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About one-third of the natural gas North Dakota has produced in recent years has been flared rather than sold to customers or consumed on-site. The rapid growth in North Dakota oil production, which rose from more than 230,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) in January 2010 to more than 1,130,000 bbl/d in August 2014, has led to increased volumes of associated gas, or natural gas that comes from oil reservoirs. These increased volumes require additional infrastructure to gather, process, and transport gas volumes instead of flaring them. These additions can take time to build, and well operators are often reluctant to...

The US drilling rig count declined 12 units to settle at 1,918 rigs working during the week ended Oct. 17, Baker Hughes Inc. reported. BHI’s average US onshore rig count for the third quarter totaled 1,842 units, up 46 from the second quarter and up 133 from third-quarter 2013. The US onshore well count for the third quarter totaled 9,566, up 110 from the second quarter and up 491 from third-quarter 2013. Average US onshore drilling efficiencies dropped to 5.19, primarily caused by fewer wells/rig being generated in the Permian during the quarter, BHI indicated. The Permian accounted for 54%...

Russia's President Vladimir Putin said Russia will have to reduce gas supplies to Europe if Ukraine steals from gas pipelines that supply Europe—and crosses Ukraine en route. In June, Moscow halted gas supplies to Ukraine due to mounting debts and pricing disagreements. Disturbance of Russian gas supplies to Europe has happened two times in the past ten years, in 2006 and 2009. A third of Europe's gas comes from Russia. If no agreement is reached between Ukraine and Russia, Ukraine may face energy shortages this winter—further increasing risks to Europe's gas supply.

...U.S. fracking boom is getting even bigger with advances in drilling... Each drilling rig in the Eagle Ford shale of south Texas is pumping an average of more than 400 barrels a day than in the dawn of the fracking boom seven years ago, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. The more efficient drilling has helped Texas to more than double its oil production in the past three years, topping three million barrels a day for the first time since the late 1970s. “The productivity of oil and natural gas wells is steadily increasing in many basins across the...

The average household winter heating fuel expenditures discussed in this STEO provide a broad guide to changes compared with last winter. However, fuel expenditures for individual households are highly dependent on local weather conditions, market size, the size and energy efficiency of individual homes and their heating equipment, and thermostat settings (see Winter Fuels Outlook table). Forecast temperatures based on the latest forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are much warmer than last winter east of the Rocky Mountains, with the Midwest 16% warmer, the South 12% warmer, the Northeast 11% warmer. However, last winter provides a...

Relatively low prices of natural gas have contributed to steady increases in US industrial gas consumption since 2009, especially as a feedstock for chemical production. According to the US Energy Information Administration’s most recent Short-Term Energy Outlook, growth in US industrial demand will continue through 2015, with consumption averaging 21.3 bcfd in 2014 and 22.1 bcfd in 2015, a 4% increase, boosted by newly proposed chemical plants. Two methanol plants are set to begin service this year—a small facility in Pampa, Tex., and another in Geismar, La. A handful of fertilizer plants have begun service, and an expansion is planned...

Magnum Hunter has ‘monster’ on its hands with biggest Utica well – ever Sep 25, 2014, 11:29am EDT Share on Google + Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn Share on Twitter Email this article Save Order Reprints Print Enlarge Photo   Industry Supplier of the Year: Gary C. Evans of Magnum Hunter Resources Corp.     Tom KnoxReporter- Columbus Business FirstEmail  |  Google+  |  LinkedIn  |  Twitter So far, natural gas drillers have only dipped their toes into West Virginia’s Utica shale play. It’s safe to say some might dive in head first now.Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. announced results...

When Americans hit the polls in a few weeks, job growth and the overall economy will be the most important issue in deciding whom they vote for Congress, a recent CBS News/New York Times polls says. A CNN/ORC poll echoed similar sentiments, as did a Bloomberg national poll, NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, and Kaiser Family Foundation Health Tracking Poll. Trepidations about the economy, these polls show, are shared by all Americans – Democrats, Republicans, Independents, blue states, red states. We all have these worries. But what often flies under the radar is the significant role energy production plays in...

The Financial Times [subscription] is reporting that the US is poised to become the world’s largest producer of liquid petroleum (oil and natural gas liquids): US production of oil and related liquids such as ethane and propane was neck-and-neck with Saudi Arabia in June and again in August at about 11.5m barrels a day, according to the International Energy Agency, the watchdog backed by rich countries. With US production continuing to boom, its output is set to exceed Saudi Arabia’s this month or next for the first time since 1991. [...] Rising oil and gas production has caused the US...

Fracking is evolving. There are mutant wells in the Eagle Ford that are producing four times more oil and gas than hydraulically-fractured wells did in 2010. In Pennsylvania, the wells are using less water because drillers are recycling. And in North Texas, the number of earthquakes have dropped dramatically since the good people of Azle through a fit and convinced the Texas Railroad Commission to hire a seismologist to investigate. When you include the demand that drillers take more care in completing their wells to avoid contaminating the ground water, the only conclusion is that the oil and gas industry...

