010, obtained concessions in Romania, covering a combined area of 870,000 hectares, or 2.2 million acres, in the Eastern plains and the Black Sea coastal region of the country. After surface prospecting, the company is planning to start an exploratory drilling campaign this year. Chevron believes that Romania holds potential for a successful project. No wells have yet been drilled, and it is critical to conduct a standard natural gas exploration with Natural Gas Expert Witnesses on hand to monitor the proceedings.
Chevron’s plans have resulted in protests by environmental advocate organizations and local politicians.
In Barlad, an economically depressed town near the Moldovan border, 2,000 locals gathered in March in a rare demonstration against activities planned in the area. The region’s economy, hit by the loss of heavy industries since the fall of communism in 1989, would benefit from the large investments that shale gas development would bring. According to Romania’s Mineral Resources Agency, for example, exploratory drilling in the Dobroudja region, on the Black Sea Coast, could bring more than $80 million in investment over four years.
But the Barlad protesters said they were worried about the potential effect on the local environment.
In neighboring Bulgaria, Parliament, under pressure from protesters, imposed a ban in January on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the technology used to extract gas from shale. The ban caused cancellation of Chevron’s Bulgarian exploration permit.
Romanian environmentalists hope to emulate the Bulgarian example. They are currently against the exploration of shale gas, due to the fact that the method used is the only one available and is not environmentally acceptable.
Fracking is strongly polluting, and the risks are by far higher than the benefits. Fracking can pollute arable land, leak chemicals and the huge use and pollution of water resources.
Romanian activists are not fighting Chevron, they are fighting the government.
The head of the mineral resources agency, was not available to answer questions on shale gas operations, despite repeated calls: But in an interview with the local Web site HotNews earlier this month, he said unconventional gas was a resource that not a single state or company can afford neglecting.
Concerning the effect that shale gas operations could have on the environment, the mineral resources agency stated that exploiting any mineral resource is a process that has an impact on the environment. But this impact can be controlled and minimized by respecting good practices and further regulation of operations being carried out.
According to a professor at the École Normale Supérieure in Lyon, hydraulic fracturing is “relatively secure,” but only if drilling is preceded by expensive studies, and the operation is monitored thoroughly.
Still, therein lies the problem, considering the very high number of drills, and the fact that companies look to make the most savings possible.
Aside from the usual effects linked to any industrial activity, the possible contamination of deep aquifers by the chemicals used in the process and to heavy metals liberated during fracking is also distressing.
In any case, one day or another, petrol, gas and coal reserves will dry out. The race for shale gas pushes this inevitable moment away, but doesn’t help avoid it. Exploiting shale gas simply postpones the strategic shift to renewable energy.
A report commissioned by the European Parliament in 2011, on the effects of shale gas and shale oil production on the environment and on human health, assessed the risks to the environment and the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, and evaluated the European regulatory framework.
Whenever exploration and production of unconventional fossil fuels has been done at relevant scale, it has had an effect on the environment. As it generally involves processing significantly larger amounts of material, as well as higher energy and water consumption, the overall impact will be higher than for conventional oil and gas wells.
The report also showed gaps in existing regulations, like the threshold for Environmental Impact Assessments to be carried out on hydraulic fracturing activities. At present, the threshold is set far above any potential industrial activities of this kind, and thus they are just not covered by the corresponding regulation.
The 27-nation European Union lacks a unified stance on fracking. Attached to its energy independence from Russia, Poland, for one, has resisted calls for restrictive European legislation on shale gas.
Chevron states that not a single case of groundwater contamination had been linked to shale gas production since fracking was first used in the United States on an industrial scale in the 1970s. As more information will be presented, people will be able to take an informed decision.
Romania has been an oil and natural gas producer since the late 19th century. One of the first refineries in the world started operating in 1856 near the town of Ploiesti, north of the capital. But today, like its neighbors, it depends heavily on imported Russian gas.
In a recent speech, the Romanian president answered critics of shale gas. Citing the United States and Poland, with the largest estimated reserves in Europe, as examples, he urged Romania to reduce its import dependency.
With legislative and local elections coming up this year, the subject has brought heated political debate and revived arguments about other long-stymied international mining projects.
For more national and worldwide related business news, visit the Peak News Room blog.
For local and Michigan business related news, visit the Michigan Business News blog.
For healthcare and medical related news, visit the Healthcare and Medical blog.
For law related news, visit the Nation of Law blog.
For real estate and home related news, visit the Commercial and Residential Real Estate blog.
For technology and electronics related news, visit the Electronics America blog.
For organic SEO and web optimization related news, visit the SEO Done Right blog.
Romania is set to start exploring its shale gas reserves in a drive for energy independence, despite local protests against the potential risks and Europe-wide concerns about the technology used to exploit unconventional gas sources.
