Free Republic

LISBON - Some local and state officials updated residents on where the shale fracking natural gas industry currently stands in Columbiana County during an informational meeting held at the Crestview Performing Arts Center this past week. "We're just really getting started with this in Columbiana County," said County Commissioner Timothy Weigle, when asked. "We've talked to our friends in Carroll County (which has more than 10 times the number of wells producing gas as there are here). They are a couple million ahead in tax revenue." Here, commissioners are only seeing a slight tax increase at this point, but it...

The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Tuesday slightly raised its estimate for domestic natural gas production in 2013, expecting output this year to be up about 1.2 percent from 2012's record high levels. In its October Short-Term Energy Outlook, the EIA said it expected marketed natural gas production in 2013 to rise by 0.82 billion cubic feet per day to 70.00 bcf per day, up fractionally from its September outlook of 69.91 bcf daily. If the forecast is realized, it would be the third straight year of record production. Domestic output in 2014 is expected to set another record high,...

Ashtabula is about to benefit from the Utica shale boom, as a Texas energy company and a technology firm from Columbus plan to build a gas-to-liquids processing plant in the city. Houston-based Pinto Energy said it will spend about $300 million to build the plant, which is expected to be completed and online in early 2016. The plant would take processed natural gas from the Utica and Marcellus shale plays and convert it into diesel fuel, high-end lubricants and industrial waxes used in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and other products. Once finished, the plant will employ about 30 people, but Pinto said...

Scientists have for the first time found dangerous levels of radioactivity and salinity at a shale gas waste disposal site that could contaminate drinking water. If the UK follows in the steps of the US “shale gas revolution”, it should impose regulations to stop such radioactive buildup, they said. The Duke University study, published on Wednesday, examined the water discharged from Josephine Brine Treatment Facility into Blacklick Creek, which feeds into a water source for western Pennsylvania cities, including Pittsburgh. … Elevated levels of chloride and bromide, combined with strontium, radium, oxygen, and hydrogen isotopic compositions, are present in the...

Energy Revolution: America's natural gas boom threatens Russia's economic strategy, an expert says, leaving it with few alternatives to rescue its economy while threatening to shatter its energy stranglehold on Europe. Russia's abundance of energy resources has long allowed it to use energy both as a foreign policy weapon and as the bedrock of the Russian economy. Whenever energy prices rose, Russia benefited and its neighbors often felt the restraining leash of dependence on Russian energy, particularly natural gas. Government-controlled energy giant Gazprom was in such a strong position it could demand decade-long contracts and link the price of gas...

Shale Show 2013 will take place Tuesday-Wednesday, Oct. 1-2 at the Nolan County Coliseum in Sweetwater’s Newman Park. Shale Show is an energy technology showcase, business networking, and information sharing event that will be held in every odd-numbered year in Sweetwater, in the heart of the Cline Shale and America's Energy Solutions Region. Shale Show is open free to the oil and gas industry, regional leaders and businesses, and to the general public. A very limited number of indoor and outdoor display spaces are still available for a fee. Shale Show is a nationwide event. With more than 150 exhibitors...

In Texas these days, there’s a feeling of absolute and unwavering confidence in the concept of an US energy revolution. From the depths of reserves to the richness of the energy, an incredible transformation is taking place. We’ve been talking about the significant impact of the US’s oil production for a while now, but the buzz about shale oil and gas is only getting louder. At Morgan Stanley’s energy forum in Houston in August, Director of Research John Derrick and Portfolio Manager Evan Smith said shale was the prevailing topic. One area that’s driving this game-changing trend is located only...

One of the central tenets of anti-shale gas activists—claims that carbon pollution from methane leaked during the hydraulic fracturing extraction process makes natural gas more polluting than coal—took another, likely fatal, hit this week. A University of Texas-Austin study released Monday found that methane emissions from new wells being prepared for production, a process known as completion, captured 99% of the escaping methane—on average 97% lower than estimates released in 2011 by the Environmental Protection Agency. It is the most comprehensive shale gas emissions study ever undertaken on methane leakage, covering 190 well pads around the United States. Methane is...

Unsurprisingly, oil prices are up in reaction to the Syrian mess. It’s worth keeping in mind that President Putin is at the top of the list of world leaders who benefit from this. The linkage between oil prices and Russia’s revenues cannot be ignored in calibrating what has, and may happen yet in the Middle East. Hydrocarbons account for two-thirds of Russian export revenues and nearly half of its state budget. And until very recently just two regions, Russia and the Middle East, dominated world trade in oil and gas. Russia has regularly boasted of being an “energy superpower”. Indeed...

