6-24-13 SUSTAINING THE TRANS ALASKA PIPELINE AND ALASKA’S ECONOMY!

A few minutes ago Texas Railroad Commission Chairman, Barry Smitherman (NGP Photo) announced a possible run for State Attorney General.  Smitherman is Chairman of the NARUC Gas Committee.  In the announcement, he said, "Over the past six years, the Obama Administration has threatened our constitutional rights. It is critical that we make a stand and protect the liberties upon which our nation was founded. Our representatives in Washington have been fighting, but they cannot do it alone."  We share Chairman Smitherman’s concerns.  -dh

A few minutes ago, US House Natural Resources Chairman (Doc Hastings), in an interview, described the critical importance of OCS exploration and development from ‘certainty,’ economic and national security viewpoints.  In Alaska’s case, proper federal support for OCS development — along with more reasonable federal on-shore and regulatory policies — would help fill the nearly 3/4 empty Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), sustain the economy of Alaska, reinforce national security, create hundreds of thousands of jobs and help our country be energy independent within just a few years!  We believe Chairman Hastings could be among America’s most consistent, knowledgeable, dedicated, elected official advocates of a reasonable national energy policy.   We do not minimize the importance of Alaska leaders creating an inviting tax and regulatory climate that applies to most existing producing areas and new prospects on state lands, too. (8:55 ADT) -dh

Wall Street Journal.  ExxonMobil,BP, ConocoPhillips and TransCanada have begun summer field work as part of their activities associated with a staged pre-FEED (front end engineering design) for the Alaska South Central LNG (SC LNG) project. This summer field work will employ approximately 150 people.

Edmonton Journal by Dan Healing (Calgary Herald).  The oil and gas industry moved to shut down vulnerable facilities throughout southern Alberta as a deluge of water from the Bow and Elbow rivers cut off their downtown Calgary head office towers Friday.  Thousands of workers were told to stay home overnight Thursday on the advice of civic officials and in reaction to power and potential natural gas supply cutoffs.  "The directive to our folks out in the field is shut in anything you think is in danger," said Rob Evans, spokesman for ConocoPhillips Canada.    —     

Today’s Energy In Depth Headlines:

NATIONAL

ALASKA

Shale casts doubt on Alaska pipeline project. E&E News(sub. req’d).  At a time when Alaska appears to be taking a back seat to other international liquefied natural gas export projects, Gov. Sean Parnell last week expressed disappointment that Exxon Mobil Corp. and three other firms aren’t making a long-term financial commitment to building an 800-mile natural gas pipeline in Alaska.

EPA Covers Up The Safety Of HF. Investor’s Business Daily, Editorial. According to Energy in Depth, "dense soda ash has a recorded pH (11.5), very similar to the level found in the deep wells, creating the possibility that the high pH recorded by EPA could have been caused by the very chemicals it used to drill its own wells." What the EPA report doesn’t say is that the U.S. Geological Survey has detected organic chemicals in the well water in Pavillion for at least five decades, long before fracking was done. The deepwater wells that EPA drilled are situated near a natural gas reservoir.

 
20 to Know in Energy: EID’s Shawn Bennett. Columbus Business First, Q&A. Energy is by far one of the most interesting industries out there. When shale development began to be talked about in eastern Ohio, I jumped at the chance to be part of something that had the chance to bring an economic revival in the area I was raised.
 
EPA Ends Investigation into Pavilion. Rigzone. "Actions speak louder than words," said Simon Lomax, research director at Energy In Depth. "This is a clear admission from EPA officials that they got it wrong. If they really stood behind their work, they would enter the peer-review process and finalize the draft report, not cancel the peer-review process and abandon the draft report."

Boulder County moratorium under scrutiny. Daily Camera. "Oil and gas operators spent more than a year having good-faith discussions with the Boulder County staff and commissioners to address their concerns,” said Courtney Loper, Denver-based staffer for Energy In Depth. “Only a month ago, the Boulder County commissioners were against extending their moratorium. The facts haven’t changed over the past month, so we’re left to wonder what caused this flip-flop. There is no reason to place a moratorium on a commercial activity that scientists, engineers, state regulators and federal officials have said over and over again is fundamentally safe and tightly regulated under existing environmental laws."
 
Shale adds fuel to the fire. Coshocton Tribune. Shawn Bennett, a spokesman for Energy In Depth, said horizontal drilling technology has opened up a whole new source of natural gas once thought unreachable.  “Ten years ago, we were looking at natural gas shortages; we were looking at importing natural gas. Now, we’re looking at exporting natural gas,” he said. “We would not be having this conversation if it wasn’t for shale.”
 