Several oil companies have expressed interest in exploring what is believed to be the country’s significant potential. According to an assessment by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary may together be sitting on top of about 538 billion cubic meters, or 19 trillion cubic feet, of technically recoverable shale natural gas reserves.
The U.S. energy company Chevron has, since 2010, obtained concessions in Romania, covering a combined area of 870,000 hectares, or 2.2 million acres, in the Eastern plains and the Black Sea coastal region of the country. After surface prospecting, the company is planning to start an exploratory drilling campaign this year. Chevron believes that Romania holds potential for a successful project. No wells have yet been drilled, and it is critical to conduct a standard natural gas exploration with Natural Gas Expert Witnesses on hand to monitor the proceedings.
Chevron’s plans have resulted in protests by environmental advocate organizations and local politicians.
In Barlad, an economically depressed town near the Moldovan border, 2,000 locals gathered in March in a rare demonstration against activities planned in the area. The region’s economy, hit by the loss of heavy industries since the fall of communism in 1989, would benefit from the large investments that shale gas development would bring. According to Romania’s Mineral Resources Agency, for example, exploratory drilling in the Dobroudja region, on the Black Sea Coast, could bring more than $80 million in investment over four years.
But the Barlad protesters said they were worried about the potential effect on the local environment.
In neighboring Bulgaria, Parliament, under pressure from protesters, imposed a ban in January on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the technology used to extract gas from shale. The ban caused cancellation of Chevron’s Bulgarian exploration permit.
Romanian environmentalists hope to emulate the Bulgarian example. They are currently against the exploration of shale gas, due to the fact that the method used is the only one available and is not environmentally acceptable.
Fracking is strongly polluting, and the risks are by far higher than the benefits. Fracking can pollute arable land, leak chemicals and the huge use and pollution of water resources.
Romanian activists are not fighting Chevron, they are fighting the government.
The head of the mineral resources agency, was not available to answer questions on shale gas operations, despite repeated calls: But in an interview with the local Web site HotNews earlier this month, he said unconventional gas was a resource that not a single state or company can afford neglecting.
Concerning the effect that shale gas operations could have on the environment, the mineral resources agency stated that exploiting any mineral resource is a process that has an impact on the environment. But this impact can be controlled and minimized by respecting good practices and further regulation of operations being carried out.
According to a professor at the École Normale Supérieure in Lyon, hydraulic fracturing is “relatively secure,” but only if drilling is preceded by expensive studies, and the operation is monitored thoroughly.
Still, therein lies the problem, considering the very high number of drills, and the fact that companies look to make the most savings possible.
Aside from the usual effects linked to any industrial activity, the possible contamination of deep aquifers by the chemicals used in the process and to heavy metals liberated during fracking is also distressing.
In any case, one day or another, petrol, gas and coal reserves will dry out. The race for shale gas pushes this inevitable moment away, but doesn’t help avoid it. Exploiting shale gas simply postpones the strategic shift to renewable energy.
A report commissioned by the European Parliament in 2011, on the effects of shale gas and shale oil production on the environment and on human health, assessed the risks to the environment and the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, and evaluated the European regulatory framework.
Whenever exploration and production of unconventional fossil fuels has been done at relevant scale, it has had an effect on the environment. As it generally involves processing significantly larger amounts of material, as well as higher energy and water consumption, the overall impact will be higher than for conventional oil and gas wells.
The report also showed gaps in existing regulations, like the threshold for Environmental Impact Assessments to be carried out on hydraulic fracturing activities. At present, the threshold is set far above any potential industrial activities of this kind, and thus they are just not covered by the corresponding regulation.
The 27-nation European Union lacks a unified stance on fracking. Attached to its energy independence from Russia, Poland, for one, has resisted calls for restrictive European legislation on shale gas.
Chevron states that not a single case of groundwater contamination had been linked to shale gas production since fracking was first used in the United States on an industrial scale in the 1970s. As more information will be presented, people will be able to take an informed decision.
Romania has been an oil and natural gas producer since the late 19th century. One of the first refineries in the world started operating in 1856 near the town of Ploiesti, north of the capital. But today, like its neighbors, it depends heavily on imported Russian gas.
In a recent speech, the Romanian president answered critics of shale gas. Citing the United States and Poland, with the largest estimated reserves in Europe, as examples, he urged Romania to reduce its import dependency.
With legislative and local elections coming up this year, the subject has brought heated political debate and revived arguments about other long-stymied international mining projects.
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Tuesday, April 24, 2012
ConocoPhillips Shuts Down Natural Gas Production in US
Story first appeared on MarketWatch.
ConocoPhillips said Monday that it plans to continue shutting down its U.S. natural gas production due to low commodity prices, and that a major liquefied natural gas project offshore Australia is on schedule to see a final investment decision in the second quarter.
The company expects continued gas shut-ins in North America of around 9,000 BOE [barrels of oil equivalent] per day due to low gas prices.