Dominion Energy has welcomed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s final approval to site, construct, and operate the Cove Point LNG liquefaction and export project. “We are pleased to receive this final approval that allows us to start constructing this important project that offers significant economic, environmental and geopolitical benefits,” said Diane Leopold, President of Dominion Energy. “This order is based on more than two years of thorough, exhaustive analysis by FERC along with numerous other federal and state agencies. It also reflects a robust public input process. Dominion is dedicated to constructing a safe, secure, environmentally compatible and reliable export...

General Electric’s new high-efficiency gas turbines, fired at temperatures 200 degrees hotter than an erupting volcano, will see their U.S. debut at two gas power plants near Houston and Dallas. The New York industrial conglomerate said Monday it is getting paid more than $500 million to build four of its most advanced gas turbines and other equipment to power two of Exelon Corp.’s planned combined-cycle gas turbine units at its existing gas-fired plants in Texas. Combined-cycle units are more flexible than plants that rely only on gas or coal. GE’s new 440,000 horsepower gas turbines, each as powerful as about...

Ed Yardeni, Dr. Ed's Blog September 29, 2014 Over the past few years, there has been lots of buzz about the coming manufacturing renaissance in the US. The central concept is that plentiful and cheap natural gas will convince manufacturers to expand or to move production to the US to cut their energy costs. Labor is still cheaper overseas, but it isn’t as expensive as it once was in the US. Besides, the IT revolution has increased factory productivity with more automation, including robots and the “Internet of Things.” The recent strength in the dollar could be a spoiler if...

Hungary's gas pipeline operator, FGSZ, says it has suspended delivery of gas to neighbouring Ukraine "indefinitely". Ukraine has been receiving gas from Hungary, Poland and Slovakia since Russia cut off supplies to Ukraine in June in a dispute over unpaid bills. Ukraine's state-owned gas firm, Naftogaz, confirmed the stoppage. It called the move "unexpected and unexplained". FGSZ said it cut deliveries to Ukraine to raise the flow of gas to Hungary.

Oil and natural gas production in Eagle Ford Shale generated an estimated $87 billion in total economic output for Texas and supported nearly 155,000 full-time jobs in 2013. That’s according to a new study released Tuesday by the University of Texas at San Antonio Institute for Economic Development. The shale region, which encompasses a 21-county, and generated more than $4.4 billion in tax revenue to local and state governments in 2013. Based on these updated figures, UTSA projects that the shale region will support more than 196,000 jobs and generate $137 billion in total economic output for Texas by 2013.

The European Union is quietly increasing the urgency of a plan to import natural gas from Iran, as relations with Tehran thaw while those with top gas supplier Russia grow chillier. Two “ifs” - the removal of sanctions on Iran and the addition of some pipeline infrastructure - are not preventing EU planners preparing, a European Commission source involved in developing EU energy strategy told Reuters. “Iran is far towards the top of our priorities for mid-term measures that will help reduce our reliance on Russian gas supplies,” the source said. “Iran’s gas could come to Europe quite easily and...

Natural gas prices aren’t going to surge any time soon, panelists said at a Houston forum Tuesday, which could be good news for consumers adopting the fuel source as an alternative to gasoline and diesel — but not necessarily welcome news for producers. “2015 is going to be bad for gas,” said Dan Pickering, co-president of the energy investment firm Tudor, Pickering Holt and Co., at the forum hosted by the law firm Winston & Strawn. Since the middle of 2010, the spot price for domestic natural gas generally has remained under $5 per million British thermal units, except for...

From steel pipe manufacturers to companies that produce sand and gravel, the U.S. shale boom is buoying businesses far removed from the oil and gas fields, a new study finds. These companies are benefiting from the huge investments needed to explore, produce, process and transport oil and gas unlocked from previously inaccessible dense rock formations through advances in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, according to the findings by Houston-based energy analyst firm IHS. The boom has been most generous to companies working in states with the most oil and gas activity, but the economic boost has also trickled down to...

With all the insanity with polling and political news last week, it was easy to miss this shocking headline – Weld County Had Largest Percentage Increase in Employment Nationally. That’s right, Weld County had the largest increase in employment not just in Colorado, but across the entire country. From The Denver Post: “Hiring in Weld County continues to outpace employment gains among the nation’s 339 largest counties, led by new jobs in construction and oil and gas, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics….Drilling has helped employment in the region grow more quickly than the state or nation, kept...

Despite turning the U.S. into the world's largest producer of natural gas and driving a 3 million barrel per day surge in U.S. oil production in just the last three years, the shale revolution still has its doubters. They couldn't be more wrong. The Montreal-based Centre for Research on Globalization recently dismissed shale fracking as a "Ponzi scheme" and "this decade's version of the dot-com bubble" that's about to burst. But time and again over decades, the naysayers and "peak oil" advocates have grossly underestimated the energy industry's ability to innovate and beat production forecasts. Today's shale pessimists continue to...