D&L’s permits permanently revoked. Youngstown Vindicator. Shawn Bennett, a spokesman for the industry outreach group Energy In Depth, commended Friday’s decision and said he was not at all surprised by the commission’s findings. “At the end of the day, this shows that our current regulatory structure works,” he said.
 
Oil and gas ad campaign builds support. Youngstown Vindicator. Shawn Bennett, Ohio spokesman for Energy In Depth, the ad campaign is about creating a dialogue. “I think the reason you’re seeing this happen is because oil and gas development is getting at the forefront in Ohio,” he said. “As we continue to develop the Utica, you want to make sure the public is educated about the economic benefits and that they know it’s safe.”
 
Rendell criticizes Dems over anti-HF stance. Associated Press. Former Gov. Ed Rendell on Friday criticized Pennsylvania Democrats over their “ill-advised” call for a moratorium on fracking. The Democratic State Committee voted 115-81 last weekend in favor of a resolution calling for an open-ended moratorium on fracking, the technique that drilling companies use to extract natural gas from the Marcellus Shale formation. Opponents contend fracking is an environmental menace, while drilling companies and many regulators say the technique is safe.
 
OPEC’s power wanes. E&E News (sub. req’d).  The U.S. shale energy boom has rattled OPEC’s grip on setting global crude prices, experts agree, but the extent of the impact is unclear.
 
Pizza, chips and natural gas — Frito-Lay unveils first CNG fueling station. E&E News (sub. req’d). Frito-Lay, the snack-food subsidiary of PepsiCo, is aiming to expand its lineup of natural gas-fueled tractors to 208 vehicles — roughly 20 percent of its fleet — by the end of this year.
 
Natural gas boom cools nuclear prospects — for now. Houston Chronicle/Fuel Fix. Cheap natural gas, high construction costs and a disaster in Japan have combined to dim prospects for a resurgence in nuclear power — especially in Texas’ unregulated market where utility companies must bear all of the financial risk of building new plants.

INTERNATIONAL

Shale Gas in India: Does it hold potential? The Herald. India’s natural gas market continues to be in a state of deficit, with demand far exceeding the supplies. In FY12, around 38% of the gas demand was unmet.
 
Alward promises shale gas talks with First Nations. Canada First. Premier David Alward is promising a new process to communicate and engage with First Nations on the issue of shale gas after weeks of protests on Route 126 in Kent County.
 
Arrested protesters released, charged with mischief. CBC News. A dozen people arrested during shale gas protests on Route 126 in New Brunswick Friday have been released. Around 2:30 p.m. Friday, five women and three men were arrested for blocking traffic on the road south of Rogersville.

ARKANSAS

Senator: Arkansas needs CNG. Northwest Arkansas News. No state vehicle is fueled by compressed natural gas, a fact one senator calls a disgrace considering how much natural gas is pulled from the Fayetteville Shale.

COLORADO

Oil-gas industry tackles water challenges. Greeley Tribune. Oil and gas industry officials who oversee operations in shale plays — like the Niobrara in Weld County — have lots of things on their minds these days. They are concerned about HAPs (hazardous air pollutants), VOCs (volatile organic compounds), TDS (total dissolved solids), and TSS (total suspended solids).
 
The silica solution. Grand Junction Sentinel. Now Encana is rewriting the book on fracturing, at least in the sandstone formations where most Piceance gas development occurs. It has eliminated the sand and found it doesn’t harm well productivity.
 
Sen. Mark Udall on HF. Daily Camera, Q&A. This is an important debate. Boulder County is right at the center of it. There has to be a balance. Local communities have to have a say in if and where drilling occurs. I think we all agree that it’s an industrial process and schoolyards and city parks and open space are probably not the best places — given the abundant gas reserves that we have — to initially drill.

ILLINOIS

HF is here to stay in Illinois, Indiana. NWI Times, Column.  Hydraulic fracturing is likely older than you. It was first used in 1947 to encourage additional production of an existing well. Hydraulic fracturing has been used in Indiana since the 1950s to stimulate production in wells where energy is encased in rock or shale. There are estimates that in excess of 40,000 oil and gas production wells have been hydraulically fractured in the Illinois Basin – encompassing northern Kentucky and most of Indiana and Illinois.
 
HF law has safeguards. The Southern, Column. Pat Quinn recently signed the Illinois Hydraulic Fracturing Regulatory Act into law, others will continue seeking a moratorium on what is commonly called fracking.

