8-16-13

Calgary Herald by Graham Thomson.  I’m not sure anybody looks forward to the end of summer. But I would hazard a guess that of all those not looking forward to it, nobody is dreading the end of summer more than Energy Minister Ken Hughes. Not even schoolchildren and road construction crews.  The “end of summer” is the deadline for Hughes to release the report of an independent review into pipeline safety. 

From Energy In Depth: Mucho Friday News

NATIONAL

North Dakota sets oil, gas production records. UPI. North Dakota broke records in June with more than 821,000 barrels of oil and 930 million cubic feet of natural gas per day produced, a state agency said.
 
HF Debate Divides Britain. New York Times. Over the years, Britain has shown itself to be cozy enough in its trans-Atlantic ties to follow the United States into all kinds of dangerous spots, from Iraq to Afghanistan. Now, eyeing the American energy revolution that has come with “fracking” to unlock a bonanza of oil and natural gas, Prime Minister David Cameron has again lofted his banner to tread where America has led.
 
Energy Department Expands LNG Exports As Shale Gas Soars. Forbes, Column. Natural gas production from the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania and West Virginia has risen by 50% over the past year, producing the equivalent of 550 million barrels of oil.

 
Industry hiring shifts due to marketplace factors, demand. Houston Chronicle. "As far as percentage of hiring or expansion focus, the recent activity has been on oil, and the onshore dimension of that, specifically shale oil in south and west Texas, has been growing recently," said Kenneth B. Medlock III, PhD, Energy Fellow, Rice University's Baker Institute.
 
Unconventionals continue to play a role in 2013 energy M&A. Oil & Gas Financial Journal. There has been record spending in the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) markets for several years now, and much of the spending in North America can be traced back to the shale revolution.
 
INTERNATIONAL

To frack or not to frack? That is the question for communities. The Guardian, Op-Ed. But why should the people of the UK get the benefits of home-grown energy without a bit of the inconvenience that would otherwise be visited on people of other countries, from which we would have to buy our gas? Burning gas is environmentally cleaner than burning coal and will actually lead to a decrease in CO2 emissions – as has been shown in the US.
 
UK Surveys Show Opinion Shifting in Favor of Unconventional Drilling. NGI's Shale Daily (sub req’d). A report by the United Kingdom's University of Nottingham indicates that public opinion in the country is beginning to shift in favor of unconventional natural gas development, which uses hydraulic fracturing.
 
Anti-HF protests delay UK drilling. CNN Money. Plans for massive protests by anti-fracking campaigners have led a U.K.-based oil and gas exploration company to suspend its drilling in southern England.
 
South Africa: the HF debate rages on. Platts. Oil companies are gearing up to explore the riches of South Africa’s Karoo desert as the government prepares to award shale gas permits toward the beginning of next year, raising the stakes of the debate even further.
 
Shale driller suspends work on protest threat. Reuters. An oil explorer has suspended drilling in southern England in response to the threat of an escalating protest against fracking, the controversial process used to extract gas and oil from shale deposits that has transformed the U.S. energy market. NOTE: Bloomberg also reports.
 
Balcombe HF protests: 1000 new activists expected. BBC News. Up to 1,000 extra anti-fracking activists are expected to join existing protests in West Sussex this weekend, according to police. No Dash For Gas campaigners plan to hold a six-day "action camp" near Cuadrilla's oil exploration site at Balcombe from Friday.
 
CALIFORNIA
 
Regulators launch probe into offshore HF off the west coast of the U.S. Associated Press. California regulators have launched an investigation into offshore hydraulic fracturing after revelations that the practice had quietly occurred off the coast for the past two decades. The California Coastal Commission promised to look into the extent of so-called fracking in federal and state waters and any potential risks.
 
COLORADO
 
Colorado City Considering Five-Year HF Ban. NGI's Shale Daily (sub req’d). The seven-member city council in Fort Collins, CO, on Tuesday will decide how to handle a proposed five-year hydraulic fracturing (fracking) moratorium in the city — either through passage of an ordinance or letting local voters decide in a November ballot measure.
 
