PITTSBURGH (AP) — Marcellus Shale natural gas production is rising even faster this year than energy experts had predicted, and that's having a national impact on energy.
Bentek, a Colorado company that analyzes energy trends, said 2013 production in Pennsylvania and West Virginia is up about 50 percent compared with last year. Figures for the pipelines that take gas out of the Marcellus show that in the first six months of the year, Pennsylvania produced about 1.5 trillion cubic feet of gas, with projections for a year-end total of about 3.2 trillion cubic feet.
That yearly number translates into the equivalent of about 550 million barrels of oil.
The official mid-2013 production figures for Pennsylvania and West Virginia haven't been released yet by those states, but Bentek's figures are considered very reliable by government and industry sources.
Marcellus production this year "has definitely outpaced our expectations," said Diana Oswald, a Bentek energy analyst, and it's changing long-established national energy trends.
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ROCKMAN wrote: But I think the "changing long term established trends" is a bit of hype.
Rockman wrote:NG will continue to be a major energy source for the country for many decades. And as prices continue to rise will be developed further. But IMHO it's the same ole same ole. A good thing but certainly not a step change. No need to hype a good thing when it's been a good thing for so long.
"A second major reason is that decisions were made in the 1990s that all new generating plants were to be gas fired. We've had a natural gas summit this year and, as you know, I have been talking for some time about the natural gas cliff we are experiencing. Many thought that this winter would be deadly, and I have to say that it's just a miracle that we have replenished our gas stocks going into the cold months. This winter could have been a major disaster.
"
k – Haven’t been able to follow the entire conversation. But note on your map that the red dotes are wells that tested between 0 and 2 mmcf/d. In reality there are very few if any “dry holes” in the trend. But there may be a high percentage that test a non-commercial flow rate of NG and are thus never produced.
Not sure about the cap rock portion of the conversation. Typically there’s no cap rock or top seal with respect to the fractured shale plays. All the NG that is produced from such formations is that which has been taped in the naturally occurring fractures. Those fracture don’t extend infinitely upward. Where they stop vertically is where that production ceases.
Saying there was methane contamination in the water after Cabot drilled doesn’t prove the water wasn’t contaminated before they drilled
k - I can't remember if I've made this point to you before but I do have a dog in the fight over shale frac'ng. A very big dog, in fact: I would be very pleased if they proved frac'ng always damaged fresh water aquifers and was banned everywhere including Texas. It also wouldn't hurt my feelings if the banned the import of all Canadian oil.
Not quite. See, the short circuit of cement opens up a pathway to somewhere...that somewhere may be to yet a higher pressure formation...in which case nothing happens (or something flows the other way through the cement) or the pathway opens up WAY UP ABOVE somewhere, at a lower pressure, and suddenly the formation has an escape route. Call it a thief zone. An aquifer could potentially be just that, if the leak through the layers of steel and cement allowed a producing formation to get to it.
Of course, we aren't talking about fracking now but well design, and well design by law puts fresh water aquifers up top behind cement and steel. I should say, MORE cement and steel, so now we need multiple failures for something to get that far up top.
“We are the most energy independent country in the European Union, and we will not compromise our energy security. We have a large neighbour,” said Juhan Parts, the economy minister.
It is the same story wherever you go across Eastern Europe: the fuel debate comes down to Vladimir Putin’s Russia, and Gazprom’s stranglehold on gas supplies. Global warming inevitably plays second fiddle. “Estonia is not rich enough to experiment with immature technologies,” said Mr Parts.
“Even if we had to invest in new power plants today, shale would still be cheapest. Russian gas costs 1.8 times as much; onshore wind 2 times as much; and offshore wind 2.5 times as much.”
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
ROCKMAN wrote:Apparently not all shales are created equal. From:
http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/1 ... w/?all=HG2
One of the challenges Chinese firms have struggled to overcome is how to adapt shale technology developed in the U.S. to China's geology. Chinese shale formations tend to be deeper than those in the U.S."
ROCKMAN wrote:O It’s always helpful to have the govt doing what it can to increase the cost of fossil fuels to the American consumer.
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