NORTHEAST

State, local officials confirm no issues at Halcon well. Youngstown Vindicator. There have been no problems reported at the Halcon Operating Co. well in the village even as the company has started the process of flaring natural gas at the site.
 
Risk in the boom. Akron Beacon Journal, Editorial. Despite widespread public concern about groundwater contamination, experts asked to assess the risks posed by hydraulic fracturing for oil and natural gas recently placed the most emphasis on preventing threats to surface water quality.
 
Ohioans have supporting roles in state’s shale work. Marion Star. Texas, Texas, Oklahoma. So go the license plates on pickup truck after pickup truck at a drilling site near Watertown, in the hills of rural Washington County. Sure, there were a couple of the familiar red-white-and-blue Ohio plates out of the dozen or so passenger vehicles on site. But job opportunities are not limited to the crew that follows a drilling rig from site to site.
 
New Rex Energy finds success with ‘Super Frac’ drilling technique. Philadelphia Times Reporter. In a release, Rex said initial sales from the 1H well are among the best results in Carroll County so far, but results from the 2H well next to it have been below expectations.
 
Foundation being laid for Utica Shale play. New Philadelphia Times Reporter. Development of the Utica Shale play has kept Harrison County a hub of activity in recent weeks with completion of MarkWest’s cryogenic plant in Cadiz and construction of a road to link the M3 Midstream natural gas processing plant in Scio with state Route 151.
 
Court to Weigh Local Say on Gas. The Intelligencer. A northeast Ohio city tried to impose its own restrictions on oil and natural gas drillers, but courts struck down the measures by noting that permits from the state Department of Natural Resources are all that companies need to operate.
 
Guest Viewpoint: The road to renewables. Elmira Star-Gazette, Op-Ed. Do we — through shale gas development — lay the foundation for another generation of fossil fuel production and consumption, or not?
 
Slideshow: Tour the Utica shale play. Business First of Columbus. Energy companies are betting big on potential oil and natural gas riches in the Utica shale play, risking $8 million to $9 million in drilling costs per well with no guarantee of a payoff down the line.

OHIO

Economist: Shale fields could spell renewed success for chemical, plastics producers. Crain’s Cleveland Business. Shale field in Ohio and other states could spell renewed success for chemical and plastics manufacturers, Kevin Swift, chief economist and managing director for the American Chemistry Council, told audience members during a conference in Cleveland on Tuesday.
 
Ohio’s Supreme Court to weigh in on local vs. state control over HF. WKSU. Ohio’s highest court is entering the legal fray over “home rule vs. fracking.” WKSU’s Tim Rudell has more on the Ohio Supreme Court deciding to hear an appeal in a potentially precedent-setting northeast Ohio case.
 
Budget Bad for Ohio. Chillicothe Gazette. Legislators are ignoring the governor’s proposal for a modest, overdue increase in Ohio’s severance tax on shale oil and natural-gas extraction. Mr. Kasich’s offer to sweeten his proposal by earmarking more tax revenue from fracking to help impoverished counties in Appalachian Ohio appears to have attracted scant legislative support to overcome strong industry opposition.

OKLAHOMA

Oklahoma plays large part in drilling revival. Tulsa World.  Areas along the Oklahoma and Kansas border – known as the Mississippi Lime – have produced oil for about 100 years. But that area, which in Oklahoma spans from Osage County westward to Woods County, has experienced a resurgence.
 
TEXAS

No. 10 private company: Rockwater Energy Solutions. Houston Chronicle. In its first full year, Rockwater Energy Solutions ranked No. 10 on the Chronicle 100 list of the area’s biggest private companies. Aiming to handle a wide range of oil field fluid needs, from increasing production to reducing environmental footprint, the company saw its 2012 revenue reach $1.3 billion.
 
Mineral rights below get top billing in land sales. San Antonio Express. Not long ago you could buy as much ranch land as you wanted in South Texas, with the mineral rights to boot. Now that the Eagle Ford Shale formation has boomed? Not so much.

The Eagle Ford Shale Is Bursting at the Seams. Motley Fool. It may be a matter of months before production in the Eagle Ford shale play catches up to its Bakken cousin. According to the latest Baker Hughes rig count, there are more rigs drilling in the South Texas play than in the entire state of North Dakota.
 
Kirkpatrick Oil looks to unload Eagle Ford and Pearsall wells. San Antonio Business Journal. Oklahoma City-based energy firm Kirkpatrick Oil & Gas L.L.C. has retained E-Spectrum Advisors LLC to sell its non-operated, horizontal wells in the Eagle Ford and Pearsall shales.