NORTH DAKOTA
 
Recycling HF water a big opportunity. Bismarck Tribune, Editorial. The demonstration this week by Halliburton and Nuverra Environmental Solutions of a recycling operation for fracking water would seem to provide the means to reduce the volumes of water necessary for continued crude oil development. The process, described by Walter Dale of Halliburton and reported in the Tribune on Thursday, “subjects frack flowback water and production water to the ionized electricity found in batteries and ultraviolet rays to removed impurities. The result is clean brine water suitable for fracking, because salt is added anyway to stabilize clay soils down the drill hole.”
 
NORTHEAST
 
Roundtable releases shale gas resources report. Pittsburgh Business Times. After roughly two years of work away from the spotlight, members of the Shale Gas Roundtable have unveiled a report full of recommendations designed to help the region responsibly develop its shale gas resources.
 
Shale gas production up in Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh Business Times. The Associated Press (via WESA-FM) reported shale gas production in Pennsylvania through the first six months of 2013 was 1.5 trillion cubic feet. The data comes from a third party, Colorado-based Bentek, which examines trends in the energy industry. NOTE: Rigzone also reports.
 
McGraw talks HF conservation. The Dartmouth. McGraw, who grew up near the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, shared personal experiences in his lecture about fracking.
 
OHIO
 
Caldwell man dies in fall from oil rig. Times Reporter. Shawn Bennett of Energy In Depth said that any time such accidents occur, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the U.S. Department of Labor conducts an investigation. “Safety is paramount in this industry and it’s something the industry takes very seriously,” he said. He added that members of the oil and gas community are saddened by Roberts’ death. “The industry is a very, very close-knit group, and all our thoughts and prayers are with this family during these difficult times,” he said.
 
Companies show energy success. Herald Star. As evidence the Marcellus and Utica shale boom continues to grow, MarkWest Energy is building more natural gas processing infrastructure in Ohio and West Virginia. Gulfport Energy is one of the companies sending gas to MarkWest, as two new Gulfport wells near Clendening Lake in Harrison County are yielding strong results.
 
Elections board upholds protest of HF ban proposal. Athens News. The Athens County Board of Elections voted unanimously Thursday morning to sustain an objection to the anti-fracking initiative brought by opponents of the proposal.
 
Board Votes Down Athens HF Ban Initiative. WOUB News. The Athens County Board of Elections unanimously voted Thursday morning to not allow a proposed oil and gas extraction ban in the city of Athens on the November ballot.
 
TEXAS

Eagle Ford boom helps spur Holt Cat expansion. Houston Chronicle/Fuel Fix. Caterpillar dealer Holt Cat will pump millions of dollars into its operations across the state, with about $10 million reserved for a long overdue expansion of its San Antonio headquarters. Much of the investment helps Holt Cat respond to an increase in business, thanks to the Eagle Ford Shale boom in recent years. But officials also said an overall uptick in the economy has improved sales throughout Texas.
 
Magellan Midstream expands footprint in crude oil to $1.4 billion. Tulsa World. Crude coming from the Eagle Ford Shale and other refined products will be connected to the terminal for storage and delivery into Shell's other systems.
 
Group Aims to Avoid Ghost Towns After Eagle Ford Shale. KZTV 10. For years now, we've covered the economic boom from the development of Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas. But for nearly every boom, there's eventually a bust, and that's the issue one group is addressing today.
 
Texas Researchers Develop More Efficient Membrane Water Filtration. NGI's Shale Daily (sub req’d). A membrane-based filtration system being developed by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) could improve the efficiency of mobile water recycling systems used in conjunction with hydraulic fracturing (fracking) activities.
 
Holt Cat launches $77 million expansion to keep up with shale growth. San Antonio Business Journal. San Antonio-based heavy equipment dealer Holt Cat is undergoing a $77 million expansion, prompted in part by a rush of new business from the Eagle Ford Shale and other domestic oil-and-gas plays.