Energy: A Saudi prince has warned that his oil-reliant nation is under threat because of fracking technology being developed in the U.S. and spreading around the world. OPEC is now caught between Riyadh and a hard place. Indicative of the panic rippling through the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries over the U.S.-led fracking boom, billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal says his Gulf Arab kingdom needs to reduce its reliance on crude oil and diversify its revenues, lest the era of gold-plated toilets come to an end. In an open letter to his country's oil minister Ali al-Naimi and other...

Shale gas fractivists are predictable true believers, the sort who are always around regardless of the issue, and we should never be discouraged at what sometimes appear to be victories on their side. They are losing the war.

Profiting From Energy's Technology Explosion: Part 2 In Part 1 of this article, we focused on subsea production and dual-gradient drilling. The two technological advancements that are having a profound and growing impact on the feasibility, cost, and safety of drilling in deepwater and ultra-deepwater. In this second part, we'll look at the cost saving and efficiency increases inherent in multi-well-pad drilling and at the promise of remote liquefied natural gas processing. We'll also quickly describe the advancements in seismic data collection and processing. In addition to looking at these technological wrinkles, we'll also note the companies that stand to...

A landmark federal study on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, shows no evidence that chemicals from the natural gas drilling process moved up to contaminate drinking water aquifers at a western Pennsylvania drilling site, the Department of Energy told The Associated Press. After a year of monitoring, the researchers found that the chemical-laced fluids used to free gas trapped deep below the surface stayed thousands of feet below the shallower areas that supply drinking water, geologist Richard Hammack said. Although the results are preliminary — the study is still ongoing — they are a boost to a natural gas industry that...

President of France François Hollande ruled out shale gas exploration under his administration, as the country celebrated Bastille Day. Speaking in a televised broadcast Sunday, Hollande said: "As long as I am president, there will be no shale gas exploration in France." Hollande also joked: "What is shale gas? It is an Eldorado that just needs to be drilled?" Hollande added that there was a risk to groundwater due to the hydraulic fracturing techniques used and that "one sees a number of consequences of this in the United States". France banned exploring for shale gas in 2011 despite the country...

As I’ve now argued many times over, the Obama administration is extravagantly fond of citing statistics about how our oil imports are way down while our domestic oil production is way up, with the implicit suggestion being that their policies somehow deserve the credit for these phenomena. See, they really are about an “all of the above” energy strategy and you can’t say that they’re anti-oil or anti-fossil fuel, because America is currently experiencing an economic and employment boom via domestic oil and gas production! In fact, however, much of the credit for the current oil-and-gas boom and our decreased...

A report has revealed that 2012 saw the largest single-year increase in US oil production ever recorded. US production grew due to an increase in techniques such as fracking, a method for extracting shale oil and gas, the report by oil giant BP said. Overall, global energy consumption grew by 1.8% in 2012, a smaller increase than in 2011. China and India accounted for almost 90% of that growth.

The kicker? He’s a supporter of a state cyberbullying bill. A state lawmaker on Thursday acknowledged making “anonymous” and “fictitious” online posts attacking constituents who support shale-gas drilling in Washington County and apologized to two people for any “offensive or hurtful” actions. Residents and the industry group Energy In Depth accused Rep. Jesse White, D-Cecil, of using aliases to call his critics “mouth breathers” and to call industry supporters, including senior citizens, “hucksters.” White explained himself by blaming drilling companies and pro-industry groups for targeting him with “misleading and personal attacks.” “These attacks have included anonymous or fictitious posts on...

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Janice Gibbs is a grandmother and was born and raised in Washington County. Although she has no drilling lease on her land, she believes that shale gas drilling is great for the local economy. “I just think it’s a good thing for our community,” Gibbs said. When she started posting her pro-gas views on local websites under the name “Proud American,” she was soon shocked at how nasty things got. First, State Rep. Jesse White allegedly posted Gibbs’ real identity. Then, someone posting under the name “Prouder American” called her an “industry troll.” Another posting under the...

Closer cooperation between European countries and an emphasis on energy efficiency would be more effective at lowering prices in Europe than dreams about an American-style shale gas boom, the EU’s climate chief said on Thursday (16 May). Speaking at the European Business Summit, EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard called for “clever regulation” to drive innovation and for a liberalized EU energy market to lower prices, saying re-nationalization would be more costly than European-wide climate policies. “We need efficient and also cost-efficient energy systems. We need to liberalize the energy market, a Europeanized market. It is wrong that re-nationalization will be...