Conoco, which is splitting into two companies by the end of the month, has been curtailing natural gas production as prices continue to be depressed in a glut caused by the shale gas fracking revolution. Prices have been trading at their lowest levels in a decade despite production cuts from Conoco and other companies. The Houston-based firm continues to shift drilling toward more profitable oil areas, Sheets said.
Separately, Conoco said the second phase of its Asian Pacific LNG project offshore Australia is on schedule to see a final investment decision in the second quarter and that delivery of its first cargo is expected in mid-2015. The company has not decided yet if it the project will require another expansion.
Conoco has drilled two of eight wells at its Jasmine project in U.K. and results are exceeding expectations. Jasmine production is expected next year.
The company reiterated its target to sell $8 billion to $10 billion worth of assets in the next 12 months, and said it expects to repurchase $5 billion of its own shares in the first half of the year. Timing of additional share repurchases will depend on timing of the dispositions.
Conoco said its 2012 capital expenditure budget is expected to be $15 billion, up from its previous guidance of $14.5 billion.
In the downstream side, the company's refineries will run at slightly more than 90% of capacity in the second quarter as the company takes about 140 million barrels a day in refining capacity offline for maintenance. On May 1, Conoco's refining arm will become a stand-alone refining company called Phillips 66.
Conoco said it is extending its sale deadline for its refinery in Trainer, Pa., to late May due to strong interest from buyers. Media reports have focused on Delta Air Lines Inc. as a possible buyer, with the airline considering using the 185,000 barrel-a-day refinery as a source of jet fuel. ConocoPhillips also continues to try to find a buyer for its 247,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Belle Chasse, La.
ConocoPhillips' said its chemical joint venture with Chevron Corp., Chevron Phillips Chemical Co., is still studying a potential $5 billion ethane cracker to be built in Cedar Bayou, Texas. A final investment decision will be made in late-2012, with any project taking up to four years to complete.
For more national and worldwide related business news, visit the Peak News Room blog.
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For healthcare and medical related news, visit the Healthcare and Medical blog.
For law related news, visit the Nation of Law blog.
For real estate and home related news, visit the Commercial and Residential Real Estate blog.
For technology and electronics related news, visit the Electronics America blog.
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ConocoPhillips said Monday that it plans to continue shutting down its U.S. natural gas production due to low commodity prices, and that a major liquefied natural gas project offshore Australia is on schedule to see a final investment decision in the second quarter.
The company expects continued gas shut-ins in North America of around 9,000 BOE [barrels of oil equivalent] per day due to low gas prices.
Conoco, which is splitting into two companies by the end of the month, has been curtailing natural gas production as prices continue to be depressed in a glut caused by the shale gas fracking revolution. Prices have been trading at their lowest levels in a decade despite production cuts from Conoco and other companies. The Houston-based firm continues to shift drilling toward more profitable oil areas, Sheets said.
Separately, Conoco said the second phase of its Asian Pacific LNG project offshore Australia is on schedule to see a final investment decision in the second quarter and that delivery of its first cargo is expected in mid-2015. The company has not decided yet if it the project will require another expansion.
Conoco has drilled two of eight wells at its Jasmine project in U.K. and results are exceeding expectations. Jasmine production is expected next year.
The company reiterated its target to sell $8 billion to $10 billion worth of assets in the next 12 months, and said it expects to repurchase $5 billion of its own shares in the first half of the year. Timing of additional share repurchases will depend on timing of the dispositions.
Conoco said its 2012 capital expenditure budget is expected to be $15 billion, up from its previous guidance of $14.5 billion.
In the downstream side, the company's refineries will run at slightly more than 90% of capacity in the second quarter as the company takes about 140 million barrels a day in refining capacity offline for maintenance. On May 1, Conoco's refining arm will become a stand-alone refining company called Phillips 66.
Conoco said it is extending its sale deadline for its refinery in Trainer, Pa., to late May due to strong interest from buyers. Media reports have focused on Delta Air Lines Inc. as a possible buyer, with the airline considering using the 185,000 barrel-a-day refinery as a source of jet fuel. ConocoPhillips also continues to try to find a buyer for its 247,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Belle Chasse, La.
ConocoPhillips' said its chemical joint venture with Chevron Corp., Chevron Phillips Chemical Co., is still studying a potential $5 billion ethane cracker to be built in Cedar Bayou, Texas. A final investment decision will be made in late-2012, with any project taking up to four years to complete.
For more national and worldwide related business news, visit the Peak News Room blog.
For local and Michigan business related news, visit the Michigan Business News blog.
For healthcare and medical related news, visit the Healthcare and Medical blog.
For law related news, visit the Nation of Law blog.
For real estate and home related news, visit the Commercial and Residential Real Estate blog.
For technology and electronics related news, visit the Electronics America blog.
For organic SEO and web optimization related news, visit the SEO Done Right blog.
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